What a day!

Well, as promised the MetOffice remodelled the Ullapool weather programme for us and, lo! we had sun today... all day. No clouds, warm(ish) and a gentle north easterly which veered at lunchtime to SE and then south. That signalled the end of my working day (or at least a break until the evening) to head for the hills with a couple of gliders: the Simprop Solution, a 2.8m German machine, and later a Graupner Elektro Junior motorised glider and a Czech-built 2.8m Proxima slope soarer.

What joy! The wind was bang on the hill, and if the lift wasn't great all the time, when it was great the sky was the limit. And then, more joy. A huge speck in the sky about 1,000ft above turned into a golden eagle which, seeing the intruder, circled round for a look. I was hoping sooner or later a thermalling eagle would spot the glider. Last year another glider of mine came under attack, and still bears the scars. This time it kept its distance, lurking a few hundred feet above.

All this and a full day writing a piece about Antarctica for a travel magazine and editing some artists' CVs (what a nightnare). These are days to savour. Full days which begin at 7am and end at 7pm with a glass of whisky. This is why we live in the Highlands, although ask me why a few weeks ago and I would not have been able to give you a good answer. And it's not looking too bad for the rest of the week either.