A difficult trip to the West (Part 1) ...

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.

Ballachulish

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.