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You didn't think that I would miss the last day of the month, did you? So anyway, I was up at the crack of dawn, making preparations for an excursion that I had began planning the day before, after reading an article in The Herald's magazine. The article was about the Island of Easdale, and how it has seen its permanent population grow steadily over the past 20 years, from 12 to 72. Apparently, not so long ago the local council wanted to evacuate the island, which had seen the number of residents dwindle since the slate quarries, which were the island's life blood, flooded with seawater in a storm in the 1950s. I have wanted to visit Easdale for a while now, and it was my intended destination the last time we drove into the Highlands (although that time the furthest we got was Killin). You see, I do have a link with the village of Easdale (which is on neighbouring Seil Island - facing Easdale Island) - albeit a tenuous one. Back in the early 1980s, my sister rented a cottage in Easdale while she was working in nearby Oban. She stayed there because, at that time, the cottages were so cheap to rent that they were practically paying people to stay in them. Obviously, that was long before the late-1980s house price boom in the south of England, which saw people in London selling their garden sheds and using that money to buy Highland estates - in 1984, a cottage in Easdale would cost no more than £2,000-3,000 to buy. Not now, though. When I was last there, the place was quite bleak - now it has been thoroughly touristified, and comes complete with its own microbrewery and art gallery. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself now - let's get back to the start. I managed to convince Linda and Liam that Dundee-Easdale-Dundee was not only a feasible excursion, but that we would also be able to stop and see some beautiful sights on the way. They remained dubious. We finally managed to leave Dundee just after midday, and made off in the direction of Perth to catch the A85 via Crieff, Lochearnhead and Crianlarich. Our first stop was Lochawe, where we stopped for about an hour in the glorious sunshine, enjoying the views of the loch and of Kilchurn Castle and chatting to a member of the local historical society who was complaining about Network Rail illegally padlocking the level-crossing that leads to the castle (which can only be reached by boat otherwise). After a refreshment pause in the 'Tea Train', we headed off through the Pass of Brander to Connel and Dunbeg, where we stopped again to have a stroll around Dunstaffnage Castle - the capital of the ancient Scots kingdom of Dalriada. Our next port of call was Oban, which is another place that I used to visit fairly regularly when my sister worked there in the early-1980s. It is the first time I had been in Oban since then. We headed up to McCaig's Tower, the local landmark, and I was amazed at the changes that had been worked. The last time I was inside the folly, it was just a muddy field with rough grass and some gorse. Now they have landscaped it all and built paths, a garden, and an observation deck with spectacular views over the bay and nearby islands. We had a lovely stroll around the harbour before setting off for Seil Island and Easdale. We crossed the Atlantic Bridge connecting Seil to Great Britain, stopping a while to just enjoy the beautiful scenery. We stayed in Easdale for over two hours, savouring the warm weather and fresh sea air. We didn't want to leave. We decided to come home via Loch Tay, and stopped off at Killin for a traditional excursion meal of haggis and chips from the chip shop. We finally got home, exhausted, at 10.30pm. We truly are lucky to live in such a beautiful country.

Last year I was all philosophical, doh!