The goals always come when you’ve nipped to the toilet, and the sea eagle shows up when you only have your compact camera. Typical.It’s amazing what you can find on your doorstep. Especially when your doorstep looks like this. We’ve managed a day’s paddling on each of the last three weekends. Today we didn’t have much time. So we put into Loch Linnhe, somewhere we never normally paddle because we’ve always thought it a little.... dull.
Today we saw a white tailed sea eagle.
It was perched in the spindly upper branches of a leaf-bare tree, seeming far too massive for the twigs to hold it’s weight. Then it stretched forward, unfolded its huge wings, and hung in the sky. When I see an aircraft carrier I find it almost impossible to comprehend how it can float. That this animal could be borne aloft by the wind under its wings seemed equally improbable. To mis-quote Douglas Adams, it hung in the sky in the same way that a brick doesn’t.
Ben Nevis had a good blanket of snow as did the upper slopes of the Mamores, but it was warm-ish down at sea level. I’m wearing one glove in the new masthead photo, not because I’m imitating Michael Jackson, but because I burnt my hand the previous day as was trying not to rip off the blister.Winter sea kayaking. Marvellous. And the sun-set was pretty good too.