Revisiting Scalpay and Hunkering Down in Stornoway

Sailing (or to be precise, motoring in a flat calm) back to Scalpay, the island off Tarbert, Harris, was a delight. The conditions gave us the opportunity to inspect the impressive Eilean Glas lighthouse at close quarters from the sea before we hiked back overland to it the following morning.

Approaching the lighthouse from the south

The view from land. We motored Maunie into this little bay and were tempted to tie up to the stone pier (built for bringing supplies to the lighthouse) just to say we'd done it. Sense kicked in but the hikers on the rock no doubt still captured some great photos.

Though the lighthouse is still owned and run by the Northern Lighthouse Board, the two keepers' cottages and the flat-roofed Engine House (which once housed the four diesel engines required to produce enough compressed air to feed the mighty foghorn) were sold and are now run by a trust. Their volunteers are fighting an uphill battle to keep the buildings from decaying and a very rudimentary self-service café was open for a welcome cup of tea and a chance to see a bit more of the site.

The Engine House open for teas and coffees, walls partly repainted

The work-in-progress café. The lady (who looked well into her 70's) looking after it said she'd seen us sail into the bay the previous day as she'd been up a ladder painting one of the external walls!

The disused foghorn with its rack and pinion which allowed it to be pointed in the direction of any fog bank

After a great day on Scalpay we moved into Tarbert for a night and it was good to once again catch up with Fred and Carolanne, who run the excellent little marina there. We'd liked to have stayed longer but the imminent gale made us head up to Stornoway where the inner harbour provides more shelter and the larger town offers a few more things to do on wet and windy days. Just as well, as the deep low pressure system that's the cause of the gale (and is the remnants of a Tropical Storm that hit the Caribbean) is moving slowly north east; the roar of wind in the rigging and the tug of the boat against her mooring lines will be inescapable for the best part of 2 days.

Wind gusts of just under 40 knots - we are very glad to be safely moored!

In these parts the sea state will probably take a day or two to calm down after such strong winds so we won't rush to cross to the mainland and on to Orkney. If we can manage it, we'll hire a little car here for a day on Sunday (still forecast to be windy but maybe a little less wet) to see the west and north coasts of Lewis then have a couple of nights at anchor in some interesting looking sea lochs just south of Stornoway. 

At the moment, the long term forecast looks good to set off for Kinlochbervie (just south of Cape Wrath, the NW corner of mainland Scotland) on Wednesday, then head off for Orkney (with a possible overnight in Lock Eriboll) the following day. Fingers crossed.