Wednesday 12 August. Across the North Minch to Lochinver 41 nm

Sadly we had to leave Stornoway this morning .it was a really lovely place… it had everything that you could want , and we would definitely look forward to coming back . The morning promised yet another Beautiful day but disappointingly, the cloud and murky visibility persisted all day. To begin with there was no wind and we motored for a couple of hours but with the wind mostly in the Northwest it was a perfect opportunity to get the cruising chute out😬! For the first time ever, we rigged it and sailed with it for over 2 hours! For once , the wind stayed the same without threatening to drop or increase. We decided to take it down with about 10 miles to go as the wind started to increase. With only the two of us on board, we rely on being to do everything within our comfort zone …. if at all possible!!!! Finally arrived in Lochinver mid afternoon and tied up to a rather dilapidated pontoon . I left J to sort the boat out and ventured off to find the harbour masters office . Lochinver is most definitely a fishing industry place rather than a yacht-haven. I eventually found the office at the end of a massive warehouse depot where articulates container lorries were able to load up… presumably fish! The kind lady in the office told me there weren’t any facilities open but gave me a map of the area and said that our £27 fee would cover 2 nights if we wanted to stay. We had a quick beer on deck before going for a walk to the Village which is basically a row of houses, bed and breakfasts and a few larger hotels. I came here when I was in my early teens on a family holiday and it doesn’t look like its change much in 45 years! I took a picture of the police station where my dad went to ask whether anyone had handed in a pair of trousers that my sister had left on the top of Suilven ( a nearby mountain). Probably quite a loss in the 1970’s! She had changed into shorts as it was hot!! We returned to Angelique and had a normal evening cooking supper and watching tv. Now about to go to bed with quite a lot of water slapping on the transom so may not be that peaceful. hope we don’t get the awful thunderstorms and lightning that the east And south of the country has had🤞nothing in the forecast as yet!

What I learned today…………13 knots is the maximum wind speed for using the spinnaker. Don’t be tempted to leave it until it is unmanageable….even if it’s exciting and you’re going really fast!

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Sue x