To the Hebrides and Back

We left Kinlochbervie for Loch Inver - another tiny fishing village, with a fairly new pontoon.  There was also a fantastic laundry / shower facility, but unfortunately the Building Inspector, locally known as 'Stop the Job Bob' had failed to inspect it and so it couldn't be opened!

The highlight of the place seemed to be the walking, so off we went - Zilla happy - the scenery was lovely, very like the Alps. We even came across a deer.

Although I do think it looks a lot like a giraffe!

We left Loch Inver for the Hebrides - we did see porpoises, but for the first time on our trip we did have to act like the rest of the 'sailing' fraternity here, and Motor Sail!  There was very little wind - we motored for about 12nm of the 40nm crossing.

Then - the Hebrides.  First impressions were fantastic:  The port of Stornoway has loads of old fashioned charm,



There is a very active fishing fleet, although in some cases it was certainly a testiment to the quality of yesteryear that the boats were still afloat, much less actually working fishing boats!!

The picture was completed with the harbour seals, who followed the fishing fleet in and checked out the visiting yachts.

Friday evening saw the arrival of my sister, Rose Anne, all the way from Sunny Jersey.  Sadly she did not bring the weather with her (or maybe she did?) but no sooner had she set foot on the boat when it started to rain.  Lots.

Undeterred we hired a car and went to check out the island - Stornoway is on the biggest Hebridean Island, Lewis, which is approximately 40 miles long with one main road that runs up the West coast and a couple more roads across it.



Ditches where peat has been dug

As we drove round, we became aware that the place is deserted - there are some houses, almost without exception grey and pebbledashed, but we hardly saw a soul.  It was a very bleak place. There was great excitement in the car when we saw a sign for the Tourist Information Office - It did not quite live up to our expectations!!

 There were however some great highlights in our tour:

The Callanish Standing Stones - they have been standing there for 3 to 4,000 years which makes them older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.

The Carloway Broch - a round house, dating from 100 to 300BC with cavity wall containing spiral staircase!

Then we came across a gentleman actually digging the peat - he was very chatty, clearly thrilled to find other people to talk to, and wanted to explain the finer points of peat digging!  An involved process - the peat takes ages to dry.  We could have explained that the constant rain probably wasn't helping, but he was enjoying himself too much to interrupt!

The North of the island was really beautiful - We would definately sailed to Port Ness if only it had been several metres deeper!

Port Ness was a real highlight, as it even had a Cafe - owned by an Australian from Wogga Wogga! 

Diversification!  The Tiumpan Head Lighthouse building is now a Kennel and Cattery.

Stornoway did have a great Castle, we couldn't go inside as it was now structurally unsound, something to do with one of the previous owners removing several supporting walls to make a ballroom.  No 'Stop the Job Bobs' around in those days - it was a real highlight, and had 170,000 acres of parkland open to the public.  Despite the rain, we went to check it out - it had fishing streams, coast path and was great for dog walking.

And it is still raining

Rose Anne flew back to Jersey on Monday and the sun came back out.  She probably gets enough sun in Jersey anyway - and no one goes to the Outer Hebrides for the weather.  In fact, very few people seem to go there at all.

We crossed back over the Minch on Monday - to Loch Gairloch.  Very beautiful.

Loch Gairloch - cunningly concealed.

The harbour is still used by a small fishing fleet, but there are also wildlife cruises and lots of walkers here.

This is the catch:  large prawns, or langoustine, are caught in creels (like lobster pots but with two entrances) and stored boxes similar to wine boxes - in this way they are stored alive, if they are not kept separated they fight to the death and there would only be one very well fed prawn left!

Etoile - the only yacht in the village!

And to finish - another view of the Loch.  The water really is a bright turquoise colour - we were impressed with this, but the prawn fisherman rather spoilt the image by explaining that the colour was due to an algal bloom!

Over the Top

Our second departure from Scrabster was rather grey and overcast, but there was wind, it was going our way, and the engine and all electrics seemed to be in good working order.

The wind gradually built to 17kts and took 12 hours to travel the 75 miles to Kinlochbervie - the coastline is very craggy and reminescent of the alps.  Castles have been replaced by rock stacks

Not quite the Old Man of Hoy, but certainly a relation!

Naturally the wind increased to a good 20 kts as we turned towards Kinlochbervie.  The harbour entrance was incredibly difficult to see - the charts were closely studied to make sure we were actually where we thought we were!

We passed a fish farm being towed by two boats - apparently this is one of the few places in the area where the ground is flat enough to land a fish farm for routine maintainence.

Kinlochbervie is a tiny place, one pontoon for yachts, but very well appointed.  There is a single shower in the fish market building, electricity and water on the pontoon, a resident seal and even free WiFi.  In its heyday it was clearly a very busy fishing port and is still used by a few large fishing boats who catch in waters to the far North.  They clearly catch a lot, if the amount of fish boxes is anything to go by!

The lochs are used for Mussel Farming - this involves significant numbers of long floating lines, with the Mussels growing on weighted lines dangling below.  A whole new hazard for us to look out for.

The loch and the Marina seen from above.  The two large offshore fishing boats are unloading their catch.

The single pontoon. 

Just in case the accent wasn't enough to cause confusion to some, there is a whole new language to learn here!

A close encounter with the RNLI in Scrabster

The delights of Scrabster had been fully explored, so it was time to move on - the West Coast beckons.  So much for the plan - we left as the sun was rising (0300) to catch the tide on slack at Cape Wrath.  It was a rising forecast so we had #4 headsail up, but after about an hour we realised we needed to change up to the #2.  There was really very little wind at the time, so a decision was made to start the engine and autopilot and do the sail change.  Again, so much for the plan.  The engine did not start, and all the electrics went off. 

At this stage we were making 3.5kts with the tide towards Cape Wrath with no control at all.  After some deliberation, and considerable wishing we had more electrical knowledge we put out a pan pan.  No one else was up at 0400, so the Thurso RNLI came to our aid.

The RNLI appear and we are taken under tow


Heading back to Scrabster at 8.5kts, courtesy of the RNLI

We were safely deposited back on quay at Scrabster where the harbour master met us and said he knew a Marine Electrician - undeterred by the fact that it was still only 0545, he phoned a friend, and the man duly turned up at 0800.  Still more scratching of heads, lots of pulling things out and putting them back again followed, and 4 1/2 hours later he pronounced us fit and healthy and ready to continue.  He found no fault, and the problem appears to have been no more than a loose connection.  We now feel older and wiser, an very grateful to the RNLI, the Harbour Master, and the Marine Electrician who wouldn't charge us as he wasn't busy that day!!

The day was not wasted however, as we met an American called Chris who was rowing to Iceland! 

Not many creature comforts on this boat!

 As we are now turning South, it's time to put in our Stats So Far:





So - with grateful thanks to the RNLI, we plan to resume our journey at a far more respectable hour of 0400.

The Orkney Islands

Duncansby Head - The Top of Scotland

After much deliberation, several changes of mind, consultation with the Harbour Master and great studying of Reeds Almanac and the local Pilot book a decision was made to sail straight across the Pentland Firth, into Scapa Flow and on to Stromness Marina in the Orkney Islands.  The Penland Firth is to the North what the Alderney Race is to the South - not to be messed with!

 As it happened, either by luck or good judgement, the Pentland Firth was a pussycat - we did motor for about half an hour in order to make the tidal gate, but the sea was calm and all went well.

We were lucky enough in Orkney to be shown around by Adam and Cat who have recently moved there - Orkney is at the forefront of studies into sustainable energy from wind, tide and waves, and both Adam and Cat are very much involved in this industry.  Adam is also a Marine Biologist and we have furthered our bird identification to include black guillimots, fulmars and skua and he also found us a porpoise, and told us the difference between porpoises and dolphins.  Unfortunately he failed on the Orca front, but you can't have everything!

We were able to show them Scapa Flow from the sea - on a very wet and windless day.


Hoy Sound - on a calm day



Hoy Sound - Wind against Tide

 After our failure to see inside a Distillery in Wick, we had another go in the Orkney Islands and have now been to the most northerly distillery in the UK, Highland Park in Kirkwall.  Far more successful - we had the full tour and tasting.

We held back at the shopping opportunity, and bought a mere 12 year old Scotch as the older vintages were rather out of the budget!

As you can't go far in Scotland without finding another Castle, we set off on foot with Zilla to see what we could find:

 We then set off along the shore to go and look for seals - again we were not disappointed, there were loads of them sunbathing on the rocks.

We spent three days in the Orkney Islands, and could have stayed much longer - it was a fascinating and beautiful place.  It did do a spectacular line in rain, but the sun was out for about 50% of the time we were there.

As usual, another fantastic sunset completed our stay.


Stromness Marina - very clean and well appointed!

No trip to the Orkneys would be complete without a look at The Old Man of Hoy, a huge rock stack on the north west coast.



The Old Man of Hoy



One last look at the Orkneys

Hoy - the Old Man visible in the distance, along with the clouds over Scotland, and the Sunshine over the Orkneys.

Next Stop:  Scrabster

Top of Scotland

We spent another couple of days enjoying Lossiemouth and its environs, and even managed to meet up with a group of Australians we knew from Jordan who were in the area doing a bit of Whisky tasting! 

Despite many many walks along the seafront, I did not see any Dolphins, and  it was all rather quiet without our visitors, so it was time to move on ...



The only gays in the village????

Unusually, the tide allowed us to make a very leisurely departure at 0700, in glorious sunshine.  Having had several days of jets from RAF Lossiemouth screaming overhead (apparently its a boy thing to think this is good) I wanted to see an oil rig.  No problem - Beatrice A was on our way.

It made a welcome change from sailing round the Sovereign Light!  By now the wind was a steady 12 kts, so out came the spinnaker - fabulous sail towards Wick.  We are near the Arctic Circle - don't relax ...the sky darkened ominously, we dropped the spinnaker and continued on our way - we then got some Very Scottish Rain!

Luckily I needed to navigate at this time

We seemed to be sailing at the same speed as the rain. The wind backed by 180 degrees, and we were now on a beat.  We arrived in Wick, and shortly thereafter the rain stopped and the sun came out again.



Wick Marina



Wick is an old fishing port - in its heyday it had a fleet of 1000 herring boats.  Herring are known as Silver Darlings here, but they are all fished out.  Despite the lack of fishing boats, there are still countless lobster pots - we have avoided them in depths of up to 50 metres!  Clearly rope is cheap here.  It has been a Marina for 2 years, and mainly used as a stopping place for people waiting for a weather window to go 'Over the Top' or to the Orkneys.



Wick Breakwater



We spent Friday drying out wet clothing (do not sail in Scottish waters without a de-humidifier) and went for a walk along the clifftop towards yet another castle



Apparently one of the oldest Castles in Scotland - Wick Castle dates back to late 12th or early 13th Century.

 

As people come all the way from Australia to visit the Whisky Distilleries, we thought that as Pultneys Distillery and Visitor Centre is within walking distance from the Marina it deserved a visit.  We were not to be so lucky!  It has to be awarded  'Nul Points' - we were only allowed to visit the shop.  There is a lot to be said for Gin and Tonic.

Tomorrow - The Orkneys ...