Visiting Relatives and Eating Out in Broadford

An early morning shop at the depleted Coop was challenging; fresh fruit and vegetables, yoghurt, kefir and cheese were among the items not obviously available. This provided the opportunity to try some different alternatives, but those mentioned were especially welcomed when they did appear.

The Market Kitchen did not reveal evidence of struggling with supplies and the atmosphere created by the early morning shift was reliably warm and happy.

Later, a visit to An Acarsaid to see Sandra was disappointing; she did not want to see visitors today. This was her position for several days, and the expert due to see her has a task on his hands.

The Coffee Bothy at Harrapool has a couple of picnic tables outside which is ideal for this fine weather. The coffee and food are reliably of good quality and the portion sizes are on the generous side in my opinion. I chatted with David, another cyclist, who had not realised there was a music event in Portree and the roads were too busy to feel safe. He was changing his plans accordingly. Early the next morning he greeted me by name at the campsite, so I must have sold it to him by my description of it.

On my way to Skulamus I noticed the fish shack alongside The Claymore and tried the langoustines. These were juicy and tasty but did take some work to remove the bits that we in this country find inedible.

Fiona had been doing a lot of washing and clearing out some clothes that she had no use for. Topics of conversation have emerged without effort and include variously her purchase and use of a treadmill this year, baking versus buying the finished product, which of us talks the most and her grandson’s holiday in Australia and his new job on return. We reminisced about the Campbell picnics in the summer holidays in places such as Ord and how everyone got on. Fiona remembered her dad purposely for the thrill going over bumps at speed so that the car would become airborne. She also remembered how he, returning to Skye and approaching the ferry queue at Kyle, would use local knowledge of side roads to overtake cars on the main road and effectively jump the queue.

Another visit to the supermarket on the way back to the campsite was necessary partly because newspapers had not arrived early in the morning and it was a surprise to see there had been a delivery of some fresh food. Later, reading the world news in the newspaper and seeing that so little seemed to have changed for the better, it highlighted the stark contrast between holiday-style living away from it all and existance at home bombarded by media.