Framedlight

  Last week we went to stay with a friend, Jenny, who lives in Wrabness in Essex. This village is situated next to the River Stour which here is quite wide and tidal. The banks are muddy and the birdlife is varied, also  humans use the area for recreation, boating or sunbathing. 'A house for Essex' designed by Grayson Perry 

 After breakfast we set out for our last voyage in Zuza, from Lochaline to Oban. We had only been ten days on board but we had a wonderful trip with good company and it was a very sad parting. We left Lochaline and motored past the Eileen Musdile lighthouse and Duart Castle. All too soon we saw the houses of Oban stretching up the hill behind the town. The weather had taken a small turn for the worse and the sky was overcast. We all stood on board as Neil brought Zuza in to berth at one of the jetties. And then there was time for a team photograph before the all set out for our different destinations. From the lefthandside starting at the back and going anticlockwise Alan, Sue, Jen, Grosia the chef, Laura, Erin the first mate, Neil the Captain, Coll, Caroline, Richard and Giles Thanks must go to Neil, Erin and Grosia for making this such a delightful trip.

Many of the residents of St Kilda were evacuated to the small village of Lochaline on mainland Scotland, and so Neil had thought it appropriate for us to spend our last night on Zuza moored up to the jetty in this rather strange place. We came into Locahline around 6.00pm and, needing to stretch our legs before dinner, Alan and I had a walk up the shoreline as there is a footpath that goes all the way around the edge of the loch. The plan was to meet at the community bar for a drink before going back to the yacht. The path had a steep bank on the landward side, thick with vegetation. The high bank and vegetation disguises a very large silica dioxide (SiO2) mine which has been here since 1940, producing high grade silica for optical glass. The mine closed in 2008 but reopened in 2012 and so mining still continues today, There were some relics of past times along the side of the footpath. We retraced our steps and walked the other way towards the pub and found that we were next to more m...

We had another good night on Zuza. If anyone suffers from insomnia I can greatly recommend living on a yacht. Masses of fresh air and the gentle rocking motion certainly worked for me. Although I am not sure that any weather but the windless heat wave we were experiencing would have had the same effect. We had noticed a tern colony on an island opposite the bay where we were moored. In the morning Neil took a few of us in the tender over for a closer look. We could not really get as close as I would have liked but here are some tern pictures. I am not sure if they are common or Arctic terns, both species are very similar. They were wheeling over the rocks where there nests must have been but did not seem to find us too threatening, such graceful birds. A rock? pipet An oystercatcher We then went back to the main island and this time walked west from the pier over a headland to try and get a closer look at the caves on the southern coast. Again cliffs stopped us getting down to them but...