An emotional farewell

Photo: Jackson Elder

I felt very emotional when the time came to finally leave Gairloch this morning. We'd had so much help and met so many nice people while we were there, by the end of our time I knew more people in Gairloch than I do in our street in London. I was walking to the petrol station yesterday to get some oil for our gearbox and someone stopped to offer me a lift, it's a great place

Last night we went out for a meal at Na Mara in Strath. It was everything the Smugglers in Newlyn had promised to be, but Na Mara had succeeded in using top quality local produce to make a memorable meal for all the right reasons. It was excellent, just a pity we hadn't eaten an evening meal there before, otherwise we might have become regulars!
The people who work in Flowerdale harbour, would say hello, and Jackson the harbour master was always around to help out or have a chat in the morning. Gairloch felt more like a home should be, rather than how London feels to me. Very much like Mac at the end of the film Local Hero.

We'd been on some fantastic walks, through stunning countryside, been interviewed on the local radio, seen our engine in pieces and had so much help it's impossible not to feel sad to leave. Everyone helped to get us back on our way, and in a situation where we could have been taken advantage of, no one did, in fact people went out of their way to help us. No matter how bad the weather has been or how rotten our luck, it's the people who have made this trip for me.

So thank you Jackson, Willem, Rick and Alex, along with everyone else in Gairloch we met, for all your help and support. Kirsty and I really do appreciate it.

It was with great delight that the engine started better than it had ever done before since we've owed Pixie, and although we have to take it easy for the first few hours it took us out of the harbour and past the track of our two previous aborted attempts to leave Gairloch. The wind was light from NNW when we left, rain and drizzle filled the cold air and the clouds were thick and low. It wasn't the nicest day for a sail. Once out of the shelter of Gairloch we were exposed to a tall long swell that was to be our unwanted companion for today's trip to the Summer Isles, some what misnamed given the current weather. At times the swell would reach around 4 metres with these gentle giants dwarfing Pixie as they rolled onwards. We beat out as the wind increased to around 15-18 knots of true wind, before the wind slowly backed so we tacked to clear Rubha Reidh. Once past the headland, the wind was still backing as we eased sheets on course for Tanera Beg. Because of the swell and the wind direction going from NNW-NW-WNW-W it left behind an uncomfortable and confused sea. A pot noodle for lunch didn't help the way my stomach was feeling. I wasn't sick, but then again I wasn't feeling 100% either. So it was with some relief when we dropped the sails and motored to a very sheltered anchorage in the heart of the Summer Isles.

Now where has my signal gone?