30 July. Another month has flown by. We had a tour down the Outer Hebrides with nephew Daniel, stopping at Harris to buy some tweed, a couple of new anchorages in deserted lochs (apart from the fish farms which now seem to be in everywhere) and returning to Barra. The marina was packed on the first night with lots of English sailors trying to get someone to watch the finals of the Euros. We couldn’t get in anywhere to watch the match (table bookings only) so watched the first half side outside one hotel, the second half outside another, and extra time outside a closed cafe (all trying to find a decent Wi-fi signal!). Actually glad we didn't get inside a hotel bar as all the Scots were supporting Italy!
After a lovely day kayaking in the bay and going across to the beaches of Vatasay we had a good sail back across the Sea of the Hebrides to Rum. J and Daniel cycled across the island before Vela took the afternoon tide to Tobermory. From there we went to Oban to collect nephew no2. Lovely weather for 5 days as we went around Mull, including a visit to Lunga on the Treshnish Isles to see the sea birds. Great numbers of puffins, guillemots and kittiwakes, as well as very noisy seals. We also landed on Iona, mainly so William could impress his RE teacher, the meadows were beautiful and i heard my first corncrake, which are doing well on Iona as there are still traditional meadows on the island.
From there we went to the gorgeous, empty beaches of Oronsay before getting back to Ardfern. There we met up with my brother, Harj and niece Cressie, who stayed on the boat for 2 nights and managed to do everything from kayaking to learning to drive the dinghy in her short stay.
We had great weather for pretty much the whole time, so lots of kayaking, suppers on deck and we even had to put the biminey up to keep the sun out…the first time in Scotland!