57 20.44 N, 05 38.47 W

Got up at 03:45, still surprisingly dark. We were woken by the unmistakable sound of the anchor just starting to drag as the tide turned and on hauling up the anchor it had a huge ball of kelp around it, so this anchorage, despite being shown on the chart and in the pilot book, is a pretty poor one. Wind from the NW, but we sailed up towards Mull and tacked into the Sound of Mull. Uneventful as far as Tobermory where we stopped for 30 mins to buy diesel and propane, plus the all-important red wine and salad we had run out of.

Then more tacking past Ardnamurchan and towards the sound of Sleat. The wind died off Eigg, so the engine went back on. The visibility must have been 80 miles or more and all of the Black Cuillins were clear, as well as Rum, Canna and inland to the south Cluanie ridge. The sun was hot too, enough to prompt Peter to wear his shorts for a short time. Dolphins were also seen busily fishing about a quarter mile from our starboard side.

Fe repairing some frayed stitching in the staysail, Knoydart in the background

The wind picked up from the west once we were past Mallaig and we then sailed all the way to Kyle, including through Kyle Rhea with 5 knots or so of tide under us. Peter ‘phoned Matthew and he and Flo drove down to Kyle from Plockton and waved from the bridge to Skye as we sailed under.

We picked up our mooring in Plockton at 21:50, bang on our expected time. Mooring C16 is ours but this is the first time we’ve taken possession of it, so it took a bit of finding; C14, C15, C17 and C18 all clearly marked, but there was one between C14 and C18 which was unmarked, so we assume it’s right. Next morning we wrote C16 on it!

Peter and Matthew ferried aboard several car loads of stores and equipment which they’d previously driven up from Suffolk and then then Matthew and Flo joined us for supper.

Next morning (and most of the afternoon !!) was devoted to stowing and then inspecting the mooring. We scraped off what looked like years of mussels from the buoy, swivel and first few feet of riser-chain. It has corroded by about 40% in places near the surface, so definitely needs replacing but that’ll have to wait until we return.

Fiona’s comments:-

Bob – the knife works a treat, more on that later.

L’occitaine Cambridge – handwash is invaluable as are the sachets of mega face cream, it’s all working for me.