I was asked to make something driftwoody for a new garden being established at the Village Hall in my home town. It is perched right next to the wide expanse of the Clyde Estuary and so I decided some fish must fly.

I am just back from holiday… we had a fantastic week on Skye- I climbed some mountains for the first time in a while and we enjoyed lingering together in such a lovely place.

Oh, and Will and I took a trip out to St Kilda. This was been a life long ambition for me, finally realised as part of my 50th birthday year thanks to Michaela who organised the whole thing. Thanks too to gotostkilda, who made the whole trip even more special- if you are considering a trip yourself, check them out.

Be prepared for a challenge though- the islands are not reached easily. Whether we would make it at all was marginal for a while- in fact one of our party had tried 4 times previously only to be defeated by the weather each time. Our own trip had a delayed start and ended up having to force into heavy seas. It made for an extremely uncomfortable 6 hours on the way out (it should have taken 4.) Poor Will had 5 hours of sickness and we were both very glad to land on Hirta.

From that moment onwards however, the place was magical. I had immersed myself in the history of the island and suddenly there I was, walking along main street in glorious sunshine. We climbed high up to walk the edge of the highest sea cliffs in Europe, braving repeated attacks from the Great Skuas who objected strongly to our presence.

Later we bobbed  our way around the islands, and the majestic sea stacks, each containing their bird-cities.

The 71 mile return to Skye was much easier, leaving the islands far on a horizon ablaze with the setting sun.

This is what it looks like;