Saturday 30 June 2012 – Isle Ornsay to Arisaig

A bit windy overnight and some disturbance whilst another boat motored about and re-anchored.  I waited up for a while to see if they would stay put.  All the boats seemed rather close. Later, in daylight, they were all further away again – it’s strange what a difference darkness makes to distance judgement.

There did not seem to be anything special here to persuade us to make the long trip ashore, so we headed over to Loch Nevis for a brief recce as this is a place we would like to visit later, preferably in better weather.  Loch Nevis has mountains all round and those on the windward (South) side are close to the loch. We soon started getting big gusts coming from the mountains, so dropped sails and motored to the visitors moorings at Inverie.  We found the bay more sheltered than I had expected.  There are a few houses and a pub.  The unusual feature here is that although there is a road linking the houses around the loch it does not connect to the rest of the road network.  This is part of the lonely Knoydart peninsula.  To get here you either come by boat or have a full day’s walk from the nearest proper road.

This place needs a bit of time to explore properly, followed by a meal at the pub.  There was not the time or weather for exploring, so we had lunch on a visitors’ mooring and headed to Arisaig, where we anchored in the Loch as our mooring is not available until tomorrow

Follow our track on Google Maps.

The anchorage at Isle Ornsay

View looking N up Sound od Sleat towards Kyle Rhea

Friday 29 June 2012 – Mallaig to Isle Ornsay

Barometer reads 987 but it seems a fine mild day with some sun.  The XC Weather forecast at the marina is lots better, mainly in terms of lesser wind strength, than the Inshore Waters forecast.  Bought our train tickets home and did some more shopping, in particular some prawns (in the restaurant they call them langoustines) and Camping Gaz and diesel.  Among the outer isles we had seen some fish carrier ships, Viktoria Viking and Ronja Viking.  They collect the fish from the fish farms (by pumping them from the cage into a tank on the ship) and bring them alive to a factory at the dockside at Mallaig.  Here they are killed and pumped into tanker lorries together with ice and water.  They are then taken to the processing factory, with about 200 tons leaving every night – maybe that’s why Mallaig is not as peaceful as some places for an overnight stay.  The other reason may be the 2 ferries which berth there overnight and keep their generators running.

Mallaig is a good little town to do basic shopping.  However although the pontoons are nice and new and solid they have not provided any toilets, showers and stuff – we are supposed to wander round the town and find them.  For this we are charged the price for a top marina: £2/m +VAT + more for electricity; however we were given a slight discount.

After lunch we had a slow sail to Isle Ornsay, which is a bit to the North, on the Skye side.  It is a popular anchorage with plenty of room.  Too wet to go ashore, so we had prawns for supper.  Tomorrow we go to Arisaig, but on the way we hope to look at one or 2 other anchorages for future reference.

Follow our track on Google Maps.

Visitors pontoons at Mallaig

View into Loch Nevis

Thursday 28 June 2012 – Loch Slapin to Mallaig

Not the sort of weather to enjoy a walk up Bla Bheinn, or any other mountain, so we left Loch Slapin and sailed painfully slowly to the Point of Sleat, where the wind picked up a bit.  Moored at the new (last year) pontoons at Mallaig.  On the way in to the harbour we were met by 3 Bottle-nosed Dolphins.  These are bigger than the Common Dolphins which we have seen so far.

Did some essential food shopping.  Tomorrow we will buy train tickets ready to go South

Follow our track on Google Maps (I know it goes over land - must have been late turning the GPS on)

Quiet morning in Loch Slapin

A bit cloudier when we leave

View up Loch Nevis

Wednesday 27 June 2012 – Loch Scavaig to Loch Slapin

Mild and with very low cloud.  Decided to move on to Armadale or Isle Ornsay or somewhere else.  We soon ran out of wind and decided to motor to the nearest place, which was Loch Slapin.  This gives access to go up Bla Bheinn, but we want better weather for that!  This evening, after an afternoon of reading and knitting, the cloud seems to be down to masthead height.

Follow our track on Google Maps.

Leaving Loch Scavaig

The cloud starts to lift

Tuesday 26 June 2012 – Soay to Loch Scavaig

A quick look ashore showed that although there are a few houses on the island only 2 or 3 seem to be lived in.  Some look like holiday places and others are derelict.

I lifted the anchor to find a huge pile of weed on it – possibly the result of dropping it at random in the poor light last night.  Motored over to Loch Scavaig which is spectacularly placed right under the mountains of the Black Cuillin.  This is a top destination by boat as it cannot be reached by road and is a long walk by footpath. It also has the interesting distinction as the place most subject to gusts coming down from the mountains in any sort of wind – however the wind was light and mostly blowing into the loch.  After lunch went ashore and walked round Loch Coruisk, which is a fresh water loch in the heart of the Cuillins. Enjoyed excellent views of the jagged Cuillin ridge, which is a bit out of our range as you need to be prepared for rock climbing to attempt most of the peaks. Rained a bit but did not tip down until we were back on the boat.

Follow our track on Google Maps.

Soay Harbour

Soay Harbour

Approaching Loch Scavaig,
yachts at anchor, Cuillin in the background

Enjoying lunch in the sunshine

Loch Coruisk

Loch Coruisk

The mountains dominate the anchorage

Returning in the rain

Monday 25 June 2012 – Loch Maddy to Soay

Filled up with water at the ferry pier and headed off towards Skye without much hope of going far without a lot of motoring.  However the wind was fair and with the cruising chute up we just made enough speed.  The cloud slowly lifted and eventually the sun came out.  Eventually we started the engine near Loch Brittle and motored to Soay.  Were met by dolphins in Soay Sound; they stayed with us for 10 minutes and we took a lot of poor photos  I had earlier had a glimpse of a Minke whale after hearing it blow.

Dolphins in Sound of Soay, near Skye

Tomorrow we hope to go to Loch Scavaig which gives a good view of the Black Cuillin.

Follow our track on Google Maps.

Cuillin Ridge

Basalt cliffs on the W side of Skye

Dolphins

Dolphins

Sunday 24 June 2012 – Rodel to Loch Maddy

Sailed from Rodel to Loch Maddy.

Bike ride across the island to Bharpa Langass where we took in the short circular walk to an unusual chambered tomb and a stone circle.  Tea in the hotel and then we continued to the West coast.  The piece of coast that we reached was reminiscent of the Frisian Islands in that there are sandy islands running parallel with the coast and separated from the mainland by shallow muddy water.  The machair was disappointing here too – I presume it has been badly affected by the drought.   We tried to find another standing stone which was marked on the map. No luck, so we returned back over the island.  The inland part is a big peat bog with many small lakes.  There are many small peat diggings as peat is a common domestic fuel.

Follow our track on Google Maps.

Follow the track of the ride / walk.

Entrance to the Chambered Cairn,
closed because of a structural problem

Peeping through the entrance

Lochs and peat

Stone circle

West coast scenery

Peat cutting

Peat drying

Visitors’ moorings at Loch Maddy