I am writing this from the Marina in Kerrera, actually, this is where I wrote the last blog entry, only difference being that last time I was heading North and it was a beautiful sunny day, this time I am heading back south and it is absolutely pishing doon, but lets face it, it's the west of Scotland and it's the summer so its not as if this weather wasn't expected 😊


Met this fella whilst running round the Island.


Balamory

First stop after the last time we spoke was Tobermory, first time I have been there, cracking wee place but man, it was busy, the original plan was to do a distillery tour there but the wind was good for my sail over to the Outer Hebrides so I parked the tour and set out early the next morning across the Sea of the Hebrides to the Island of Vatersay.


Vatersay


Look how clear the water is.

Had plenty of wind to push me across to the Islands until about five miles out when it died on its arse and I motored into the anchorage and the clear water and beautiful white sands of Vatersay Bay, Vatersay is one of the southerly Islands if the Outer Hebrides and is joined via a causeway to the Island of Barra.


Nice eh!


Mingulay.

The next day I sailed a short hop down to Mingulay, this was one of the places I really wanted to go, many of the Scots amongst you will know about this Island through the " Mingulay Boat Song" so it was great to actually go there, you need settled weather to land comfortably on the Island, so the stars aligned perfectly for me and I had a beautiful sunshiny day with light winds and not much swell to anchor and go ashore.


Mingulay, way back when.


Mingulay beach.

It's a beautiful island, uninhabited since 1912, apart from one house which sometimes has a resident, often an artist for the summer months, as beautiful as it is, I imagine it would be a bit on the bleak side during the winter.


Castlebay, Barra.

Mingulay was just a day trip and after a night back at anchor in Vatersay, I hopped across to Castlebay on the island of Barra, the main reason for this was as well as visiting the Island, I was looking for a Pub to watch Scotland play Norway in the European qualifiers, and what a game that was, suffice to say, the Castlebay Hotel Bar went mental, twice! In the last few minutes of the game as Scotland dragged victory out of the jaws of defeat (the opposite of what we normally do) and beat Norway 2 - 1. Amazing!


The Castle, in Castlebay, and the wee Marina.


Came across this monument to some woman and her wean when I was running up the hill behind the town, I wonder who they are, they must be quite famous, I see monuments to them everywhere? 🤣


Loch Skipport.

After Barra, it was up to South Uist, overnight stop here only in an anchorage called Coalas Mor (the little kettle pool) in Loch Skipport, very beautiful place although the weather was turning by this time from the Mediterranean few weeks, we were lucky enough to have, to the more usual wet and blustery Scottish summer weather with sun occasionally keekin out.


Loch Ceann Dibig at Kendibig.

I could have spent the entire summer just exploring these islands, but time and unsettled weather (and another distillery) pushed me on north up to Harris and I anchored in Loch Ceann Dibig at Kendibig, just round the corner from Tarbert.


Harris Distillery.

Had a tour of the distillery here which was great, but........... Shock, horror, nae whisky to be had, they don't bottle their first batch till September of this year but they were good enough to give you a taste of someone else's whisky and some of the Gin they produce there, which was just the ticket 😊


Stornoway Harbour, I'm tucked in beside the lifeboat.

The forecast was for a big depression pushing in from the Atlantic bringing with it some pretty brisk winds and of course the associated excess of moisture, so I ran away up to Stornoway and hid in the Marina for a few days and hired a car to explore the Island of Lewis.


The Callanish stones on Lewis (I didn't take this photo, I couldn't get a good one as there was lots of Hippies dancing round the stones in the rain, nae kiddin!)


Some more standy uppy stones in a field.


Local council house in Lewis, called a blackhouse.


Lewis is Black Pudding heaven.


The Butt of Lewis.


Wee bit wet in the Gairloch.

Once the winds had stopped shouting so much, I set of for a fairly fast and furious sail across the Minch to Loch Sheildag, and the head of the Gairloch, never hung about here long, just one night and then shot across to Rona.


Loch Sheildag after the rain had stopped.


Rona.

What a magical wee island this is, also a first time visit for me and a place that I will certainly return to, lots of wildlife, even otters swimming around in the anchorage.


Under a blue sky in Rona.


A church in a cave in Rona, an amazing spot. It was used as the island's church up until the 1930s.


Beside the Skye Bridge, Kyle of Lochalsh.

From Rona I sailed down towards the Kyles of Rhea that separate the mainland from Skye, I had an overnight stop at the Kyle of Lochalsh for a visit to the co-op and to wait for the tide, the currents, like most places up here, flow fast through the kyles so when you have a wee engine like mine you have to get your timings right or you might find yourself sailing backwards.


Anchored in Isleornsay.

After whooshing through the Kyles at 9 knots (trust me, this is fast for Confidence), I got absolutely battered by the rain and went to anchor at Isleornsay on the south east side of Skye, lot of boats here either waiting for the tide to go north through the kyles or waiting for the wind to take them south or west, my plan was to sail out to the Isle of Rum, but the wind had a different plan for me so I headed south again and sailed round the Ardnamurchan Peninsula (the most westerly part of the UK mainland) to anchor in Loch na Droma Buidhe, beside the Isle of Oronsay for the night, and the next day back into Tobermory for my date with the distillery.


Anchored in Loch na Droma Buidhe.


Tobermory Distillery, well worth a visit.

So, I got my visit to the distillery, and I was glad I did, it was the best tour so far, good fun and the liquid refreshments were tremendous.


Anchored near Port Ramsey on Lismore.

I stayed in Tobermory for a few days then headed of down the sound of Mull, hung a left at the end and sailed up Loch Linnhe to Port Ramsey on Lismore, and spent a day here exploring the Island.


Linnhe Marina near Appin.

Then it was a short hop up the loch where I went onto a mooring for a few days at Linnhe Marina which is behind the Island of Shuna just North of Appin, I have some friends coming to visit so I was doing a recce here to see if it was suitable, which it very much was. I had a real surprise here, I had just got in, and put my covers up as it was bucketing down, next thing a see a guy coming over in a canoe shouting and waving, who is this lunatic I'm thinking? Turns out it was an old mate of mine Craig who I used to work with in Western Australia way back when, who now lives just up the road in Fort William, and he brought whisky! What a man, and what a nice surprise.


Lunatic in a canoe.


The Old Inn at Appin.

I had dinner here at the Old Inn in Appin where apparently, they panned the murder of Colin "The Red Fox" Campbell of Glenure in 1752, the Inspiration for the Robert Louis Stevenson book Kidnapped, its said that it is haunted by the ghost of James Stewart who was wrongly convicted and hanged for the murder.


Castle Stalker.

It sits looking down on Castle Stalker which you might recognise from Monty Pythons "the Holy Grail".

From Appin, it was a short sail back here to Kerrera, and a chance to get across to visit the distillery at Oban where I am going this afternoon!

From here?? As I mentioned, I have friends coming up in few days, I'll sail back north to Linnhe marina for that, and after this I will point the boat back in the general direction of the Clyde and Girvan, I still have Islay on the list of places to go we will see what the weather and wind says closer to the time.

So that's all I have to tell you for now, unless that is, you want to hear all about the blocked pipes in my toilet? Haha, perhaps not eh! All I can say is that the old adage is certainly true, "shit definitely does happen!!" 😊

Take it easy on the fibre supplements folks!