Stromness - Kinloch Bervie

Tues 2nd

We spent a day in Orkney and after getting washing done and some maintenance took the bus to Kirkwall.

It is always surprising what a difference a few miles South makes to where the crofters/farmers are in their schedule, a few parks had already been cut and bailed.

We met Ben Wilcox from Hillswick on his boat in the Stromness harbour. He is running a charter company now 'Highland Sea Charters.' Stromness harbour was very busy with ferries, dive boats and yachts. Ali got especially excited about a big barge with cranes etc on it personally I couldn't see what all the fuss was about! Here is a picture for your perusal.

Wed 3rd

We decided to leave early to catch the tide going West along the North coast of Scotland.
It was very choppy coming out of Stromness as the wind was against the tide. This resulted in Kaylee being sick before we were even out in open water, me getting hit in the head by the boom and a fair amount of expletives being muttered! It continued to be a fairly jumbly trip as there wasn't enough wind for sailing well and the swell was coming in at our side. Both the girls basically spewed the whole way from Orkney to Cape Wrath. They are amazing little girls as they seem to just accept it and as soon as we turned South they were both up on deck laughing and joking.

On the up side we saw dolphins three times and we had our smoothest passage past Cape Wrath yet (tell that to the girls!)
We decided to shorten our route and go into Kinloch Bervie instead of Loch Inver so that the girls would eat. The navigation light at the end of the channel wasn't working which caused some confusion for a while. The entrance is quite narrow but well marked once you get in. There is a new pontoon which we went to and tied up alongside an wooden boat which turned out to belong to a man called Ted Palmer who worked at Sullom and knows a few Shetlanders.

Thurs 4th

We went to the harbour office and purchased a North coast sort of 'rover' ticket that covers us for berthing and mooring between here and Skye for the next 14 days. Kinloch Bervie is a fairly substantial fishing port but there was only one boat in which Ali managed to get a fry of haddock for our tea from. We went to a play park which is a must at each place we go. It had an old sign saying it was 'Scottish Play Park of the Year 1996' well it was great but probably hadn't been painted since then!

When we got back to the boat we heard the weather forecast and decided to leave for Loch Inver as it looked as if we might get stuck for a couple of days. Kinloch Bervie is a nice place and the harbour staff are very helpful.

The trip down to Loch Inver was far better than the day before and there was enough wind for sailing for a while, unfortunately accompanied by rain but you can't have everything. We persuaded the girls to stay on deck and they lay under blankets Aunty Janet had made for them to keep warm. When it started raining Ali strung up a waterproof sheet for a tent to keep them dry and some of us fell asleep under it.
The North West coast is beautiful and photos do not do it justice (especially when taken from a rocky boat)

We passed the Old Man of Stoer, Stoer Head Light House and it was so clear that we could see the Butt of Lewis in the distance.

The only real drama of the trip was Alisha accidentally dropping her Tinkerbell hat in the sea. There was alot of screaming when we thought it had sunk but the tide had carried it quite quickly South. Alisha spotted it from her forlorn position at the bow and so the hat was rescued and tranquility restored! If anyone was watching from the shore they must have wondered what an earth was going on.

We got into Loch Inver at about 8pm. It is also mainly a fishing port and there are lots of boats about - mainly prawn boats full of all nationalities of crew.

Fri 5th

It has been a really rainy, windy day. We have been out for a walk and stopped in a couple of cafe's (to warm up) and of course found a play park. It is a very pretty place and we will be staying until Sunday as the leisure centre is having a 'kids' day tomorrow and it may still be a bit choppy out there. Ali has manged to get a fry of prawns for our tea tomorrow (after a bit of hanging around the end of the pier.) Hopefully it wont be so wet and tomorrow!