Thursday 8th December. The Storm of the Decade.

 Well the big storm hit us at 8.00pm Thursday evening, one minute there was a good wind blowing and then the suddenly it  increased ten fold . It was only a 3m tide, which normally is not a problem, but the wind increased to 100mph, whipping up the sea, waves were hitting the houses in front of us full on and then hitting us. I have seen waves coming over the top of Chesil beach before but never saw waves coming horizontal before. The noise was deafening and the water was washing up and down the road, but did not enter the house. The next morning the wind had abated but was still quite strong, I took Buster for his walk, the roads were covered with seaweed and debris, All the stone slabs in front of Cromerty Square had been lifted by the waves.  In front of the Bellevue Public House, the council had piled up all the debris, the pile was about twenty feet long and ten feet high. Not structural damage occurred, a few roof tiles & a few garage doors, two or three houses were flooded but no one was injured. I was told that the Pentalina took a battering, the ferry was tied to the jetty with four two-inch ropes and one, inch and a quarter steel cable each end, the two steel cables snapped at the height of the storm.  The storm brought down power cables in some areas and about Four hundred houses were without electricity for most of Friday.   Talking to some of the locals later, they all said they could not remember a storm with winds as strong as Thursday nights.  

Update on last weeks weather.

Update on last weeks weather.

Lightning strikes and Hurricane-force winds caused widespread disruption to communications & transport as North-westerly winter gales hammered the Islands, with gusts reaching a record high of 130 mph at Hammars Hill wind farm in Evie, with an average wind speed of 83 mph., Waves out to sea, off the Western Isles, were recorded on Thursday reaching heights of 14.8m (48.5ft).

Power supplies too many areas were cut and the Barriers closed at high tides over three days, local flooding and wind blown debris blocked many coastal roads.

This week saw more storms ,with Thunder and hail, more on this after the storms subside. (Next Post).

Weather

We have just had three days of constant gales and high tides, The sea came into our road at each end but never reached the front door. One casualty of the storms was a yacht belonging to Alan Banks The owner of Pentland Ferries and My boss, the yacht broke  free from its moorings and was blown onto the shore, putting a hole in the hull, an attempt was made to pull her free but this was unsuccessful, they will have to patch the hole before attempting to re float her. 

 

Picture taken from front door.

Other end of the Road.

New Job (Update)

Well I have had two weeks in the new job, and all is well,apart from all the fire alarms going off at 6.15pm, that took a bit of sorting out. I have got back into the night shift pattern and have no problem sleeping from 8am to 2pm. Roll on the summer months ,when the nights are light ( the sun set's at 2am and is back up around  3-3.30, so I can sit up on deck and enjoy the Sunrise.

New Job

Well it's been a few months since I last posted, Plenty of jobs to do and time just fly s by.
I start a new job tonight, I am now the Night watchman/cleaner on the Pentalina, The ferry which travels between St Margaret's Hope and Gills Bay in Caithness.I decided I needed some extra cash to pay for my next project which I hope to start in the next month or so.I am going to build a 12' Clinker boat, it should take a few months to complete, I have the plans and all the necessary tools, just the timber and epoxy resin to get. I have the use of a large shed with power, so plenty of space.Well must go now start work at 11pm.
Hopefully my next post will be the start of the build. Below is a picture of the Pentalina.

Damien's Visit.

Damien came up for a ten day break in March, the weather was reasonable for most of the time, it only rained for the last two day’s of his stay. Jill kept him well fed, as usual, and we went bird watching most days and visited a fair number of sites.

We had some good views of Short-eared Owl’s over his stay and Damien added another four or five new birds to his list, including Snow Bunting, Slavonian Grebe and Red Grouse, although the Grebe was a fair distance away and the Grouse was a very brief encounter. Overall we managed around sixty species.

                            Snow Bunting

Buster

Buster had his Eye operation last week, all went well although he wasn't impressed with the traffic cone they put on his head.The swelling on his eye had  reduced a lot by Monday when I had to take him back to the vet's in Kirkwall, all was well and he should be one hundred percent in a week or two.
After the visit to the vet's we took him for a walk over to East side, the weather was great, blue sky ,little breeze, although a little chilly.
Buster loved it on the beach ,charging around and running into the sea, It was a good afternoon's walk, we were out for about four hours and Buster slept most of the evening.

Buster with the Traffic Cone.

 You can still a bit of swelling around the Eye.

A walk on the beach.( one wet dog)

 

Kirkhouse Point & the Pool of Cletts, Eastside.