17th-19th August, Mallaig to Lochinver
Loch Ewe seen from our private cove.
These few days were full of wildlife. We got to Loch Ewe and found a nursery version of Loch Scathbaig (different spellings all over the place in Scotland!) with lots of seals and beautiful scenery – just over the hill were the National Trust’s Inver Ewe Gardens with tropical plants and so forth benefiting from the Gulf Stream climate. Rob and Paula rowed ashore to visit them, but found they were walking on a raft of peat and after being ambushed by midges they beat a hasty retreat back to the boat, from where we gazed at the seals.
The Big Daddy, looking rather ... board?
Basking shark - with mouth open, its nose touches the surface (left) as its tail sweeps slowly five metres away.
Minky Whale showing us her best side.
On the 19th we set off for Lochinver and saw another basking shark and a Minky Whale which kept us totally absorbed for about an hour. We noticed the high Cirrus clouds of the cold front coming through. Shortly afterwards I was asked to do some blind navigation to get us to Lochinver, which meant the navigation instruments were switched off and we assumed that fog restricted visibility to just a few yards and I was kept at the chart table below, relying mostly on depth of water measured, wind direction, compass, boat speed and log of distance through the water. Above all I was relying on the help of the rest of the crew. Each of us do this exercise to develop our skills and heighten our reliance on others – respecting each other’s different mix and levels of skills. And of course that leaves plenty of room for a bit of leg pulling from all sides! We got to Lochinver as the wind picked up and we settled for the night with a splendid meal from Rob and Paula.
Entry to Lochinvar - Rio eat your heart out!
Today, 20th, we had the long promised gale (F9) come upon us as we sat snug in the new harbour at Lochinver. We are now pulling ourselves together and preparing for options to get to Stromness, which is about 100 miles away, round Cape Wrath and in the Orkneys. We won’t know which is the best option until the gale has blown through, meanwhile it is a clean, make and mend day and we shall finish with a meal ashore.
Cape Wrath bottom left, Orkneys? Go up and right a bit.
when did you cross the dateline? It is only the 19th here!! Excellent blog though.
Whales as well?! Sounds amazing. Can you please bring me back a basking shark.
B
Dad, some of your photos are amazing! It looks fantastic up there!
We were inspired by your exploits to go on a fishing trip out in the Baltic – and caught some whopping 6-inch herring!!! A good trick for photographing such trophies is to hold it right up to the camera so in perspective it looks MASSIVE! Pretty good for breakfast either way.
Hope the midges are behaving themselves! Looking forward to hearing of further exploits xx
Just wait until you see my picture of the Loch Ness Monster – we’re working on it tonight, we’re have to use an empty whiskey bottle as a prop!
Was that seal real? Looked a bit fake….possibly set up by a taxidermist with a penchant for yoga
Well, nobody else noticed! I think they have this as their standard Big Daddy pose … it means “don’t mess”.