Okay so day two of my time in Scotland saw me awaken on the Isle of Coll. As I went down to breakfast I could see that after yesterdays mainly very windy, grey, cloudy, drizzly, rainy day, it had turned in to a very windy, grey, misty, cloudy, much heavier rainy day. This looks like fun I thought.
As I cycled up the hill away from the village, to explore more of the island, it seemed I had stopped travelling on the road but on the river bed of a river rushing down the hill. It stayed mainly wet, to various degrees for most of the day.
I saw a shut field gate, with a sign saying beach 850 yards this way. I followed a very narrow track up and around and as I got to an area of sand dunes, I was rather surprised to discover hidden away there was a recycling centre ! All very tidy, a dead minibus, a scrap car, a pile of old metal, and your usual bottle and paper banks etc. Even in the rain it seemed to be in a very scenic spot. Maybe it's the UKs most picturesque tip.
Left Bumble leaning on the minibus, and walked down through the dunes to the beach. Just off shore was a rocky island covered in seals. As I went down on to the sands, I was again surprised, as about six seals, flopped into the water, but instead of swimming away from me, they approached the shore. They wanted to see what I was up to. As I stood at the waters edge, taking photographs of them, they bobbed up and down watching me.
Having taken enough shots, I had partly turned away from the sea, as I heard and just saw out of the corner of my eye a loud splash. My first thought was a Dolphin. Then I realised it was far too close to the beach to be a Dolphin. Puzzled, I stood watching, hoping what ever it was would repeat it. It did !
I was amazed ! Didn't really believe what I was watching.
It was a FLYING SEAL !!!
It must have been swimming very fast underwater across the bay, then surfaced and shot through the air. It didn't leap up like a typical Dolphin, with a curve in its body. You might have seen the nature TV programmes with shots of Penguins whizzing along fast just above the surface of the water, like arrows.
Well a Seal is a lot bigger than a Penguin, and it looked just like a great, long, straight, grey torpedo flying along, clearly well out of the water, before re-entering the sea with a huge splash. Just to prove it, to my disbelieving eyes, he repeated the trick a bit further down the bay. I don't know if this is a regular event but I can't ever recall hearing about this before.
I waited around for a while, but it seemed the show was over.
I went back to the road and continued on to see what else might turn up. I stopped a few times, and had a wander around, but the drizzle was a pain, hampering photography. Cycling on, I passed a small building, with a sign saying Photography Gallery open. I should have stopped but was due to catch another ferry later and wasn't really sure how far I had to go. Then the heavens opened again, so quick u-turn. I thought, I'll look at the photographs till the rain eases.
This led to yet another major surprise of the day !!
To see what happened next, click on the link below.......
http://365project.org/markp/Alternatively/13-06-2017
