Weather

The weather on Tiree is a blog all on its own, it's very changeable and has a big impact on what we feel like doing.

Rain here doesn't come down, it comes across, because it's windy almost all the time. Our house faces the prevailing wind, more or less, so we see the worst of the weather through the front window. We also get the best. Few days pass without at least a glimmer of sunshine, and because we're so far west it's light past 6pm at the moment, and come summer it will be light late into the night.

The wind has a big effect on me, cycling as I do to get around. A tail wind means I fly to work in around 20 minutes, a head wind with heavy rain can slow to half that speed or less. My trike is a good vehicle for the island, it's pretty stable except in really strong cross winds, and it means I can make progress into a head wind without falling over. The carrying capacity is huge - even to the point where a full grown adult can ride in the box (though being that low to the ground can be a little disconcerting).

I'm looking forward to the summer and taking a picnic to one of the more scenic parts of the island, but I love the scenery even as it is, and I'm really enjoying my commute, though I could do without having to avoid squashed hares in the road!

With the island being so flat, we get very big skies up here, and you can often see the light moving over the landscape as the clouds move.

The occasional calm day can be a little disconcerting, as you realise how quiet things are, and indeed how warm it is - we were outside in t-shirts a couple of weeks ago when the wind dropped and the sun came out.