Framedlight

It was going to be another long day's sail to get to St Kilda. Neil, probably not wanting to get us up too early again, made a 7.00am start. As we're going to be crossing more open water and as I am not a particularly good sailor I did take drugs that morning. They didn't quite work but staved off the worst. The only problem was the side effect of sleepiness and, while we were motoring along, various bodies could be seen lying on the deck snoozing in the sunshine. We had a stowaway on board who stayed with us for a while. Caroline and Grosia attempted to feed him, which he appreciated. We turned west into the Sound of Harris which was an almost mystical channel in the soft light. We saw more dolphin which I ignominiously failed to photograph. There were some cormorants on a rocky outcrop and a strange buoy which was being swept by the current. Once we were clear of the channel and heading west I was excited to see that the chart told me we were in the North Atlantic Ocean. ...

  It takes a long time to sail to Lochmaddy on North Uist from Tobermory, even if you are motoring, so we slipped our mooring at 6.00am and set out, past the Tobermory lighthouse Rubha nan Gall, and on towards Ardnamurchin and it's lighthouse.  Rubha nan Gall lighthouse Ardnamurchan lighthouse We carried on past the Small Isles and then, much to our delight, encountered a group of dolphin who were splashing through the water not too far from Zuza. The Small Isles At last, around 3.00 in the afternoon we approached Lochmaddy and tied up on the jetty. Lochmaddy is a rather charming little village, not too tidy and with a nice bit of decrepitude which I rather like. It is the administrative centre of North Uist and has a bank and a courthouse which is strange for such a tiny place. In 1616 it was apparently a haunt of "piracy and murder". We all got off board for an explore before dinner and to find somewhere for a beer. Here are rather a lot of pictures that I took on our w...