Storm Bound

The sunset at Poll Domhain was magnificent. The motor up to Loch Torridon on Wednesday was less so. As Kirsty rightly pointed out, the wind in Scotland is like a light bulb, it's either on or off, blowing 5-7 or not blowing at all, there seems little in between. Well it wouldn't do the power in the batteries any harm. We motored up through the BUTEC Range (British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre) where all sorts of underwater weapons are tested, before entering Loch Torridon. The wind still hadn't turned on by the time we reached Loch Shieldaig, finding a nice spot to anchor and relax in the sunshine. We knew a blow was forecast so I let out 40 metres of chain in 4 metres of water at low tide. There was a mooring for the use of patrons of the hotel, but seeing we weren't dining there, we used our own anchor. As the tide dropped, a pick up buoy became visible under the water behind Pixie, we were clear, just.


We went ashore that evening and tried the village's only pub, we had a look at the menu and the food looked good, so we stayed for dinner as well. It was only after looking at the menu that we noticed the hotel and the pub/restaurant are owned by the same people. On our way back to the boat we popped into the hotel to see if we could use their mooring. They said yes, so we went back to Pixie and moved her.

The next morning (Thursday) the forecast force 7 arrived by the time we got ashore, it was a bit of a grey day, but we thought we'd go for a walk. We went to the shop and bought a small book of walks around the coast of Wester Ross.
One of the walks was a short one up to the narrows of Upper Loch Torridon.

The variety of scenery in the short walk was surprising, from rugged cliffs, to heather covered moorland to grazing pasture to forest, all in the space of a few miles. We ate our packed lunch in the light rain looking down Loch Torridon towards The Minch. We stopped off at the pub again for a hot chocolate before heading back to Pixie for my boat made cauliflower cheese.
The forecast for the next day was looking worse. 5-7 occassionally gale force 8, so Friday found us ashore for another walk. This one was much longer as we had to walk for 3.5 miles to get to the start. Well it would have been 3.5 mikes if I hadn't led us along the wrong path for 1/2 a mile before realising my mistake and retracing our foot steps. The OS map of the area was old, and the footpaths hadn't been used for a while. It was great to be walking without seeing other boot prints and where it seems only sheep had stepped before us. The short cuts weren't as clear as we had hoped, and by the end of the tracks I was left wondering whether they had saved us any time. The views were stunning though.

We walked for most of the day, totalling around 13 miles of breathtaking scenery. All but the last mile were dry, which was in heavy rain with a force 7 to help it soak us through to the skin. We headed to the pub for a hot chocolate, and waited for the rain to stop before heading back to Pixie to get changed for dinner.

The trip to Pixie was a bit rough, the trip back was worse. It was blowing anything between 20 and 30 knots, so we picked a lull to head back. I was glad I opted to bring the bailer as the waves hit Sprite, our dinghy, the spray covered the bottom of the dinghy, by halfway Kirsty was pumping and there was a good 4 inches of water in the bottom of the boat.

We arrived wetter than we had been after the walk. We had dinner at the pub, their wood fired pizza oven in operation up stairs in the restaurant, and a Ceilidh band setting up down stairs.

After dinner we caught the last of the Ghana v Uruguay game before the band started. The band were really good (http://www.doublescotch.net/) and the astmosphere in the pub was warm and social, we had to leave before the end as it was getting dark and the wind was still building. We asked a couple of locals to keep an eye out for Pixie and if there wasn't a light on her by 0030 to try our mobile, and if they couldn't reach either of us to phone the coastguard. It's not the sort of thing I'd do after a night in the pub but the wind was still blowing 20-30 knots and no one would gave been any the wiser if anything had happened to us on the way back.

Saturday morning found us still swinging on our mooring in 30 odd knots of wind. Our plan had been to make some brown bread and while it was proving, go ashore and buy some locally smoked salmon to go with it. With the wind still blowing I thought better of going ashore, so we had a lie in and had a late breakfast.

The noon forecast showed a glimmer of hope for moving on, otherwise we would have had to remain in Shieldaig for another few days as the next gale came in. The forecast was south or south east 5-6, increasing force 7 to gale force 8 later, so we had at least 12 hours before it was due to worsen. It was going to be rough, but we were off the wind and it was only around 16 miles to Gairloch and pontoons ashore. We got into our wet weather gear, waited for the rain to stop, put two reefs in the main sail as it was still blowing in the early 20 knots, and cast off the mooring.

No sooner had we turned downwind than the wind died to 4.5 knots, the lowest we'd seen for the last 2 days. We motor sailed out on Shieldaig as the wind started to build. Soon Pixie was tearing along in 25 knots of wind, through the turquoise waters of the loch. Bright sunshine, turquoise water, wind aft of the beam, stunning scenery. If we weren't still wet from the last rain shower and in full oilskins, this could have been the BVIs in a blow.

Clearing the shelter of Loch Torridon the wind went up to 37 knots and stayed well above 30 knots for quite a time, with Kirsty on the helm Pixie was going well. When the wind went up to 38 knots I took over from Kirsty, thinking it might get worse, but it stayed in the high 30s for 5-10 mintutes before easing to around 30 knots. Pixie was surfing down waves at 8-9 knots with two reefs in the mainsail and a small headsail, but was in full control, and even in the gusts she was well behaved. She really is a great yacht to have under us for the sailing weather we've been having recently.

It was a cracking sail, but I still have a feeling of waiting for the next problem to happen. Sure enough, we dropped the mainsail outside Gairloch Harbour, and the engine temperature alarm came on. I looked at the depth and we were in 38 metres of water, too deep to anchor. The engine was in tick over at the time, so I took the engine out of gear, and gave it some revs, hoping whatever was casusing the blockage in the sea water cooling system would be sucked through. It worked, the alarm stopped and we motored into the small harbour of Gairloch. The harbour advertises 60 metres of pontoons for visiting yachtsmen. However when we arrived there were only 30 metres available for yachts, one raft of two yachts, another raft of three. We went out of the harbour and prepared to come alongside the raft of two. However as we closed on the yacht on the outside a gentleman came out and told us the harbourmaster had told him not to allow any other yachts alongside because of the storms forecast and the strength of their pontoon. So we had a choice, raft alongside a fishing boat, and incur the wrath of a fisherman or harbourmaster, or go somewhere else. We opted for the latter, Gairloch has a number of small harbours, some with moorings. So we went to Shieldaig, a different Shieldaig than we set off from, honest.

Sunday was spent onboard. A storm force 10 was forecast, so I didn't want us to go ashore, just in case we couldn't get back to Pixie. We watched the barometer rise, waiting for the wind.

I checked the sea water cooling on the engine, which was fine. The day was mostly spent reading and listening to the radio or iPod on the stereo. I baked bread and read most of the first Harry Potter, Kirsty read and tidied up Pixie. Not the greatest day of our trip, we haven't gone stir crazy and we're still talking to each other, so it can't have been that bad.