Another fairly lazy start …….. this cruising life is sooo hard…… we lifted our very muddy anchor & chain before heading down to Iona…… limited anchorage and heavy tidal streams, however, we identified a suitable anchorage area at the North end with the help of Antares & Captains Mate.

Once anchored we launched 1350 and got ashore at a wonderful beach, dragging 1350 high enough to cater for the 3.5m tides!

We then set off down towards the village & old Abbey.

Iona is a wonderfully pretty island that has a welcoming feel about it, loads of tourists but very little traffic …… only locals & ‘blue’ badge owners!

We could see across to Mull …..

A local heelan coo;

We then paid our dues and did culture for a couple of hours ….. Ruth also managed to participate in the short 2pm service they hold…… she well and truly ticked off this bucket list item!

The abbey has been magnificently restored and the small museum also has some great artefacts,

we then headed back to the beach to relaunch 1350 ……. to be met by a number of people actually swimming in the freezing water!!!

We then set off down the Western side of Iona, unfortunately now against a spring tide, but the pink granite rocks were quite a sight to behold,

we then headed due east to our anchorage for the night at Ardalanish, again identified via Antares & Navionics, the first bay was already occupied so we went into the 2nd one, fairly tight

but with little wind we safely dropped the anchor in crystal clear water on to the sandy bottom

….. our endeavours closely watched by the local seal population…… who for some reason became very shy every time the camera appeared…… a bit like sheepish school kids!

Our ‘minders’ persisted with this behaviour all night and during our early departure the next morning!

Another lazy start, by the time we made a brew at least 8 other boats had departed but as we only had about 13Nm to do, there didn’t seem any point in rushing as long as we caught some of the tide! We dropped off the buoy and headed towards the Treshnish Islands,

managing to sail albeit slowly on about 6kts true wind, as we neared the Treshnish Islands the wind completely disappeared, but engine on at only fast idle with the tide gave us 6kts SOG. Another gloriously hot & sunny day, although clouds did appear on a regular basis and with any wind from the north the temperature did drop, quickly recovering once it disappeared again.

There were 2 choices for anchoring and as Barry could see on the AIS that there was already one boat in one of them he decided to head for the one between Gometra & Ulva, 2 small islands off Mull.

Once through the narrow entrance it opened up into a large area,

no one else there, we had the pick of the anchorage and dropped our hook in 7m towards the top end. A very lazy afternoon ensued, sunbathing and reading, eventually another yacht arrived and anchored well away, then just after 5pm as the tide was nearing ‘high’ we launched 1350 to head ashore, the shore here is fairly inaccessible at anything less than close to high tide. After a couple of attempts we landed near some houses,

however, getting away from the shore was difficult with deep undergrowth and boggy wet ground. Back in 1350 we did a tour of the bay then going up to the head of the bay and the low tide ‘drying’ ground that separates the 2 islands, until we could see the joining bridge/crossing and the water got too shallow to safely go any further!

Back in to the bay we went down to the SE corner and managed to land on Ulva, a quick walk up the hill and we could see across to Mull & Little Colonsay islands.

We also noticed a boat approaching the anchorage ……. would you believe it …… our ‘No, No, No’ stink boat from yesterday, when we got back to SW he’d again parked next to us but not as close as yesterday’s first attempt!

After hot showers we had dinner, 2 other yachts arrived a Halberg Rassy that was directly behind us on a buoy in Coll the night before, flying the red ensign they all speak either Italian or French and the younger crew go for quick cold water plunges off the transom??? The other a very classic looking racing yacht with a blue ensign.

This is a lovely anchorage with room for at least another dozen boats, we’re pleased we got here early in the day to enjoy the beauty and unspoilt tranquility, before the masses arrived!

Up early to catch the tide, it was overcast and cool at 7.15, not much breeze as we dropped off the buoy and left Canna anchorage closely followed by 2 other yachts. Once outside there was a bit of breeze so we set the sails and made good progress almost due south between Canna & Rum and then off towards Coll. We quickly left the other 2 yachts behind as we made 8kts with the tide, after a couple of hours the wind completely disappeared, however the sun was now out on a hot and bright day, as we then passed the top of Coll and motored down to Aringour, the main anchorage & village. Once through the channel & past the CalMac ferry terminal/pier we easily picked up a visitor mooring buoy.

The 28Nm taking just 4hrs!

After lunch we were starting to launch 1350, when a ‘stink boat’ came up beside us and started to anchor, as they got level with us and to within 15m of our port side and still deploying chain, bearing in mind we’re on a buoy and not going anywhere, Mrs C said quite loudly “No, No, No!”, the chap deploying said anchor quickly looked across, before retrieving his chain & hook, then moving further away and once more deploying his ground tackle! So we then felt safe to leave SW and go ashore to the Coll Hotel to pay our mooring dues ……. I do start to question whether I should even bother paying, as the total lack of interest & not even asking for a boat name when paying is in my opinion ridiculous! We were not enamoured with their dinner menu either, so decided it would be haggis on board SW!

We then went for a walk, visited the local church, built in 1907 and eventually up to the 3 small wind turbines on the hill overlooking the village. Before we entered the anchorage we had fairly good 4G mobile coverage, once on the buoy …. no signal, the same in the village, however, once on the high ground looking out towards Mull we had 3 bars of 3G, sufficient to download emails and for Ruth to do some work and make an important call to the MOA Commodore!

We could also see our local friendly ‘too close neighbour’ stink boat disappear from the harbour.

The village cafe by now was closed, so we left dry land for SW, able to watch the comings and goings of lots of other boats, as the day drew to a close. By late evening all the 12 buoys were taken & 4 boats anchored, including a Cat with a doggie onboard who needed to go ashore……

Overall impressions of Coll;

rugged landscape, not in the slightest pretty ….. in our opinion but we’ve been there!

After a lovely quiet night, the day again started a bit foggy, and to a dawn chorus of seals bellowing from the rocks behind the boat, the skies cleared as the morning went on …… walking boots on we launched 1350 & headed for shore, using the large ferry loading ramp to alight, then dragged 1350 to the top & out of the way. We headed along he road towards the cafe, which does very good food, so we could book a table for dinner ……. failed there….. only closed one day a week on a Tuesday!! Along the way there were lots of thistles on the roadside that were absolutely covered in brightly coloured butterflies,

we paid our mooring dues in the Community Shop, which is all run on an honesty basis in to a cash box, quite astounding really given the amount of daily tourists arriving both morning & afternoon!

We continued walking around the harbour & then headed off up the hill along a path to an ancient monument & punishment stone,

Where the ‘ offender’ had their thumb jammed in a hole, by now we could also see a golden eagle flying along the ridge above us.

We then completed our walk & headed back to wards SW for lunch, being as nowt available ashore! It was now low tide and there were loads of birds on the low water shoreline including a curlew.

When we got to the slipway some people asked which way we were going, as they were waiting for their skipper to collect them (broken outboard so rowing), we managed to get 6 of us in 1350 (even with one rather large chap) and safely delivery them to their yacht …… it turns out the ‘rowing’ was also an issue as one of the rowlocks had now broken too!

Back ashore after lunch we then visited an old church

and made our way down to a sandy beach on the NE side of Canna, a mixture of black granite sand and normal white sand,

we then espied an old castle, precariously perched on the side/top of rock hill,

how on earth it was ever built there is amazing. The next beach was covered in pebbles rather than sand and the rocky coastline was quite special. We then retraced our steps and headed up the hill, getting over half way to the top before the tracks got too difficult.

Safely returning whence we came, back in 1350 we went to the south part of the island to another old church

which was unfortunately locked so we couldn’t enter and there was no point going out to the cliffs as the puffins had departed the island over the weekend, once their young have fledged they leave land until the next breeding season.

After dinner, we sat on deck until quite late on, still just in our shorts & t-shirts, watching the going’s on with other boats ….. all the buoys were taken and at half a dozen anchored, probably the hottest day/evening we’ve had to date and long may it continue! Canna is absolutely beautiful, okay we had decent weather, which always helps but the whole place has just got something about it that you can’t help liking!

Our fourth day in Mallaig, final time to get our jobs done so we could hit the high seas again…. the morning started with fog/low cloud, giving the marina a rather eerie look ……

Ruth put the last load of washing in and cleaned the boat to within an inch of its life, Barry got down & dirty changing the diesel fuel filters …… pleasantly surprised at how clean they were after 250hrs running, obviously getting the diesel tank cleaned in Portugal is still paying dividends!

A big fresh stores resupply from the Co-op, settled our dues at the marina office, then a trip to the fish wholesaler and we were ready for off….. with no wind, the forecast for the next few days is also similarly wind deficient! Destination Canna, once outside Mallaig entrance and heading for the Point of Sleat, Barry put a fishing line out……. after 3hrs he had a similar result to the weeks spent fishing last year in the South Pacific ….. absolutely nothing!

As we passed Rum we could see tens & tens of dolphins jumping out of the water,

they were heading directly for us before turning away and heading back whence they came, but an awesome sight nonetheless! We’ve also seen many seals, inquisitively looking at us as we motor by.

We’re now on a buoy in Canna a small island to the west of Rum and in a stunning location …..

13 other boats here…. another first for Ruth – picking up a buoy with no mooring strop or pick up buoy on it….. she did very well capturing it with the boat hook, enabling Barry’s long arms to then thread a warp through! Not sure we’d of fancied trying this in 30+kts!

It was by now time for sundowners, the rain then started so time for Bimini up, not sure if it’ll ever get used to keep the sun off, but as an umbrella it does a fine job indeed…… we then watched a number of dinghies heading from shore back to the other boats complete with soaking wet occupants, as by now the rain was a torrential downpour, whilst we smugly watched from in the dry under our large umbrella!

Ruth then cooked a wonderful seafood dinner with the scallops, mussels & squid purchased earlier, a lovely end to a very pleasant and successful day!

Our ‘safe anchorage’ looked after us well, despite the wind and rain throwing quite a lot at us, although 45kt gusts were more than we felt comfortable with …… our ground track gives an idea of what happened…..

Monday morning we had an opportunity to move before we again would get 30+kts, so we lifted our anchor …… not much mud, but crazy amounts of seaweed ….. however, we’re fairly sure it hadn’t moved and we headed off the 13Nm to Plockton. Torrential rain and 25kts, made for a swift passage and an interesting time when it came to pick up a buoy as by then we had 35kts …….. first attempt failed but 2nd time was successful, although the end loop was only just on the port forward cleat ……. and not over the bow roller. With a mooring line attached & Ruth driving the boat, Barry managed to manoeuvre the buoy mooring strop into the right place and finally secure it, that just left us to reattach the cockpit enclosure and retire below to dry off!

Tuesday dawned a far better day ….. actually quite warm for once, after emptying copious amounts of water out of 1350, we ventured ashore, Plockton is quite a nice pretty village …….. a couple of eateries, a tiny shop that’s part of a cafe, but not much else. We booked a table for 2 for dinner later and walked to the train station, intending to visit Kyle of Lochalsh. Got to station at 11.19, just missed previous train by 2mins …. next train not until 13.15 (only 4 a day!) ……. after dithering for 4-5mins, heard a train approaching …… the ‘late’ 11.17, result! £3.60 return each was a bargain although only a short 15min journey, but quite spectacular all along the coast…..

We then decided to walk across the Skye bridge, well we’ve been under it twice now ….. so might as well?

We had a wonderful seafood lunch at a little shack besides the old ferry slipway, the sun shone all day ….. absolutely fabulous, the only downside was that we were wearing jeans and not our shorts! After we’d restocked with fresh supplies from the Co-o we had nearly 2hrs to kill, we walked back to the train station to have a look in the museum …… everything said it was open, including a neon sign, however, the doors were firmly locked! So we sat in the sun until our train arrived, then back to Plockton, Ruth had a mild panic about 1350, as when we got back the top part of the harbour it was completely dried out! However, when we got to the new pontoon around the hill at the other end it was still floating as was 1350 ……. a quick wash and change on board, then back ashore for another great seafood meal!

Overall impressions of Plockton and surrounding area ……… absolutely stunning and great to see it in good weather this time!

Another fabulously quiet night on the hook, both sleeping amazingly well …… must be all the fresh sea air?!

With a possibly Southerly F8 forecast for Sunday/Monday today we planned to find shelter ….. Barry had identified an area on the north east side of Skye with a couple of possible anchorages and with a brisk NW wind off we went, leaving the Rum Cuillins behind

full Genoa and running down wind (140 degrees AWA) towards the Point of Sleat Lighthouse, bit of a sloppy sea ….. not as bad as yesterday. Although we are cruising …. not racing, there is still a satisfaction when you leave at the same time as a slightly bigger yacht and get to the corner (8Nm) just over a mile ahead!

Once we had turned 40 degrees to the north, the sea had settled, the wind had eased and we trundled along at 6-6.5kts on a flat boat! This continued for another couple of hours, until we could see a torrential rain line ahead right across the loch and whitecaps too, after putting on wet weather kit and reducing sail ……. the rain then disappeared along with the wind, despite full main & Genoa even Barry couldn’t keep us going in 1.5kts wind that by now was from wherever it wanted to be, so engine on, 10mins later breeze filled in so engine off, then we had a complete flat calm so engine back on. We slowly motored northwards towards Kyle Rhea, avoiding arriving too early as the tide runs at 7kts. Once through the narrows it was onwards to Skye Bridge, this time in all its glory as the sun shone ….

…… once through it was across the gap and in to Caolas Scalpay.

Today we’ve seen a few seals, either on rocks or just having fun in the sea, one in front of the boat earlier was just slapping the water! This was probably the longest and best proper sail we’ve actually managed this trip, although we needed the engine from mid afternoon!

After a fairly lazy start & breakfast, Ruth had some MOA Editor stuff to complete ….. having had the nod that all her work was now good to go to the ‘page layer upper’! Barry prepped to leave and retrieve the 60m of chain …… not a pleasant job given the muddy bottom, but good old deck wash again did the trick!

An overcast cool day about 8-10kts of wind, we set off down the loch (6Nm to entrance) running down wind under just the Genoa, once we turned the corner we then had wind on the nose, which persisted once clear of the entrance and running down the southern side of Skye. We also had a very uncomfortable swell…. Ruth eventually succumbing to Stugeron, after about an hour the wind had veered sufficiently to get the sails out and actually sail ….. Raah! 10kts true gave us 13kts apparent at 50 degrees = 6kts boat speed…. fairly satisfactory as in general direction for Rhum where we were heading! After another hour the wind started picking up, there was a rain front ahead crossing in front, the sea was now covered in white caps, time to reduce sail…. quickly achieved, however, 5 mins later rain had gone through, wind had eased and was now on the nose again…. so diesel time!

The Stugeron was now making Ruth sleepy, so she got comfy behind the spray hood and proceeded to inspect the inside of her eyelids, the sun was also trying to make a belated appearance, with only 3Nm until we turned into the entrance for Rum, Barry was checking the anchorage details on the chart plotter, when he heard a noise of blowing air, looking over the back of the boat he saw a whale ……….. quickly waking Ruth we saw a whale just breaking the surface, so did a quick 180 turn and retraced our steps ……. Ruth getting her big camera ready. After what seemed like an age we then saw the whale(s) again, blowing air out and breaking the surface …… a truly awesome sight and we feel very ‘lucky spuds’! We were now going around in circles trying to catch sight of them before eventually heading back in our right direction! We’re not sure how many there were, but do know from their short dorsal fin that they are Minke whales !

Shortly after we turned into Loch Scresort we found a good spot and again dropped the hook, this time only in 5m and not much wind, once dug in and settled down the sun really did make an appearance….. time for shorts! There were 5 other yachts here when we arrived; 1 anchored & 4 on buoys, now there’s 4 anchored & 5 buoyed! Rum is actually a nature reserve! A quick 30Nm today…… Marine Traffic App lost our track just after we left Skye, so no proper picture today …… we’re actually just to the right of the ‘m’ in Rum!

The Rum Cuillins…..

Following our long day on Monday, we slept like logs overnight, not knowing what was going on outside! Tuesday dawned fair, with full 4G phone signal Ruth spent the morning doing her MOA editor stuff, Barry doing little maintenance jobs around the boat …… important one being cleaning side hatch seals and lubricating with vaseline as a couple had been weeping during previous heavy rain ….. after a bite of lunch we launched 1350 and headed ashore, unfortunately the distillery was fully booked for the afternoon, so we set off for a walk to the top of the hill, where we’d espied a monument from the boat. This turned out to be a war memorial for local folk from the World Wars……

Nice looking boat anchored in the bay ……

Back down the hill we then deserved a beer, so stopped off in The Inn for a libation …… which turned into two or three and a spot of dinner, as it was a nice evening …….

Food was ok, nothing special …… we’d had higher hopes from some online reviews!

Once back to SW, it was time to batten down the hatches …… so cockpit enclosure fitted in prep for the forthcoming inclemency ….. despite Ruth’s trepidations about ‘anchor watch’ …….. with 10m depth & 60m scope out! She slept soundly! even if the wind generator was working well all night ….. Wednesday dawned as expected wet & windy, but the cockpit enclosure ensured we were tucked up snug!

The persistent stuff persisted all day ……. we read books, surfed the internet, stayed wrapped up and warm, it did ease a bit mid evening, when we opened the side flaps on the enclosure, but then it was time to close up & turn in!

Thursday was a bit brighter to start with, so it was distillery & sea food farm shop day …… launched 1350 and off we set, halfway to the pontoon had to stop and put waterproofs on …… not exactly as planned! Distillery was fully booked until 12.30, so we elected for 2pm and then set off up the other hill for the farm shop. Our walk was again interrupted by rain, but we continued, the farm shop was well stocked with various jars etc, but not the fresh sea food we expected, however, they did serve fresh sea food …….. so we departed for a while to pick wild raspberries and to then return for lunch.

Two large ‘chinese’ plastic trays of raspberries picked later we returned …….. What a lunch, seafood platter and a portion of chips for Barry ….. half a lobster, 2 of large langoustines, scallops, calamari, oysters, roll mop herrings, 4 large crab claws & onion rings all for £25, cooked perfectly and absolutely exquisite!

We then headed back down for a stroll along the front to a large fisherman’s wharf and back to the distillery…… we had a 40min wait but we’re inside out of the rain …… bit of a theme again unfortunately! Distillery tour was great,

the Talisker Storm whisky we tasted was not really to our taste and although we had a £5 off voucher didn’t feel the need to buy a bottle at £46!

It was now dry, so we headed back to 1350, paid our £2 landing fee in the honesty box and launched for SW as the clouds were again building on the hills…… this time we made it in the dry, including getting the motor off and 1350 safely stowed on the stern!

The weather for tomorrow & Saturday is ok, then we’ve high winds and heavy rain, so looking at options of where to hide for a few days……. apart from that everything is good on board!

After a peaceful night at anchor in Lingarabay, with no internet/mobile signal, we headed south towards Lochmaddy around 09.30, with the intention of an overnight anchor stop before heading east towards Skye and a safe anchorage at Cabost ahead of the forecasted ‘blow’ on Wednesday. With no wind and bright sunshine we motored south from South Harris across the ‘gap’ & Cope Passage to North Uist, we saw the church on Rodel this time from the sea side …..

the occasional seal popping out of the water, but nothing else much of interest, apart from a catamaran with twin masts and a ‘junk’ type rig, making its way north ….

as we neared the entrance to Lochmaddy we had about 6-8kts wind on the nose by now, we got in through the entrance and suddenly the wind increased rapidly to 12 …. 15 …… then 27kts, certainly not the forecasted variable F3, maybe F4-5 later! The plan had been to anchor down near the pontoons, its not a marina as some people think these pontoons are in the Western Isles ….. anyway where we had planned to stop Barry thought it was too narrow for the conditions (24-27kts) we now had, added to the fact that what phone signal we had outside the loch, had now disappeared to nothing!

We turned around and headed out to a wider area and where we could safely anchor in the lee of a hill, 20mins later safely anchored in 8m with a still very gusty wind. Time to take stock and have some lunch, at 13.10hrs…… Barry’s favourite Stornoway Coastguard lady came on the radio with the 3hrly forecast ……. Tuesday PM was now forecast to be F7 in The Minch, so with no internet (Ruth needs this for the Moody magazine editorial stuff, which has to be completed this week), the forecast for Tuesday less than ideal, we would sort ourselves out and get away asap eastwards to Skye!

Once togged up ….. wind still 20+kts, we lifted the anchor and with deep reef in main and reefed Genoa, set off on our way, once clear of land we had a fairly constant 16kts and hard on the wind were making 6kts, not an ideal course as we were 30 degrees to low, but sailing raah!

Our joy lasted a mere 35mins, as the wind dropped to 7kts and our boat speed to 1.6 …… diesel time …… 10mins later 16kts wind engine off, this cycle continued for a while until the wind disappeared completely …….4kts, so Genoa away and motor sailing it was. We went along the top side of the TSS, getting within 1/3rd Nm of this beast

Then this 50′ who had motored up the TSS ‘central reservation’ put his sails up going north and went behind us…..

The wind was now right on the nose, so we cut the corner of the TSS zone …….. there were no ships within sight or on the AIS, so Barry didn’t think it was too bad to do! Continuing down the side of Skye, as we had left after dinner, as opposed to original plan of Tuesday morning, we were now against the tide, so although making 6.4kts through the water, this was as bad as 3.7kts over the ground at times, but the sun was out, the sea calm and for the previous hour or so we’d been gradually shedding our ‘togged up’ layers …..so all happy on board!

The cliffs on the SW side of Skye are pretty spectacular …..

We eventually turned into Loch Bracadale and then Loch Harport, Ruth cooked a chilli con carne on the way, despite a ‘flat sea’ that was very rolly ….. which was really scrummy, then once in to Harport proper, she had a hot shower (so the engine would top the hot water tank up, whilst we motored in the last 5nm), eventually getting to Carbost and dropping the anchor in 10m of jelly fish filled water!

An area described as a ‘Hurricane Hole’ on Navionics charts!

With the Cuillin Hills in the background the local village with pub (apparently good food & beer), the local distillery (Talisker), village shop and buses to Portree, we may be here for some time!

A long day (55Nm is our longest yet particularly after 45Nm yesterday), but no need to rush from here!