Lochinver is a bit of a dour place. However our stay here has been good and we had a really lovely chat with two divers before we left this morning. We knew that they were working on the pontoons today as we’d been asked to move our boat forward this morning. They were so lovely and laid back. Telling us all about the places to go. One of them lived overlooking the summer isles and the other was a marine biologist. They were checking all the mooring lines/ chains to the pontoons, for wear and tear. Without us asking they also checked the underside of Angelique and her prop! How kind and reassuring to know it’s all okay! Well we said our goodbyes and set sail for Ullapool. It was the usual grey as we ventured back out into the North Minch. Not much wind for the first hour but after that it kicked in. Very fortunately the wind seems to be more or less Northerly which means it’s coming from the north and pushing us south. We eventually rounded the headland and headed towards Ullapool. The route took us down into Loch broom, amidst the summer isles. As you can see from the photos, the cloud started to lift revealing the most stunning scenery. The mountains rise up from the sea , so massive and so majestic. Cloud is always attractive to mountains … or is it the other way round?! We had the most fantastic sail down Loch broom. The wind was either on our quarter or dead behind us. As the winds were very light we were able to continue gybing occasionally and still make good progress towards our destination. It took us s few hours but as the journey progressed, patches of blue sky appeared and cloud lifted from the tops. The purple heather shone out together with the vibrant green grass as the sun swept over it. Arrived in Ullapool harbour after the most amazing sail having goose winged the last hour , threading ourselves between the islands to arrive about 4 pm. We picked up a visitor mooring which was a good strop but had a huge metal eye on the end of the rope which was as thick as your forearm. Sorted that out by making a bridle, and then set about sorting the dinghy out …… bit of a faff … but no other way of getting ashore! Found Tesco! Bought a few things including pastries and Prosecco for tomorrow. On arriving back at the dinghy, we found that we couldn’t unlock the life jackets from the boat ( remember the man on Gigha had given us a bit of chain). I’d had a spare key cut for the cockpit locker and that was the one we were using… well it didn’t work so THAT was a waste of money and luckily it was calm so not a big issue getting back. Found a key that did work so we saved the day!pesto pasta and salad for supper!
What I learned today ……….don’t allow people trying to be helpful to sabotage your “well thought out” departure plans. Thing was I let the nice divers take off our spring rope (that J was going to motor against ) before he had done so…..oops😬
Sue x
Divers in Lochinver 
Approaching the summer isles 
Ben mor coigach 
Goose winging 
Beinn ghobhlach 
Ben mor coigach 
On mooring in Ullapool bay 
Sunset over Ullapool 
Head of Loch broom 
Ullapool 
Cottages on shore overlooking summer isles
Angelique 