My bow light packed in on day one of the trip (overnight sail from Portsoy to Clachnaharry). It was a Lalizas FOS 20m LED unit - completely sealed - and it started to flash rather than stay on. It was about four years old.
I've replaced it with a Helas lamp plus an LED bulb - more conventional and more repairable.
From Stroma, we caught the last of the flood round Duncansby head and anchored in Sinclair's Bay. Here is the Duncansby race in calm conditions (4 knts through the water, and 8 over the ground):
From Thurso Bay, we motored across to Stroma. I had been motoring for much of the way from the Summer Isles - clement weather has its drawbacks.
Entering Stroma harbour was a bit tricky - it's tiny, and there is a considerable eddy current just outside it. We chose to go in an hour or so before high water, and then let the boat dry out.
At this stage, I could have gone back South and up the canal. I decided to go North - there were a few things I wanted to explore up there, and it promised to be quicker. And cheaper. (!)
From Kyleakin I visited Loch Carron, where some head-scratching revealed to me that I'd have to get a move on if I wanted to be back in Lossiemouth in time to take some booked appointments in Aberdeen in the week commencing the 29th of July. I started with a sixty-mile hop to the Summer Isles.
The anchorage I went into there reminded me of how vulnerable I felt following the Navionics chart into Loch Beag (at the top of Loch Hourn). I have two tablets, and now keep them both running when I'm in tight spaces ...
The Summer Isles anchorage was magical, and the weather was perfect. I had a small run ashore.
Before stopping in Kyleakin, I spent a night at the top of Loch Duich. A friend asked whether my video had been commissioned by the Scottish Tourism authorities, and I told him that I wouldn't be disciplined by the gods of kitsch:
I saw this evidence of Scotland's somewhat stressed land ownership patterns:
From Eigg, I visited Loch Hourn. Part of the theme of this year's cruise was visiting some of the long sea-lochs I hadn't visited before, and this one was high on the list. It was unequivocally spectacular. I went to the top of the loch, and visited Loch Beig (through a difficult S-shaped channel, that left me dangling by my Navionics tablet for a few tense minutes ...).
I didn't anchor in Loch Beig, because I didn't want to be tide constrained, but anchored at the top of the main loch instead. Photos and videos can't really do it justice, but here are a few:
From Strontian, I made a wet trip to Muck. The wind had dropped, but Ardnamurchan was still a bit sloppy.
I had to spend a week back in Aberdeen in mid trip, and was planning to put the boat in a marina or on a public mooring. Fortunately, a friend had just departed for his annual cruise, and I could use his mooring in Kyleakin. He and his family (and five cats...) were also making a stop in Eigg, so I took the short hop from Muck to Eigg South Bay to meet up with them.
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So.
Raasay was at the Portsoy Boat Show from the 21st to the 23rd of June - we left on Sunday afternoon. I'd been planning to go North, then down the West Coast and up the canal. The weather looked very SW in the West for the next couple of weeks, so I decided to go the other way around, and we entered the canal on Monday morning.
A dribbly nose which I managed to share with a friend I visited in Gairlochy turned out to be Covid (as he kindly explained to me ...). It developed fully between Gairlochy and Corpach. In particular, as I was going down the locks in Banavie...
I had planned to lock out as soon as I had got to the bottom and filled up with fuel and water, but then thought this would be unwise until the delirium and the fever settled a bit. I took my bike to the Coop to get some groceries and must have looked insane as I wobbled about the road, coughing and dribbling.
Anyhow, I felt well enough by Monday to lock out and mooch down Loch Linnhe. And then up Loch Leven - all the way to the top. My plan was to eplore sea lochs, and I hadn't been up this one before. I had about two or three metres of clearance under Ballachulish Bridge.
There didn't seem to be many secure anchorages in Loch Leven, and I ended up in Poll an Dunain, just inside the bridge. I was tired when I got there, which probably contributed to my losing focus as I came in and clipping the unmarked of the two rocks near the entrance. This brought my mood down.
On Tuesday I explored Loch a Choire. I wanted to go further before stopping, but this is definitely one to keep in mind. It even had a good 4g signal.
I stopped at the marina in Loch Aline. I wanted to do some shoppng and have a quiet night. I also needed to replace an empty gas bottle (the harbour master kindly gave me a lift so that I didn't have to carry the bottle into the village and back).
I had work to do on Thursday, so spent Wednesday checking out Loch Sunart - for shelter and for internet access. I ended up anchoring near the head of the loch, not far from Strontian. I wasn't well sheltered from the Westerly gales that were forecast, but I had good holding and some way to drag if things went wrong. I spent two nights there, riding out Thursday and sitting at my laptop.
The repair worked. This is the Aries operating in about 8-9 knots of apparent wind, on a very broad reach - well aft of the beam.
On the same day, it worked right up to a dead run, in equally light winds.
My bow light packed in on day one of the trip (overnight sail from Portsoy to Clachnaharry). It was a Lalizas FOS 20m LED unit - completely ...
