Stornoway
Bliss
Wed 15 Jun 2016 19:44
The wind picked up to a steady 12 knots during the morning and we had a nice sail to Stornoway, but were disappointed on arriving to find that the marina was full and we had to tie up alongside the fisherman's quay. It has it's disadvantages in that when the tide is low it's a 12 feet climb up a vertical ladder to get ashore! We have developed a system of lifting and lowering heavy objects on and off with a rope; particularly bikes, shopping and a new gas bottle. We don't have any mains electricity either, generally not a problem but I was desperate to charge my camera battery, hence no pics of the ? Sea Eagle. I've lost my spare battery and need an AC charger, problem easily solved as the marina office charged it.
Stornoway isn't a big town, but is the biggest town in the Outer Hebrides, it has all the facilities, supermarkets, restaurants and wifi (and a castle!). We can stock up before heading back to the Inner Hebrides on Thursday. It's been windy and cool today, after getting chores and shopping done, we set off on a bus to see the Standing Stones of Callanish, pretty amazing 5,000 year old cruciform arrangement of stones with an central stone circle, (I copied that). It was interesting to see a bit of the island too, from the bus on the two hour circular drive, Chris slept!
The forecast for Thursday is pretty windy, we have a 45 mile sail to the island of Rona planned, if the wind is as forecast, a force 5-6 north-easterly, it should be a cracking broad reach.