Kinlochbervie

Normal service has been resumed. The wind is blowing from where we want to go (the north), and it is very cold!

After filling up with water we went to the Sports Centre in Lochinver, which was all but deserted, to use their wifi and to use their showers. The shower was great (£1.50 for OAPs like me!) but their wifi was difficult to connect to, even with the help of the staff. Anyway, we managed to arrange transport home from Kinlochbervie where a taxi will collect us at 0900 on Sunday and take us to Inverness from where we will all make our way home.

The journey to Kinlochbervie brought its own challenges. The first 20mins sailing out of Lochinver was great, then at the headland we hit the strong winds and waves. We took in the headsail and motor-sailed with double reefed mainsail. There were lots of big waves around the headlands especially (we discussed how big they were, my vote was  about 2 to 3 metres) that caused the boat to slam down badly, making a terrible noise, when the boat went over a crest. We did our best to avoid this happening by approaching the wave crests at an angle, but occasionally we failed, and the whole boat trembled as she slammed down into the sea beyond the waves. I always worry about the mast coming down, but I guess these conditions must have been allowed for in the design of the boat (mustn’t they?). Anyway, slowly we clawed our way north and eventually made it into Kinlochbervie. It would have been good to get further, but we are all very pleased that we have reached this point, and that we remain on schedule. The view from our berth in the marina (one pontoon – is that a marina?) is stunning! The boat will stay here for several weeks now until we resume our challenge.

Battling our way north

Cape Wrath in the background as we head for Kinlochbervie

The view from our berth in Kinlochbervie

Joke:
Q. What vegetable is forbidden on boats?
A. Leeks!