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The Orkneys are indeed beautiful and it was delightful to sail here in good weather yesterday.  Virtually every person we spoke to in Scrabster kept telling us there was going to be bad weather at the weekend and to take good care, it was a popular topic of conversation, even the taxi driver!  Its hard to believe when you are sailing on the top of the UK in just a T Shirt and sunscreen.   Today however, we started to see what they meant.

The weather forecast warned us of Severe Gale 9 and “Perhaps” a Storm Force 10 later.   Oh joy!  This is the first time during our trip that we have heard such a forecast.  Our plans to sail around to Kirkwall in readiness to hop up to The Shetland Islands have now changed!

The weather forecast didnt completely deter our skipper Tank as he announced we were going for a play in Scapa Flow!

This photo looks out away from Scapa Flow out to sea - it looked very rough there!

Scapa Flow

(Pronounced “Scarpa” by our posh crew members, like scone, bath….John!) is brimming with history, it was the base for the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet during the First World War, and Stromness was the Naval HQ and and is a must to visit for UK scuba divers!

We enjoyed a beautiful sail, and experienced heavy weather sailing with good seas.

We are not really sure why they call him "Tank"!

But we do have a very strange flag!

Tank showed us how to rig up a “Preventor” onto the boom, which holds the boom safely in position whilst running with the wind – and my bowline creations were challenged once more as I secured the line!

Use of a preventer on the boom whilst we are running......

We could feel the wind increasing as our day went, and felt a real thrill as we recorded wind speeds of over 33knots.  I managed to take a quick shot of the instrument as we reached 32.9knots just to prove!

This reads 32.9 knots!

Sailing in Scapa Flow

We managed to sail 27 miles just pootling around Scapa Flow, and headed back to Stomness. We had to secure ourselves to the pontoon with a strong wind blowing us off.  I stepped down from the port side next to the Stanchions and secured our bow line, then turned around to find RBE spinning around on it as the stern line was still on the boat.  It was thrown over to me and as I lept down the length of the pontoon, narrowly missed it.   The second attempt and I managed to secure the stern line – with just me on the pontoon and the boys on the boat – so near yet so far away as they were several metres away from me!  With a little determination, we finally secure her in.

I transformed last nights dinner “left overs” into a thick soup (“Stommy Mess”)which was enjoyed by all with a mountain of toast once we had secured our lines.  Sailing does give you a hearty appetite!

Exhausted by our days adventures, we all took to our bunks once more for a siesta, and woke to find text messages from our skipper 1.”I’m in the Pub”  90 mins later “I’m still in the pub”  Well – it would have been rude to have left him there by himself wouldn’t it!

We joined him and sampled the local beer – The Dark Island was like Guinness without any fizz so I settled with the Scapa Special which went down very nicely indeed!

Supporting the local economy!

We were joined later by Micks friend Barney and his wife Pam, and I really enjoyed having another woman to chat to!  It was interesting to hear of their life here on the Orkney Islands and the transition they have made from life in Sheffield!

The weather forecast does appear correct and through lashing rain we headed back to the boat to try and sleep through the storm!  Goodnight!

Another leg commences!  This one takes us from the top of the mainland of Scotland – Scrabster to the Orkney Islands, hopefully the Shetland Islands too and then head south and begin the journey back down the East Coast, ending at Edinburgh on 9^th September.  So we have 2 weeks to complete this latest adventure.

As Mick is leaving his car here as he visits us for a few days I used him as a taxi service to take me took me into Thurso. This was a last ditch attempt to get my Canon Camera going again as I went in search of a camera shop.  My efforts so far in repairing my camera are that I have cleaned the contacts, have replaced – the internal battery, the main battery, AND the memory card and have now bought a new charger to see if its because of that.

Im afraid to tell you that this last effort has now failed, and now have to accept my camera is out of action and needs severe and professional help!  I’m now going through the stages of grief.  I have been through the denial stage, then the anger, I am now in the stage of depression!

I think it can only be a lovely sail which can make the difference for me now and it just so happens that we have woken to glorious weather once more ready to set out!  We were very sad to leave Scrabster and its generator behind, as you can imagine, and headed north towards the Orkney Islands.

We had a beautiful sail and strangely, were taught by our new skipper about chocolate – I’m not sure if it is advertising or not, but Tank says that “Cadburys dairy milk is very tasty”  Its something about compasses and deviation apparently!  We were learning how to do running fixes – a method of working out where you are without use of a GPS.

We did this as we passed by a fabulously famous landmark – The Old Man of Hoy!  We have seen it at long last – we last saw his cousin Stoer round the other side of the North Scotland Coast and were looking forward to seeing him too!  He looked glorious as we approached.

The Old Man of Hoy

As for my stage of depression, seeing the Old Man helped a little, but it was also helped by the fact I have just managed to fix my other other camera.

I came on this trip with 3 cameras, and I have been down to just one – the least favourite of my 3. Remember I told you I dropped my 2^nd favourite camera down a toilet on the Isle of Man? Well, I have bought a new battery for it (as apparently, they don’t like being dipped down a loo!) and its worked!  I can’t promise the same standard of photography I have provided during the first half of this trip, but I will continue to take what I can with my

We have all enjoyed Tanks 1^st day with us.  He has a lovely sense of humour, is great at teaching and obviously enjoys sailing (as all the instructors from SWMT do)  There is also something reassuring by having a member of an RNLI crew looking after us all.  Tank comes from Salcombe and works on the life boat there, he also plays rugby for his town and is so proud of his Devonish background that he is flying the Devon flag on the port side of the RBE!

The Orkneys are absolutely stunning!

For the second time I brought the boat onto the pontoon at Stromness (with just a little help from Tank)

Avoiding a ferry on the way into the marina at Stromness

Stromness

View from our boat in Stromness

Whilst the boys set about cleaning the boat, I began preparing dinner.  I normally call this dish Chicken Stew, but we have decided that we are in future going to name our food after the places we visit – so tonight readers we had Stromness Hot Pot!  I do hope we manage to get a little more creative in our dish naming in future!

Feeding time at the zoo!

As our appetiser, we listened to the weather forecast provided by the Shetland Coastguard.  He sounds one of the most relaxed and laid back coastguard officers so far, and must be far too used to providing bad news and the words “severe gales” seemed to trip off his tongue with ease.  We are planning to move ahead of this weather tomorrow by sneaking round the Orkney Islands round to Kirkwall and to sit out the storm for a day there ready to head towards the relaxed coastguard up in the Shetlands on Sunday.

After dinner games were provided by our new skipper Tank as he steered stationery around a chart on the table and we had to imagine its ever changing nature, from a vessel with restricted maneuverability to one under anchor with varying lengths and answer the challenges he presented us from the lights and shapes and how to avoid a pen and pencil colliding in international waters on our table!  It may sound a little strange, but its a great way of learning!

We considered visiting the local hostelry to check out a Friday night in Stromness (does that sound like a song to you?) but we were so exhausted by our efforts today we took to our beds early – goodnight!

Its always a strange time when we are between legs, saying goodbye to our skipper and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next and this time is no different.

We have had a lovely time sailing from Northern Ireland with Rick our skipper, and, although he is keen to get home to his family, we can see the wanderlust in his eyes as he looks out at the Orkney Islands which await us!  We are grateful to him for helping us with such wonderful sailing during this leg!

We are in Scrabster.  It is yet another commercial harbour, busy with the fishing industry, but very friendly.  In fact, I was very impressed with the greeting we got as we brought the boat into Scrabster.  There was a fishing vessel on its way out, and the 2 fishermen waved enthusiastically to me, and continued to do so.  I thought it was a bit overzealous when I realised one had raised his T shirt, and was tickling his nipples – I really don’t think they get many women visiting these parts!  I’m a friendly person, but it would have taken too long to have removed my lifejacket and oilskins to have reciprocated – so I hope they don’t think me rude!

Scrabster isnt set up for small craft, and we are only one of 2 craft who visit the harbour each week. However, the locals have treated us well, and even the taxi driver who took us to the local Tesco store in Thurso recognised that our boat had visited earlier this year!

We are moored against a wall right next to the harbour building and hear the drone of the generator.  We were told it got switched off at 10pm if you remember me saying in the previous blog, so 122.10 came, we thought it might just be late – but alas no, it stays on 24/7.  Our very own ice making facility right by us!  The trawlers come in regularly next to us, unload their catch and fill their holds with ice from our noisy neighbour!

Yet another photo of John relaxing in his bunk!

The local fishermans mission is a real find!  They serve cheap filling food, have shower facilities and we did all our washing there!  The Fishermans Mission is a Christian organisation set up to support fishermen who are currently working, those no longer working, and the families of those whose lives are lost.  We are very grateful to the services they provide and very happy to give them our custom.

I mentioned that the harbour master here is extremely helpful, as we have come to find in many of the places we visit.  I called in there earlier today and commented how this really was a “room with a view”!  The harbour master then showed me around the control room, including the many cameras at their disposal and how they can zoom.  Soon I found our boat in focus and couldn’t believe the views they had!  They waved me off with calls of “see you later”……….

Rick set on his way home this morning, and we took our time to provision the boat ready for our next leg.

We keep all our goodies under a bunk - we are well stocked!

I will shortly include a photo here that I have taken to show the wonderful skills he has taught me in how to tie a dinghy to a yacht………..watch this space and return in a few days….

I hope the RYA examiner will be impressed by my unique ways of securing the tender! Thanks for teaching me this way Rick!

Our new skipper has arrived.  His name is Tank!  His real name is Simon, but the name Tank seems to suit him far better!  Its a name given to him on the rugby pitch apparently, and nothing to do with his physique, (but we have asked for an increased budget to cater for him!!)  Only joking Tank!  Glad to have you on board.

A warm welcome too to Mick who is coming to keep me warm for a few nights as we head north to The Orkney and Shetland Islands!

Its useful to learn new skills from a range of people.  I speak to student midwives and tell them they wont practice just like me, but learn some skills from me, and from other midwives and work out their own ways of practicing.  Its the same with learning to sail, and we are learning different things from different skippers.  They bring their “tool boxes” of skills, and we take which tools we need and build up our own toolboxes.  So Tank, its time for us to check out your tools!

Meanwhile, we have fed our new skipper dinner – Chilli Con Carne cooked with no supervision by Mike – de, lish, ious!

Now contributing once more to the local economy in the local.  Rangers have just lost a match against a French team, so the atmosphere could get a little tense……..we might have to leave shortly!

Sailing to the Orkneys tomorrow!  Goodnight!

Another glorious day in paradise!  A beautiful morning, and it feels as if we are abroad.  The sun is shining, the water is calm, the landscape is gorgeous and it feels difficult to believe we are sitting on the top of Scotland.

Very peaceful indeed, but an uneasy sleep being at anchour.  Did you read yesterdays blog to see that Rick had gone to bed (John was in his room on the telephone) and Mike and I were watching a DVD.  Imagine how embarrassed we felt when Rick emerged from his cabin to inform us the anchor alarm was sounding, it had awoken him, yet we were ignoring it!

What actually happened was – we were watching a medical drama, and there was a medical emergency ensuing, and the alarms on all the machines in his hospital room were sounding as he was having a cardiac arrest – so we heard the anchor alarm, but just thought it was part of the film we were watching……oops!  Next time we are on anchor watch, we need to watch Laurel and Hardy instead!

When you are at anchor, you don’t want your boat straying anywhere whilst you are sleeping, but there is always some movement due to wind, tides and waves, so you have to anticipate you are going to move – just not very far.  So you can set an anchor alarm to alert you if your boat moves from a defined position.  We set this to 0.01 of a nautical mile.  This normally works well – but the computer uses GPS – which is all well and good until it loses its signal….and alarms start to ring – which they did on a few more occasions.  Another disadvantage of sleeping in the aft cabin – you are the one who will hear the alarm.  John and Mike were oblivious to it all, as were they oblivious to the VHF which we kept on in case someone should call us to warn us we are straying (as they did in Loch Inverie when our dinghy went walkabout!)

Anyway – here we are now, in paradise, cleaning out the holding tanks for our heads.  About to set out, and I’m making use of the nearby radio mast to post a blog, and will shortly make some bacon sandwiches – as I said, another day in Paradise!

An abandoned village right on the coast at the mouth of the Kyle of Tongue

Our sail is now complete and we are sitting in a bar enjoying a pint and once again contributing to the local economy,

We have had a wonderful day today, not only sailing in great weather (no rain again!), passing by lovely landscapes, deserted coastal villages, seeing lovely birds like the artic skua go by but the sailing was also very interesting!

I have already posted photos of this lovely bird!

I have mentioned before that we are going through a transition from just obeying orders in a robotic fashion to starting to think for ourselves.  Today we took it a step further as Rick took to his bunk to sleep!

Today I was navigating, taking us from Kyle of Tongue (Tamarind) to Scrabster is easy and I instructed the helm to “come out of here and hang a right”  That was fine for a while, then it got a bit technical as we now had to work with the wind with our skipper slumbering!

I remember the first birth I attended as a student midwife without the qualified midwife present, thinking I was all alone.  Once the baby was born, I was short of towels, and, just like a miracle, a bale of towels arrived in the hand of my supervising midwife – she had been listening at the door!  I know Rick was only pretending to snooze and he was waiting for us to make the decision to put a reef in the sail.

I was on the helm and took my time to make the decision and gave my instructions.  It was a bit of a slow process, but we got there in the end.  Rick, then emerged from his cabin – took a look up, and said we had done very well.  He suggested that putting our first reef in was a bit like a first kiss.  Yes, we had to agree – we were a bit slow to get round to it and it got a bit messy, but we got there in the end! Just like a first kiss!

The wind continued to blow and we were eventually sailing in a Force 6 which was fabulous!

Thurso in the distance

Scrabster was looming near and I radioed the harbour on the VHF, feeling much more at ease with it now, but still a little unclear what “brevity and discipline” means!

We were met by yet another helpful harbour master and were really grateful for him for taking the lines.  It would have needed spiderman to jump from the boat to the quayside and secured the lines, but I’m sure Mike could have obliged really!

The climb off the boat at low tide at neeps is interesting!

Another working area with the fishing industry around us.

We have a very noisy generator right next to us – but we are assured it gets switched off at 10pm – they didnt tell us the time it gets turned back on – but we are guessing it might be 6am!

We are going to spend our time tomorrow continuing with our studies, maybe doing some shopping, certainly finding some gas to replace the 2 empty cylinders and a spot of snoozing no doubt!

Time to head back to the boat and sleep – goodnight!

I can’t believe this is the start of the 8^th week of this trip – it really has gone so fast!  Here we are right at the top of Scotland, the last place you can visit on the coastline on the West coast before you start traveling along the top.

I remember (just!) when I was at school and the teacher used to make us draw a map of Britain.  I’ve never been particularly good at drawing, and my map of Britain used to look like a strange blooby monster who could easily have appeared on an early version of Dr Who – but I was always enjoyed drawing the top – its the easy bit – you just round the corner then just draw a bit of a wavy line and make it look like a lid on the country!

Well here we are – about to round the corner!

So, you might say, “I suppose you had a good nights sleep last night?”  Sadly, the answer is no.

Let me tell you about my cabin – I sleep in an aft cabin, which is lovely, very luxurious in fact, a small double bed with a shelf alongside, a cupboard, and an ensuite (the best bit, and much appreciated as the only girl onboard!) and here I am very close to sailing along my wavy line, sitting on a lovely boat in a very remote part of Scotland.

Each time a boat comes by, or if there is any movement in the sea, the water slaps across the stern.  This can be a very soothing sound on occasions, but, combined with the squeaky fenders as we sit snugly alongside another boat, and the sound of the generators groaning all night, (as this is a working harbour), it makes it a tad difficult to settle.

I’m not complaining, it is lovely, and I’m so very lucky to be part of the Round Britain Experience, but it does explain the need for siestas when they can be taken!

Anyway, todays sailing has been wonderful indeed!

We prepared the boat, not sure if our journey would take us all the way to Scrabster today, but we planned to anchor on the way.  In preparation, we prepared tonights dinner – Haggis Neeps and Tatties – we felt this would be a fitting meal for the top of Scotland!

I then went to seek out the shower facilities.  This is indeed a working port – nothing touristy about this place!

Find the seal sneaking up on the fishing vessel - they are the seagulls of the water in the harbour!

Fishermen sorting their nets in harbour

A beautiful harbour

A beautiful harbour with evidence of fishing - fishermen are not known for tidying up!

The showers were in the harbour building, which was huge – and empty!

The fishing Industry! A massive harbour building with just a bit of activity right at the end

There were only facilities for men, with an afterthought – a sign added to the door to include women!

Male or female facilities?

I enjoyed a hot shower, and tried not to spoil my enjoyment by hearing men talking as they washed in the nearby sink whilst I showered!

I continued to take photos on my way back to the boat – but then my lovely Canon camera died on me!  I’ve sent text to my dear friend Steph (a professional photographer) who has suggested it might be the internal battery!  Why didnt I know about this?

“Preparation and Planning” didnt take this into consideration!  I’m now without my dear camera.  As I have already said, its the photos which tell the story, so for now, you will have to rely on my trusty point and press and my literary prose!

We enjoyed a beautiful sail out of Kinlochbervie, and we headed towards Cape Wrath – it looked so beautiful in the distance and the landscape certainly lived up to its name!

Cape Wrath

As if it were not sufficiently momentous for us to be sailing around such a well known and little visited landmark, we were all absolutely delighted when we spotted a fabulous male orca breaking the surface right at the side of our boat!

I squealed as I saw it, and couldn’t get my words out but could only point towards it!  I just grabbed my camera in time and managed a quick shot of it just to prove its true!  Some compensation for my lovely camera breaking!

We are still talking about it, it really has been a highlight of this trip.  The Round Britain Experience has enabled us to see porpoise, dolphin, numerous seals, a basking shark, minke and now orca!  What a fabulous experience.

We couldn’t believe the weather today – we were up on the top of Scotland, in the sun, feeling very warm and wearing sun screen!

I make it into a photograph on occasions!

The landscape is absolutely stunning, so desolate yet so beautiful!

The North Scotland coastline is absolutely gorgeous

We neared our destination for the evening, and sought a good anchorage for the night.  We rounded the entrance and was guided in by John who is navigating today.  Our initial find looked great, but there was quite a swell and we would have had a very rocky night, with the boat rolling around so we moved the boat to the opposite side of the loch and found a picturesque spot.

Beautiful Talmine on the Kyle of Tongue

So glad food was prepared earlier, as it was so nice at 8pm to tuck into some warm tasty food – and haggis neeps and tatties hit the spot when you have been sailing all day – and are sitting on the top of Scotland!

As the light faded, we went up deck to admire the sunset

It was beautiful indeed and we were joined by porpoise and seals who enjoyed looking at it too!

Our delight was cut short as we were driven below by the midges!  We have been very lucky with these so far, have seen very few – but we can see midge hoods and sprays for sale in the shops, so knew they are a problem in lots of other areas too.

John, Mike and I are now relaxing in the saloon watching another DVD as its 9.30pm and Rick has turned into a pumpkin – he loves his early nights!

Time for us to turn in shortly and finish the last part of this leg and arrive in Scrabster!  Goodnight!

Up bright and early waiting for the VHF to burst into action with Stornaway Coast guard updating us with the weather forecast.  We kept our fingers crossed as the unit cackled away, with the gale warning being ceased and promise of good weather with the wind behind us!

Demonstrating my wide ranging talents, I did the engine checks, then set about poppin to the local store to update our cupboards ready for our journey forward to Kinlochbervie.

As soon as I arrived back from the shops, we slipped the lines and Mike took the helm out of Lochinver.  We all would be much happier if he kept his eyes open as he went though!

"OPEN YOUR EYES MIKE!"

Sorry about that one Mike!

With the wind howling around our ears, we made our way out of the Loch, beating as we went.

We all appreciated the difference as we headed out of the loch and changed heading, no longer beating, but now on a broad arch.  It feels as if someone has turned the wind off!  We had a beautiful sail up the coast of Northern Scotland, with the rain dying off, the sun peeping through and the wind blowing us along with the landscape.

We then passed by another famous headland – Stoer Point, with the Old Man looking magnificent!

Old Man of Stoer in the distance

Handa Island also looked so beautiful, and we could see why it is a popular place for ornithologists.

Handa Island

John tells us he has spent some time on this island, so I ensured I got a good shot of him on the helm as we sped past.

John sailing by Handa island

We enjoyed a beautiful sail and were rewarded with a warm tasty lunch – the planning and preparation from yesterday paid off, and the lentils and vegetables which the gammon was cooked in for dinner last night made a lovely warming soup.  Due to the high winds, we all managed to wear some of it too!

Nearing Loch Inchard, (home of Kinlochbervie),

the almanac informed us that it can be difficult to identify the entrance to the Loch, but we should look out for a white concrete beacon on the headland.  I’m learning quickly not to greatly rely on these landmarks, but keep a good look at the charts and a sharp look out ahead.  Can you see the beacon on the headland?

The beacon to guide us - can be well seen one you are virtually upon it!

Loch Inchard is very beautiful, which is more than can be said for Kinlochbervie which is a desolate place!  This is one of the final examples of civilization on the North West coast before you reach the very top and turn the corner around Cape Wrath, and we can only imagine how bleak it can become here.  The place is desolate, with fishing seeming to be the only activities here, with the fishermen littering the place with the abandoned nets and pots.  The best part of Kinlochbervie is the view looking away from it towards Loch Inchard!

There is only a very small pontoon here and we are rafted alongside a wooden boat which seemed to strain under the challenge of our boat.  We have secured lines to the shore, but, as we see the scars other boats have obviously made to her, we were grateful to the owner of a nearby fishing vessel who also allowed us to secure a line onto his lifting frame.  We will now sleep much more easily.

Speaking of sleep – its amazing how tired you get sailing. It seems to be a regular activity to take to our cabins whenever we can.  We all managed a nice snooze and I awoke to find Mike preparing tonights dinner – Thai Green Chicken Curry!  It smells delicious, and he is needing very little supervision now.  All he lacks is a nice little pinny!

A lovely dinner – thanks Mike.  Just settled down to a DVD (this is a posh boat!), some cheese and biscuits and an early night!

Our day began just before 9am with a lovely aroma wafting into my cabin – our skipper, having said we could have a lye in today, was enticing us out of bed early by making us bacon sandwiches! Thanks for the bacon butties Rick! I quickly dressed then was a little disappointed as he had planned to serve it to us all in cabins (do you believe him?! I missed out on having breakfast in bed!

Breakfast completed, we set about on our studies – variation, deviation, computation and interpolation, which was great as we’ve been concentrating on procrastination for too long! We spent about 4 hours on our studies, feeling very proud of ourselves to realise we still had a long way to go to get through our exercises. Exhausted following our studying we each took to our cabins to recuperate!

We have made the right decision to sit tight in a haven, as we see the weather fronts passing quickly through. We set upon preparing tea, then I became a little distracted by a seal coming to the pontoon, she was not a bit shy and spent some time gazing across – delightful!

Seals are regular visitors to us!

Seals are common visitors to us, its lovely

I then tried to continue preparing dinner, then became distracted once more, this time by Rick who was teaching us how to input waypoints into the chart plotter of the Raymarine. Rick had a little trick up his sleeve and wanted to teach us another lesson! I shall explain.

John had meticulously worked out the lats and longs and inputed them into the chart plotter. His 1st waypoint led the boat nicely out of our marina – but right across land – which wasnt so bad really (ahem ahem) compared, that is, to the 2nd waypoint which was on land! He soon realised his error – and had made a tiny error and inputted incorrectly. Rick had a wry smile on his face and asked it to be rechecked. Mike now double checked his lats and longs and the waypoints were re-entered. A little better this time, but you really wouldn’t want to steer the course set out.

Well – now to Ricks lesson for the day. Don’t rely on equipment as there are human errors at play. We were however, still perplexed that we were not on the same position on the chart plotter as we were on the chart – to find that Rick had altered the computer settings for the plotter and set us as being in Bogota! Thanks Rick. Your new name is Head Wind Bogota! An important lesson however – not to rely on equipment and double check – for little fingers (and skippers fingers!) at play before you can make a big difference to the course to be steered. This was a safe bit of fun learning, but there have been many boats which have met their end with such errors, a sober thought!

Students at work!

Back to dinner – a joint of gammon cooked in coke, onions, carrots, leeks and lentils! The gammon then removed and finished off in the oven with a glaze of honey and mustard and served with potatoes, green beans and cauliflower cheese. The saucepan now has the contents left for lentil soup for our journey tomorrow! Thats planning and preparation we have learned so much about!

I’m sorry to tell you, we, yet again, contributed to the local economy and visited the pub in Lochinver. More characters met, this time from Germany and Austria! They said they struggle with the Scottish accent – we sympathized! Its now 11pm and the boys are all in their cabins asleep, as usual, and here I am writing the blog! I have, on numerous occasions offered them the opportunity to write it, and they politely decline – I wonder why! Goodnight!

We had an early start this morning as the weather forecast confirmed severe gale warnings in Bailey, Rockall and Hebrides, but our brave skipper boldly went on with our planned passage

I enjoyed bringing the boat out of Gairloch as the lines were slipped and we motored into the wilderness with the sun rising and a scattering of clouds on the mountains.

We have had a wonderful day and really enjoyed the changing landscape as we motored up the North West Scottish Coast.  I think anyone could be forgiven for thinking as they looked across, that they were in Sharm El Sheik – with the stark mountains behind the barren coastline and brilliant blue skies.  This then transformed into the Mediterranean and we could imagine we were heading towards a Greek Taverna.  Sugar Loaf looked like the Glass House Mountains of Queensland, Oz, and as we neared Lochinver, it looked just like the alps.  It really wasn’t what I expected of the coastline along the North Highlands.

This looks like the views I have from the dive boats at Sharm - with just a few more layers of clothing on!

Another regular visitor - its a seal in case you can't see it. He popped his head through the surface and just sat there looking for ages!

Sugar load mountain!

We had a few moments of excitement, the first one being whilst John was preparing to brush his hair to look gorgeous in his mid layer salopettes – he saw the shape of the whale through the window of his cabin, he raced towards the companionway steps, shouting “Minkie” as he went.  I was preparing lunch and raced behind him to grab a quick photo, and was a tad frustrated to find John had acquired himself a lovely view of the beautiful mammals from the top of the steps, and I was left with a not so lovely view of his stern!  Thanks John – sorry readers, you will just have to believe our sightings as no photo available!

However, John does have his uses, amongst these is as our eagle eyed onboard ornithologist.  Mike and I spotted an unusual bird.  John immediately recognized it as an Arctic Skua and I set about photographing it

The Arctic Skua

Arctic Skua

John thinks my photos of the Artic Skua he has ever seen – this is praise indeed!  I must say that the Skua made my job really easy by circling our boat several times.  John informs us they are often difficult to photograph as they are usually attacking the people photographing them, so glad he told me that after I had finished!

Mike brought boat beautifully into the berth at Lochinver, and we are glad to be in a safe haven to sit out the gales which have been forecast.  We have outrun them so far, but they are sure to catch up with us soon.

This will give us time to study and work towards our coastal skipper/yacht master theory.  We try to work as we are sailing, but invariably, this happens

We try to study as we sail - but the views are too good!

"Round Britain Experience" Training to Yacht Master

Having a nice early start means you reach your destination at a reasonable time and have a chance to explore the area.  It is very beautiful here, and we feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to visit so many gorgeous parts of our coastline – the Round Britain Experience is more than a training package, it is a fabulous experience!

Lochinver

Time now to go explore Lochinver before I start cooking dinner – catch you later maybe!

Plockton is a lovely find indeed!

Plockton

and we are very grateful to the owners of “Monkey Business” We hope you can see this blog and see our appreciation!

The mooring buoy for the boat "Monkey Business" We met them on the ferry from the marina in Oban - and they gave their permission to use their mooring if we visited Plockton!

Today is my birthday, and my day began with an all male rendition of “Happy Birthday To you” and a present from them – they know me so well – whiskey and shortbread!  I loved the card from them too – with pictures of cricket bats and football boots (honest girls!), I really do feel one of the lads now!

My lovely mate Nic Nac, being so well organized had planted my present on board back in Brixham – that was a lovely treat – you must have known I would be smelly by now Nic as you bought me lots of lovely girlie smellies!  I love the mug too!

Thanks Nic Nac and the boys!

In fact, it has been 5 days since our last shower – and we have our fingers crossed the facilities will be good at our next port of call – Loch Gairloch

John performed the engine check today, and managed to look sexy too

John the Engine Man!

Time to make out way out of Plockton.  Here comes Lesson one of the day – don’t throw your pilotage sketches and instructions away until your out!  SO, once I had scraped the remains of Chicken Fajitas off my pilotage instructions, we headed out of Plockton.

Mike and I are adding to our navigation skills today, and I commenced by getting us out of Plockton safely

Jill The Navigator!

The navigation for the day worked well except for one point where I ended up on the chart in a completely wrong position with my 3 point fixes – I’m sure they will get better!

Meanwhile, John continued to steer whilst Mike and I debated headings, courses, beacons, buoys, bearings.  John is becoming a true helmsman, and is perfecting the art of steering with his belly whilst he holds a cuppa and some food!

John is adept at steering with his belly!

Which left Rick to be the hunter gatherer – so, without a licence to fish, he hunted for mackerel – but I don’t fancy what he caught – do you?

Whats for dinner???

The skyline looked beautiful as we sailed further and further north along the Scottish coast, and Skye started to disappear.  I hadnt realised before just how large an Island Skye really was!

What a beautiful day we had, we could see all the way to the Outer Hebrides with Harris in the distance

The Outer Hebrides in the distance

The Highlands of Scotland looked magnificent, and made even better by the ever changing cloud rising above them

We neared Loch Gairloch, with John completing the pilotage for today.  We approached the marina and were met by a lovely harbor master who welcomed and helped us in.  I need to mention here that I was on the helm and safely brought the boat in with the first effort.  I should also mention that my heart was pounding ten to the dozen, and I would have given in the slightest excuse to get off the helm and hand it over to someone else at any point!  I’m glad it didnt, as it worked well, particularly once I stopped worrying about the numerous people who were watching!

The lines (with fabulous Bowline’s – thank you John!) secured – we found the shower facilities.

I think this is the first time I have said “For my birthday, I’m going to treat myself to a shower”!  Its normally taken as read that I would shower, but today my birthday is being spent on the RBE, and I fully appreciated the first shower I had in 5 days!

Back to the boat to enjoy another meal made by Mike – he really is excelling himself with his newly found culinary skills!

Time to frequent the local hostelry, and contribute once more to the local economy!  The local pub is called The Old Inn Fabulous

with real ale which was a little too strong for my male counterparts!  The walk in the early evening sunshine was stunning

The boys heading to the pub!

The RBE In Gairloch

Back to the boat, with everyone in bed at 9.30 – apart from me as I had to continue my telephone calls to my family as it is my birthday!  Its now very late, but todays blog is complete!  Tomorrow we sail to Lochinver, and hope the low which is well settled below us with gale force winds doesn’t catch us up!  Please be patient for a while if the blog isnt updated – it will be written, but I feel I will be chasing internet!

I look forward each day to a new adventure, to exploring new places, to learning more about sailing and having a chance to meet new characters along the way!

Goodnight!

What a beautiful start to the day – the sun was shining and the sea was like glass and Loch Nevin looked spectacular

Our heads (and John’s bottom!) are a little sore this morning after our brilliant night out in The Old Forge Pub, but the sunshine made us smile and as we headed out of the Loch to continue our journey.  We took advantage of the conditions by practicing maneuvering the boat and took turns at this, which although possibly looking strange to onlookers, was enormously helpful for us all.

We passed by Mallaig and felt glad we had travelled further to Inverie as it looked a little soulless.  Eigg looked beautiful in the distance and we continued on our way.  We are always optimistic, and hope to sail whenever we can, so the sails came out in anticipation.  Unfortunately there were very little used today as there was very little winds, and the little we had was in the wrong direction.

We stopped for lunch on Skye at a place called Isle Ornsay which was very pretty.  John and Rick stopped on the boat for a rest whilst Mike and I took the tender to the village to explore.  We learned a lesson or two about landing a small craft on a beach and enjoyed our little pootle.

RBE as we headed away from it in the dinghy

Isle Ornsay was tiny, but pretty, and it is interesting to look out to sea which gives you a nice change of perspective when you have been used to sailing.

Back onto the boat and ready to make our way once more.  The weather had chanced, and went straight from bikini weather (honest!) to late autumn in a matter of minutes as we headed up the Sound of Seat towards Kyle Rhea.  The wet weather gear came out once more!

Did you read from yesterdays blog the interesting discovery we made when calculating the tide for this area as it is a tidal gate?  We felt confident we had the timings right, but with no other craft sailing along it, we still awaited confirmation!  This soon came when we entered it and found we easily moved 10 knots over ground – we then sighted a yacht crawling along in the opposite direction who had clearly worked from the tidal diamond from Kyle Akin as we initially calculated yesterday!

Cleared Kyle Rhea in good time and rounded the headland and headed towards Skye Bridge.  Thankfully the rain stopped in time for me to take some lovely photos of the bridge.

Look at how beautifully pleated the sail is! Far more interesting than the Skye Bridge?!

I went down into the galley to start to prepare supper whilst we continued to motor north towards our destination – Plockton.

I had planned the pilotage into Plockton, with a sketch made and bearings to landmarks given.  This would have been fine if the white beacon they promised on the chart actually existed!

Plockton is indeed pretty, staggering mountains in the distance, woodland areas, fabulous houses, quaint gardens and even has its own castle – this served as the second landmark, a superb castle which was very easily seen (or conspicuous as it says in the almanac!)

 

We are grateful to the couple I met when we were on the ferry from Oban Marina to the town on Saturday night.  They told me they have a mooring at Plockton, and as they are out on a sailing holiday themselves, we could use their buoy.  I made a note of the mooring, and hoped they hadnt told too many others about this!  Thank you to the owners of “Cheeky Monkey” for their mooring in Plockton!

Chicken fajitas for dinner – a little messy, but they seemed to go down well with very little washing up.  Straight after dinner – passage planned tomorrow to take us to Lock Gairlock.  A quick visit to the town on the dinghy – The Plockton Hotel – (just the one pint tonight!) enjoyed a locally brewed pint and some more impromptu Scottish music

Now its 11pm and indeed time to sleep.  Im sitting in my cabin and thinking about my 3 lovely kids and missing them loads – love you Tash, Cal and Ces – goodnight!