Westward from Tiree there is nothing but the North Atlantic Ocean until you reach Labrador 1900 miles away. The island is the outermost of the Inner Hebrides and is the same size as Loch Lomond. It is famously flat and also famously treeless. Tree roots dug up in the past, when analyzed, show that Tiree had hazel, birch, alder and willow until the arrival of the Vikings.  Grazing, rather than wind, spelled the end of the tree cover. On a rainy, foggy day like today, the fog settles low  on the fields and visibility across the land becomes low. I explored a bit in the rain and fog and the landscape never really changed because of the low visibility. A succession of weather systems is carried in from the Atlantic but, the lack of hills means that Tiree, on average, has only a third of the rainfall of the more mountainous neighboring isle of Mull. 

The summer season really hasn’t gotten started here in the Hebrides so it has not been crowded. I have been pleasantly surprised at the lack of camper vans lumbering over the single track roads, it seems there were more of them on Coll. The roads are mostly like glorified driveways with the exception of when the road leads into Scaranish, the main village.  If you were not familiar with the roads on these small islands you might think you have drifted off the main road when, in fact, you are on the main road!  I’m going to miss this when I have to go back to two lanes and summer traffic on my island. Hoping for better weather tomorrow so I can explore more completely.