Barra, the Couillins, Cana and back to the mainland

This post is a little out of order, this is the week before I headed for Fort William and home.

The weather seems to be taking a turn for the better. After South Uist and the gale I headed for Barra, the southern most of the inhabited Hebridean Islands. A couple of hours on my bike did a tour of this, the prettiest of the islands I think. The harbour town of Castlebay has this rather splendid castle in the middle of the bay. The coast was rugger but beautiful with many golden sand beaches and turquoise water; it could have been the Caribbean if you ignored the 20 knot breeze and 4 layers of clothing despite the sun!

From Barra back to Skye and an anchorage I had hoped to make earlier but it needs calm weather, something of a rarity, but I got it, special offer, 1 day only! It meant motoring from Barra as there was so little wind but after the last few weeks I din’t mind a bit and it allowed me to spring clean the boat down below on route (sticking my head up from time to time to make sure we didn’t hit anything!)

And how about this for an anchorage?!

This is right at the foot of the 3000’ Couillin Mountains. The pilot book has scare stories of huge gusts of wind coming down the mountain face and ripping out anchors in all but the most settled of conditions!

Just above the anchorage is a fresh water loch that I went up to explore. What a place, black rock, shear faces and the wackiest of rocks showing evidence of its volcanic evolution. For an hour of my walk up the loch I was accompanied by the lovely singing of a Cuckoo which felt quite out of place in such a harsh and rugged place more suited to eagles and perhaps the odd witch than a bird that should have been sat in a blossom tree!

I donned my wet suit and went for a swim with the seals in the anchorage but they were having nothing of it. They are skittish at the best of times, never coming closer than about 20m of the dinghy; I got wet and cold and didn’t see a thing in the water!

From Skye I went back to Canna, a little island next to Rum that I had to pass by a week ago and inhabited by just a handful of hardy farmers.  Blue sky’s once again showed this beautiful place off in its finest attire. A long walk took me out to a windswept headland looking out over the Atlantic to Barra in the distance. This makes all the wind and rain worth while; an enchanting place.

On the way back over to the mainland, mixed with my sunshine was hit by a massive heavy hail storm, literally out of the blue which, once passed, made a gateway of this full rainbow for me to pass through to get to the mainland. The din caused by the large hail stones hitting the aluminium mast and boom was something to behold; imagine a bunch of 5 year olds having broken into the pan cupboard and sit bashing the living daylights out of them with serving spoons and you've just about got it!

I am now in Mallaig which is where I will leave the boat for a week and head home to see Melanie which I am much looking forward to; and a stable bed after 4 weeks on the sea!

I am going via Fort William where I want to stop for the day and cycle up part of the Caledonian Canal; from the west coast at Fort William up to Loch Ness, about half way along the great Scottish divide that, with a little man made help, allows boats and small ships to pass from the west coast to the east without suffering the attentions of Cape Wrath, the northern tip of Scotland, where we must pass to get to our next goal of the Shetland and Orkney Islands. Cape Wrath? we’ve go to be asking for it heading for a place with a name like that. What’s wrong with the Med?!