056:01.818 N
005:38.782 W

Carsaig Bay

It was a very calm night in the anchorage, in fact this morning was mirror flat, providing an ideal opportunity to have another row in such idyllic conditions, and check out the unusual sight of cows on the beach.

The water is crystal clear, by rowing up tide it was possible to drift back over the shallows and look in close detail at the sea bed at the many variations of sea weed, absolutely stunning.

The tide turned in our favour late morning so we left beautiful Gigha Island and had a two hour down-wind down-tide goosewinged sail, gliding silently north up the Sound of Gigha and into the Sound of Jura.

Gigha Island disappeared over our stern as Islay and Jura appeared through the mist on our port side. Soon everything was closing down on us and we were ghosting along in a whiteout, hills and islands would come and go in the mist, and the occasional ferry or tug boat would pass by. It was only 24 miles today so we resisted the engine despite getting down to 2 knots at one stage, just enjoying the journey.

Now is our shout out for John Bennett. Back in 2014 when we headed to the heat on Thursday’s Child, John gave us one tip for our trip, it was one word “BIMINI” (a cover for the cockpit). Well we thanked John today for the Bimini ~ the wind eventually died and the rain came so we sat in relative dry with rain pouring down all round us and thought of you John. We have since made our own joining piece between the Bimini and the Spray hood, so now there is a decent size of cover over the cockpit.

However, our anchorage is beautiful even in the rain. When it paused, we rowed ashore for a lovely walk through a silver birch wood, not another soul in sight, and such a surprise to see primroses and bluebells in full bloom still.

After the rain, everything smelt so clean and fresh. We walked on spongy moss, through waist-high bracken, and popped out at the top to see TC rocking gently at anchor in the bay below.