Working On Despite Dismal Weather

For both those working on Mingary Castle (arrowed) and the salvage teams working to salvage the Lysblink Seaways, the cargo ship (at left in picture) which ran aground at Kilchoan over a week ago, this has been a week of pelting rain, hail, snow, thunder and lightning, and frequent gales.  After many difficulties, the ship has now been towed away, but the appalling weather hasn't made the slightest difference to the speed at which work is progressing at the Castle.

When I arrived this morning a new piece of machinery was on site, a tele-handler hired from Inverness to lift materials up onto the scaffolding.  The reason for its arrival quickly became evident....

....when I climbed up to the battlements, where several men were laying flagstones - once again Yorkshire stone - large quantities of which have been lifted up using the new machine.  Picture shows Damien working on the walkway round the battlements, while....

....Richard was working at the other end of the walkway.  The flight of steps leading from the east range up to the battlements on the north side of the north range, seen in the background here, has also been rebuilt in the last week or so.

Mark Chandler and his men have almost finished the slates and leadwork on the two smaller ranges, and a very good job they have done. This picture shows the west range, and....

....this one looks from the end of the west range across to the smaller east range.  They should be finished in the next couple of days, at which point the scaffolding in the courtyard will be dropped so that work can start on the courtyard flagstones.

All the buildings are now weathertight except for fitting the exterior doors.

There's been rapid progress too inside the north range.  The first of the fittings are in - this is the bath on the attic level - the plywood floors are being laid, and all first fix electrics and plumbing are complete.

The attic is insulated ready for fitting the plasterboard, but one can already appreciate what a light area this will be when the job is completed.