Blog accuracy criticised

The editorial board has brought to my attention a number of misleading statements in the blog. I would like to reassure both of my readers that at no time have I sought to intentionally deviate from writing a strictly factual account of our epic global circumnavigation.

I may however, have inadvertently omitted the odd port or place name en route; dates, times, names, menus and bird species may be given purely on "an illustrative basis" and in any case, I did not knowingly  mislead anyone, much.

With regard to the last week:

Tues 23 May

Mallaig, nice walk.

Wed 24 May

Inverie (Knoydart), lovely walk, friends to supper.

Thurs 25 May

Armadale, nice walk around castle grounds and tea

Fri 26 May

Rum, walk to Palace

Sat 27 May

Rum, 9 mile walk, almost to Harris

Sun 28 May

Mallaig again.  Drinks with Penny Lane

Mon 29 May

Eigg

Tues 30 May

Epic mountain climbing. 

Wed 31 May

To Kilchoan

Blue whales sighted 

Long walk to Achnaha volcano.

From Mallaig to R(h)um, Eigg and Kilchoan.

Loyal reader(s) will remember that Albatross has been mysteriously off line for several days  ....

Mallaig has everything a yacht might need: beautiful walks, lovely food, great company and absolutely no need to go sailing ... but after our third night in port (aware and concerned for our reader(s)' anxiety), we both felt it was time go sailing again.

Going sailing again.

To Rum (previously Rhum), one of the "small islands". Rum is the biggest of these islands and has semi-derelict palace built in 1897 for someone to have parties in. 

The palace

As we weren't invited, we walked most of the way across the island towards a village called "Harris" from which we could see the Outer Hebrides. Rum doesn't have much of an Internet connection. I expect this might have been a problem from party-goers long ago, as they'd have to made conversation rather than playing with their phones. Two night on Rum, then off to Eigg.

The mountain 

We anchored in South Bay, Eigg. The heat wave had started. We climbed the  mountain and generally had a nice time.

The top.

Intrepid Jean.

Our anchorage from the mountain. 

After climbing the mountain We had a beer. This was good. Very good.

Today we went sailing again; to find out whither, see tomorrow's entry.

Exploring the Small Isles?

Dear Reader(s),

I wanted to respond to your concerns, so eloquently listed below, with regard to the absence of recent updates. 

As you noted, this might have been due to a number of factors:

"The electricity is off in Scotland...

You have run out of coins for the meter...

You didn't have a long enough cable to connect to the socket....

The computer has fallen over board...

You have fallen over board...

You are having too much fun to write....

Too many celebratory red wines...

The dog ate the computer....

You've been eaten by seagulls...."

I will let you know in due course.

A day off in Mallaig

We went for a "run". This was mainly at walking pace. We got lost and it wasn't entirely my fault. 

Jean thought we should clean the boat today, so I spent 5 minutes bashing a rug and another 40 talking to people on the pontoon, while she did the washing and cleaned things. 

The laundrette has  a cunning plan for making money: when your cycle has finished, the machine locks itself and demands extra money to let you get your clean washing out.

We like Mallaig with its friendly people and great facilities. 

Great news!  A fellow sailor from SG will be joining us for the trip down from Oban. We might even call in at The Isle of Man.

Plockton to Loch Torridon to Mallaig and something about the weather

Refreshed by a night moored at Plockton, we set off for Loch Torridon ...."Diabaig", actually. 

XC Weather forecast F1-3, but The Met Office  said up to F6.

We got F7.

It is often said that in Scotland you can get four seasons in a day. We got just the one, winter.

Torridon looked wet and cold

Torridon.. 

We decided to anchor in a pretty little loch just a little way up Torridon. 

Loch Diabaig.

Our anchorage.

Being without Internet, we could only speculate about the impending weather (well, if guesswork is good enough for....  etc).

Anyway, we decided that although Ullapool had been our target destination, even though we could probably get there in a couple of days, getting back might have been a problem, and anyway, who needs hypothermia. And my socks were wet.

We would head back to civilisation...  Mallaig.

Fully dressed  for winter gales, we motored quietly back to Mallaig. Wind F0-2. No rain. Quite pleasant. 

We even hit 13 knots down Kyle Rea.

13 knots.

It's  a lovely day in Mallaig and we are now safely berthed and drinking tea.

Tobermory to Mallaig to Plockton

Mist turned to rain, then it got windy and cold.

Dreich.

Mallaig however, is very nice, and when the wind dropped and the sun came out we were happy and warm again.

Mallaig harbour marina, next day.

So, off to Plockton. Up the Sound of Sleat, into Kyle Rea, whizzing through with 4 knots of tide, down Loch Alsh, under the Skye Bridge, along a rocky coast,  and into Plockton. 

A nice calm sunny day. 

Sailing surrounded by mountains. 

Plockton has a stately home...

.... and some moorings. But not a lot else...  apart from stupendous mountain views and flat, calm sheltered water.

Tobermory

Tobermory is as nice as ever.

We walked to the lighthouse and had Genoa cake for tea.

Tobermory marina