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Tue 7 July 2009

Home again, Home again...........................

The weather seemed to settle into a pattern of warm, sunny days with thundery showers breaking out in the evenings. We spent an afternoon in the pub watching Andy Murray's exit from Wimbledon, and another walking from Lochinver to the bookshop and cafe at Inverkirkaig - always an interesting place to visit. We were given some lovely fresh pollack for tea after failing to catch any ourselves. Lochinver seems a good place to leave a boat, so we have left Arctica on the pontoon there for four weeks and gone home to do other things for a spell. We are signing off for now with this calm photo of warm sunshine and a smooth sea. To be continued........................

Posted by skipper at 04:22 PM | Comments (2)

Thu 2 July 2009

A Change in the Weather

We were joined for lunch by Ken and Ann, who drove over from Kirkwall in their open-top sports car. A Caterham 7, its dark green body, yellow nose and red leather seats drew admiring glances in Stromness. Soon after, Seol na Mara arrived with crew of Peter, Neil and Angus. In the evening we had a lively ceilidh with everyone in good form. We left early next morning for the crossing to the N coast, and motored in bright sunshine and a smooth sea across to Talmine, at the mouth of the Kyle of Tongue. Five miles out from Hoy and in deep water we were caught on a fishing buoy, but fortunately got it detached without difficulty. After dinner some showers started drifting over - the first rain for many weeks. Another still, bright morning saw us motoring again, west to Cape Wrath (photo) and south to Kinlochbervie. On the way we saw the spectacular sight of killer whales breaching repeatedly. Once berthed, we watched the cockpit thermometer rise steadily to an oppressive 99.7F (37.6C) but before it could reach 100F there was a dramatic weather change. In the space of minutes the sky darkened, lightning flashed, thunder rolled, a sudden howling wind shook the boat and the rain beat down in torrents. It was certainly dramatic if not downright scary!

Posted by skipper at 07:47 PM | Comments (1)