www.(Wild, Windy, Wonderful) Barra.com

The gale approaches

The westerly gale arrived on Thursday evening, just as the forecast predicted, after a day of sunshine and showers. We’d had plenty of time to prepare extra mooring lines to keep Maunie safe, but we still had a rather sleepless night as the gusts heeled us over and the rigging vibrated heavily with the force of the wind.

As a result, we both felt a little bleary-eyed the following morning and, with the clouds scudding over us in wind that stubbornly remained brisk, we wondered whether the idea of hiring bikes to tour the island was a very sensible one. We are very glad that we stuck to the plan, however, and even more happy that we’d booked electric bikes to take the sting out of the headwinds and the sometimes-hilly terrain.

Barra is just a breath-taking place and our day’s circuit also took us across the causeway to the neighbouring island of Vatersay where stunningly white beaches contrast with clear turquoise (but very cold) water. We were so pleased to have experienced it all.

Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the scenery:

Castlebay - ferry terminal and Kisimul Castle to centre and the little 'marina' to the right

High Street Castlebay
- a shop / petrol station, a bank and an Indian restaurant (book several days in advance!)

Only one other visiting yacht - the weather has certainly reduced numbers coming here this May

Clear, cold water and white sand. Looking towards Barra from Vatersay

The West Beach on Vatersay, looking out into the Atlantic

Dianne is missing her Zumba group so did a few moves!

Vatersay Bay - probably our next anchorage!

Barra Airport

A perfectly normal airport - the planes just land on the beach!

The 16.05 from Glasgow and the tractor used to sweep the beach clear of seaweed

Another stunning beach on Vatersay

...and another. This one looks south towards Sandray with a nice restoration project on the right

Splendid views, open aspect interior and plenty of natural ventilation, this property is an ideal project for the DIY enthusiast.

Returning to Castlebay after a brilliant day

Today we escape Castlebay, after four nights on the pontoons, to enjoy some wild anchorages for a few days; the wind has at last abated a bit, though annoyingly it has veered to the north (the direction we want to go in, naturally) and has a distinctly chilly feel to it. 

Finally, for the ferry fans, here’s another time-lapse of the rather larger Oban to Castlebay ferry docking in slightly tricky sidewinds:

A dramatic coffee stop

Yesterday's 32nm passage from Canna to Castlebay, Barra, was completed in the calm before the storm. We motored the whole way so we took the chance to make a brief stop at a very wild and remote anchorage at Hyskeir Lighthouse.

The lighthouse was built in 1904 and was one of the last to be automated in Scotland, in 1997. The low-lying rocks and reefs offer limited shelter but in yesterday's calm conditions, it was a magical place with dozens of curious seals watching our arrival.

We motored on to Castlebay with its little marina where we were given a warm welcome. Yesterday afternoon it was calm and warm in the sunshine.

The marina with the CalMac ferry terminal and Kisimul Castle (C16th) across the bay

Unfortunately, the strong winds arrived with a bang during the night, complete with a wall of stinging rain, so at 03.00 Graham was out to get very wet whilst adding extra lines to ease Maunie's movement. For a while the wind backed to the SW, which is not a great direction here (waves were breaking over the outer wide pontoons), but for the next couple of days we'll have strong westerlies so we'll be doing some walking or maybe cycling if the weather isn't too trying.

Meeting the wildlife

Canna harbour to the left, Skye in the distance

We’re now in Canna, one of the Small Isles (Rhum, Eigg and Muck are the others) and a place that’s one of our favourite destinations in this part of the world. It has a permanent population of just 17 but that’s soon to become 18, we have just learned. It’s absolutely beautiful but, when we arrived yesterday afternoon, it was very, very wet.

We’re certainly into an area of great wildlife now – we’ve seen lots of seabirds, including puffins, and enjoyed two magical interactions with pods of dolphins – so, with slightly better weather today, we retraced our steps of last year to see if the puffin colony on Sanday Island is still thriving.

Our latest cruising grounds

A quick recap of the past few days: On Friday we waited patiently for heavy, driving rain to clear and left Port Ellen just before 4.00pm for a truly memorable sail north to Colonsay. Almost as soon as we had the sails set, we found ourselves surrounded by a pod of about ten Bottlenose Dolphins who entertained us by playing in Maunie’s bow wave for about 45 minutes.

There’s a short video of them having fun here: https://youtu.be/0v9S6r7mpGg

We then threaded ourselves up the Sound of Islay, between Islay and Jura, and survived some entertainingly fierce catabatic squalls (sudden wind gusts rolling off the steep hills to drop on us) that had Maunie heeling hard over. The tide runs at up to 5 knots in the narrow sound and we saw 11.5 knots SOG (speed over ground) while sailing at about 7 knots through the water.

Sailing into the sunset, toward the north end of Islay

Looking back down the Sound of Islay

Leaving the shelter of the sound we were suddenly into slightly rolling swells but soon found further shelter on the east side of Colonsay for an anchorage in a deserted bay, a mile south of the main settlement of Scarasaig. Unfortunately, this is where the fun ended as we discovered our normally reliable anchor windlass refused to work. Thankfully, Dianne had remembered to check the windlass before entering the anchorage so at least we had some warning of the fault. But, in trying to lower the heavy anchor and chain by hand, Graham trapped a finger in between chain and windlass. Some blood and swearing followed but Di did a masterful first aid job and we then lowered the spare anchor on a rope, leaving the mystery of the recalcitrant windlass for future investigation.

The following morning, initial checking of power circuits yielding no answers, we hauled the anchor by hand and had a rolling and very rainy sail up to the SW tip of Mull and a magical anchorage called Tinker’s Hole. It’s a very narrow cleft in some pink granite rocks that takes some nerve to enter but the contrast between the confused, lumpy swell at the entrance and the smooth water inside was very welcome. The anchorage is a narrow SW to NE channel in the rocks so the current runs through it quite strongly, so we took advice from others who have written about the anchorage (it’s a famous one on Mull) and lowered a stern anchor to keep us out of the current. With the windlass still dead, this involved shackling the main anchor to a reel of chain and hefty octaplait anchor warp that came (unused) with Maunie when we bought her in 2009 and has been buried in a deep locker ever since.

Surrounded by rocks but in perfect shelter

The giant cotton reel finally gets used!

Happily, the calm waters allowed Graham to wriggle his head and shoulders into the anchor locker and he eventually found a corroded fuse connector in the windlass electrics. A new fuse and a liberal squirt of WD40 and we have our windlass back! Just as well, as we expect to be doing a lot of anchoring in wild locations over the coming weeks.

Yesterday was even wetter than the day before and the southerly wind was still pretty fresh so we opted for a 50nm sail up the west coast of Mull, past Staffa and the Treshnish Isles and up to Canna. It’s a stunningly beautiful area but we saw almost nothing of it – visibility was less than a mile the whole way.

As we left the Sound of Iona, we saw a 450ft cruise ship called Maud on the AIS so Graham called her on the VHF to check that we showed up on their radar. We have a piece of kit called an Echomax Active Radar Reflector which receives incoming radar pulses from ships and electronically amplifies them to make us look like a much bigger vessel. The watch-keeper confirmed that he had a clear radar signal from us; comforting to know that the technology works! Maud passed close to us and did a slow pass of Fingal’s Cave on Staffa but her passengers wouldn’t have enjoyed a very clear view in the murky conditions.

With another pod of dolphins coming to play with Maunie, the remaining passage up to Canna was fast and rolly so we were glad to find flat water and several free moorings in the natural harbour. A trip ashore to the famous Café Canna was a welcome round-off to a day that wasn’t ruined by the horrible weather conditions, but we didn’t get quite the seafood feast that we enjoyed here last year. It transpired that the owners have had to go to Inverness for the imminent birth of their baby (who will become the 18^th resident of the island) so a limited menu was on offer. Still, we had the best fish and chips that we’ve eaten for a long time.

Today’s hike to see the Puffins was a bonus – blue sky and relative warmth for the moment. We had quite an impressive show from the birds but they quickly disappeared for a fishing expedition. The coastline views across to Rhum are as impressive as ever. 

As we walked the rather soggy-underfoot route we gained the attention of a couple of rather larger birds- Skuas – which obviously resented our presence and did a very impressive series of low-level bombing runs, swooping only 3 or 4 feet above our heads at great speed! They are big birds so a direct hit wouldn't be a good experience.

Incoming!

The Belted Galloway cattle watched our antics with the Skuas with interest

As we returned to the dinghy we watched the CalMac ferry do a very neat handbrake turn and reverse into the loading berth. It looks really quite dramatic when filmed as a time-lapse! (You can click on this image to make it bigger)

 So, what’s next? More wind, that’s what!    

Tomorrow's forecast - time to find some shelter

                                             

We’ll stay here tonight then head to the Outer Hebrides early tomorrow to find a sheltered spot to ride out a couple of days of gales – we’re aiming for Castle Bay on Barra. We then hope that sustained summer weather will arrive up here sometime soon!

 

 

 

When in Islay.....

 

With some unsettled conditions and persistently strong S to SE winds, it seemed to make perfect sense to stay for 3 days in Port Ellen, Islay. After a day of heavy, squally rain that make us complete some admin and boat jobs, the welcome return of sunshine gave us the chance to stretch our legs for a hike along the Three Distilleries Walk yesterday.

Walking north from Port Ellen, with a stop at the McDougall's Monument

We pressed on to the furthest of the three distilleries, Ardbeg.

Here a tasting flight of five excellent malts cost £20 and included the Wee Beastie, the Ten Years Old, the An Oa, the Uigeadail and a 57% one called Corrywrekan. The tasting notes for the latter suggested 'smoked bacon, peppered steak, dark coffee and bitter almonds' on the palate!

Suitably fortified, we walked back a mile or so to Lagavulin (one of Graham's favourite malts) where we'd managed to get a couple of last-minute cancellations on the otherwise fully-booked distillery tours.

It is possible to bring a yacht into the rocky sea loch and anchor just in front of the distillery, but we'd have needed much more sheltered weather to consider attempting it! 

Although the distillery is owned by the giant Diagio, the place had a very homely, independent feel to it and our tour guide, Sarah, who's always lived on the island, was wonderfully enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

The tour finished with a tutored tasting of three malts, including the Distillers Exclusive Bottling that retails for £100 a bottle. Luckily, drivers and non whisky lovers like Dianne could bring their samples home in little, um, sample bottles!

Our return to the boat was just in time for the next weather system to arrive so we endured strong winds that had Maunie straining at her mooring lines before heavy rain introduced a better wind direction and a sudden reduction in its power, just as night fell.

This morning dawned sunny and relatively calm so many of the visiting boats have moved on. We're staying one more day, however, so inflated the dinghy to identify and (we hope) fix a slow but annoying air leak.

The shallow water around the pontoons is pretty visible from the air

Maunie in the foreground, next to the Farr 65. One of the twice-daily ferries is in the background.

Next stop, we think, will be Mull and then we'll head over to Barra, the most southerly inhabited island of the Outer Hebrides - if the weather cooperates, that is. The forecast suggest more strong winds are heading our way.

Finally, we have uploaded a 20-minute video of our passage from Cornwall to the Isle of Man https://youtu.be/wrYTFeO-O40

Rathlin Island tides, Islay and another Small World Moment

 

Glenarm

After the calm stop-over at Glenarm we had another windless day for the easy 24 mile motor up the Antrim Coast to Rathlin Island, which lies five miles off the top corner of the mainland. At least, it should have been easy! The tides between the mainland and island are notoriously fierce so we used the Irish Cruising Club tidal guide to arrive just at the last of the NW-going flow. We were therefore more than a bit embarrassed to find the tide turn against us an hour before it was predicted so we had to do a slow crawl for the last couple of miles against almost 5 knots of water rushing the wrong way! Local experts later confirmed that our timing should have been perfectly good but that the waters around the island can do strange things, particularly at Spring Tides.

Never mind, we arrived into the little harbour of Church Bay with its three visitor pontoons, had a quick drink in McQuaig's Bar (which was full of locals dressed smartly for a young lad's first communion that had taken place that morning) and then bought an overwhelming amount of excellent fish 'n' chips from the Hungry Seal takeaway trailer.

Church Bay - unfortunately the sunshine was short-lived

Serves One (hungry seal) - this was only about 60% of the chips provided and they'd run out of mushy peas.

With Monday dawning wet and windy, thoughts of a hike ashore were shelved and instead we had a fast 24nm sail north to Port Ellen in Islay. The little marina here is surprisingly busy with visiting yachts and the vacant berth we picked has proved to be a bit uncomfortable in the wind-chop. The visibility has remained very poor and it's still blowing quite strongly so we'll stay here a couple of nights and try to get in a distillery tour while we're here.

Meanwhile, we've had another of our famous Small World moments, where we meet someone or something that we know from many miles away - 3980 miles away in this case. A 65ft ex-racing yacht came in to the marina this afternoon with a crew of 14 Swedes and we recognised the design. It's a Farr 65 and we raced against the very same boat (in a sister-ship) during Antigua Sailing Week, back in 2004.

The Farr 65 next to Maunie - note the low cloud and poor visibility

The black-sailed boat (chasing ours) is our new neighbour. Bengt, the current owner, was very happy to be given a copy of the racing photo!

Finally a day of indoors stuff, thanks to the indifferent weather gave us a chance to catch up on some reading and we found that the local newsagents had a copy of Practical Boat Owner which contains a 6-page article written by Graham. We're very pleased with how the finished article turned out and Graham even appears on the cover!

Copyright prohibits posting a copy here but the editorial highlights our story:

Nice Editorial - shame they got our home port wrong! Of course it should say 'Dartmouth'.