Colin / Grey
07/10/2011, Loch Maddy, N. Uist to East Loch Tarbert, Harris: 25nm travelled

Well hello all, haven't I been lazy in the blogosphere, with Nichola writing most of the blogs recently. The decision about where to head next (obviously taking account of the weather in this part of the world, manic depressions anyone, one after another?!) was decided on the smallest of things, aka Operation Tweed, to get to the Isle of Harris to buy a little of the famous cloth to make a cover for one of the saloon cushions. Nothing more or nothing less than that. We thought that was a valid enough reason to go! Over to Nichola:

Nichola's bit:
We had a rude awakening at 6:40am as the ferry pulled into the dock at Tarbert, a 100m or so to the side of where we'd anchored. At least it hadn't run us over which had been a small niggle in the back of our minds - there wasn't a huge amount of space to anchor!

Off to visit souvenir shops to look at the Harris Tweed available, one of the shops sells only Harris Tweed products - they had a beautifully tailored ladies' jacket in purple tweed - maybe I am getting old! Opposite the shop they had a huge garage full of rolls of tweed, far too many for me to make a quick decision on 4 pieces to make cushion covers with. The lady was very patient as I dithered around on my choices before cutting the cloth. She even threw in an off cut for me and provided Harris Tweed labels for me to sew on the cushions too. Definitely 5 stars for service!

A fairly uneventful sail to Tarbert, the skies were grey but a good wind to blow us along.

2011: Around the UK

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Nichola / Sunny
07/04/2011, Loch Skipport, S.Uist to Loch Maddy, N.Uist: 21nm travelled

We left Loch Skipport with an overcast sky with a hint of brightness burning through. The day was warm and was my first sail without wearing 3 layers - only t-shirt and fleece today! Out into the Minch the sea was completely flat which I've been told is perfect for whale spotting - unfortunately no one told the whales that.

With light winds and the tide with us, we motor sailed up the island chain, enjoying the sun that had broken through. We saw only one yacht on our journey so were surprised when we arrived at the moorings by Loch Maddy village to find them all taken. The wind was gusting F5/6 at the time (where did that come from given we'd had no wind all day???) and with another yacht anchored there too we didn't feel comfortable with anchoring in the limited space. So instead we motored over to Bagh Aird Nam Madadh and picked up a mooring there, passing an otter on the way. There was a yacht on the second mooring that had been here all day yesterday too and they said no-one had moved from the other moorings and they too were waiting to go to there. I didn't expect to be fighting for mooring buoys out here!
We dinghied over to Loch Maddy village to pick up some tourist info and have coffee and cake in the arts and crafts centre, but after an hour the wind was picking up again so we headed back.

With a mile to travel to get ashore over a fairly open bay, Tuesday was a wash-out with strong winds forecast that never really materialised. We met the couple from the boat next to us and later in the evening some deer came to watch the sunset from the hill above us.

Wednesday the strong winds arrived along with rain. We tried to get ashore in the dinghy whilst the winds were lighter, but with the swell we got soaked and admitted defeat. So, a frustrating day being so far away from the village but with no way to get there.

Thursday was much dryer but the wind had gone more northerly sending a bigger swell into the bay. We reckoned we'd get soaked again trying the dinghy and with no-one having left the other moorings we resigned to another day where we were. However, having listened to the lunchtime forecast of northerly winds, we decided to move to anchor in Sponish Harbour where we'd get more shelter. As we motored over, a clap of thunder rumbled round the sky - not the best place to be in a low landscape with a big metal stick poking up into the clouds!

The storm passed without incident leaving a beautiful evening so I had a row around the islands looking for otters, but none to be seen.

Friday we'd planned to get me ashore so at least I could get the bus over to the east coast. As we dinghied ashore I noticed a sail moving out of the harbour - had a mooring buoy become free at last? We rushed back to Emerald, upped anchor and legged it around to find not one but three empty mooring buoys! Hurrah! We had a mad rush to get ready for the bus and then we were finally off on our North Uist adventure.

The weather was lovely and warm as we bussed the 10 miles to Clachan on the east coast. Then began a long walk along the roads to Baleshare Island where we'd been recommended to go for a good beach. Along the way I enjoyed spotting lots of lovely old tractors and three friendly dogs decided to join us and despite all our efforts to send them back home went with us to the beach. We admired the flower covered machair along the way and at the beach we looking out west to Newfoundland (we couldn't quite see it) beyond the white sand beach. There was barely any swell off the vast Atlantic with little wavelets lapping over the turquoise shallows.

We didn't fancy the long road walk back so decided to try hitching our way and at the second attempt I successfully secured our first hitch ever. The people who picked us up were locals and were lovely and friendly telling us a little about the place.

The sun was still baking, so with ice-creams in hand we walked a few more miles to view a 5000 year old stone circle and up and over a boggy hill was a chambered cairn. Unfortunately the cairn had suffered a roof collapse in May and so we couldn't go in. We caught the post bus home and rounded off the day listening to a Scottish band in the pub and enjoying our cheapest beer in Scotland.

2011: Around the UK

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Nichola / Low cloud brightening up
07/03/2011, Loch Harport, Skye to Loch Skipport, S.Uist: 31nm travelled

Unfortunately last night's red sky did not result in any shepherd's delight, only low cloud with a big black cloud looming in the direction we were heading. Still, it was dry and the wind was stronger than yesterday. We upped anchor about 9am and with the main up were able to motor-sail up the loch and past the huge fish farm. As we turned out of the top of Loch Harport the wind was on the nose and looking like it would be all the way - not what was forecast. But after an hour of motoring the wind began to back and we were able to turn the engine off as the sky began to brighten.

South Uist was very easy to sea ahead of us; the mountains of Benmore and Hecla standing tall. We reckoned we could even see right up the Outer Hebrides island chain as far as Lewis.

We arrived at the entrance to Loch Skipport around 3pm, the weather having gone grey and chilly again. There was one other yacht in Wizard Pool but there was plenty of space for us - two more yachts came in later and there was still loads of room. The sky brightened further and the sun made an appearance so I took a paddle around the islands and rocks in my inflatable kayak (I've solved the problem of the soggy bum - water was getting in when we dropped it off the side of Emerald, now we lower it gently). A seal scared the be-jesus out of me as it popped up right by my side doing some heavy breathing. I hoped it didn't try to come play with my kayak!

This is our furthest point west on this summer's trip around the UK.

2011: Around the UK

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