How about that for a reading seat?
A stone-roofed shelter, a grassy bank for a cushion,
a river at your feet, moor and mountain as far as the eye can see.
We were on the island of Lewis last week, and that's me there in the top picture, book in hand and thick jacket on as it was quite brisk on Friday evening when that was taken. I'm sitting in what's known as Lady Mary's seat, a favourite spot of Lady Mary Matheson's; her husband Sir James Matheson* bought the island in 1844, and this vantage point is near their summer residence. I'm told her ladyship used to like to sit there reading, often with a dram to hand, but I didn't linger as there was a nip in the air and the midgies were gathering, though I did stay put long enough to read the passage in Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot
Lots more reading was done last week (I'll report soon) but all of it indoors - the weather was mostly wild!
*Somewhat tangentially but coincidentally, Sir James came from Shinness.
