Our passage has been Tobermory to Arisaig (on the mainland and I believe a training centre for Special Operations), then to Kyle Akin, then to Gairloch, then to Stornoway with a days rest, then back to mainland at Kinlochbervie, just south of the North West corner of Scotland, Cape Wrath. We will go around Cape Wrath on Monday 24th.
I will leave it to the photos to do the talking and describe one of the days. We were on the pontoon in Kyle Aikin, where the recently constructed bridge to Skye is, expecting to sail to Gairloch further up the coast, but expecting an uncomfortable passage. I was to be skipper for the day. We awoke around 7:30 and Tony our "real" skipper announced we were not leaving because there was heavy rain, strong winds and to leave would have been very uncomfortable sailing. The weather has been unsettled for a few days and wet far too often (I know, this is Scotland!) - so you can imagine we weren't too pleased to be staying put as each delay makes it more likely we will miss interesting ports of call and will have to do a long passage to get the skipper to the port where they change over (ie Tony leaves us on Tuesday 25th August in Scrabster, to be replaced by the next skipper Aubrey). Anyway, we settled down to some further learning of the Yachtmaster theory and by lunch time the rain stopped and the winds dropped slightly, so we decided to leave. The sail up to Gairloch was absolutely tremendous, no rain, some sun, and sailing "goose winged" at some speed (see early blog for explanation). Upon arrival in Gairloch, a stunning loch, the sun was setting over the mountains in spectacular fashion. Then we went to the local pub and found a tremendous two man band for some really good evening entertainment. The day was tremdous, starting off badly, but finishing on a high.
During the sail from Gairloch to Stornoway across the Minch Sea I got a phone call early in the morning from Lucy who had just returned from her working with Camp America. She got the A level grades she needed and will be going to Oxford next year to study Physics. Of course I am one very proud Dad and despite the weather, enjoyed the rainsoaked half hour watch that followed Lucy's call. Also, a school of Dolphins swam alongside the boat shortly afterwards for ten or so minutes - I went up to the front of the boat and was only a few feet away from them swimming and jumping out of the water.
So here are the photos which will do the talking for this section of the trip ...
