Sunshine in the Outer Hebrides

When the wet and windy westerlies abated somewhat we sailed under genoa across to Loch Sunart for a night anchored in Loch Drumbuie before setting off for the Outer Hebrides the following morning. We started the crossing motoring in a dead calm, progressed to slow close reach, a faster beam reach and an even faster broad reach, as the wind moved round through the south and picked up to a F4-5. It didn’t last, and we were tacking in a light wind before we reached our destination. Eriskay has two buoys for visitors so we picked up one of them. The island is famous(ish) for the true story on which Compton Mackenzie’s “Whisky Galore” was based. It also has the beach on which Bonnie Prince Charlie first landed when he came over from France to start an uprising. However, most places in the Outer Hebrides seem to have some connection with him as first he had a few attempts at raising support, then several attempts at escaping after Culloden before he went over the sea to Skye with Flora McDonald, and thence to France. We visited “An Politician” for lunch and so that Ollie could meet a couple of original whisky bottles from the wreck.

Matthew & the bikes - next stop Canada

After a couple of nights at Eriskay we moved on to Loch Boisdale before the strong north-easterly winds kicked in. 

The new marina there was virtually empty so we were able to pick a good berth for the wind to come, and which we could easily leave from when we wanted to. Due to the wind the visitors’ berths filled up rapidly over the next few days as people arrived from the mainland but Bicycles are a great benefit at Loch Boisdale as the machair and beaches along the west coast are lovely, and the nearest food shop is about 4.5 miles away. The road from Lochboisdale village to the north-south road, the Co-op, and the machair is pretty flat and there isn’t a great deal of traffic, which is fortunate as the road is less than 2 cars wide. 

The Sound of Barra and the
 rather unimpressive standing stone

We went for a super 30 mile cycle ride – across the island to find a couple of excavated iron-age houses in the machair, on to the beach, then down the back lane and on to the south tip for a very good chowder for lunch at the Polochar Inn looking across the sound of Barra. There was a very underwhelming standing stone next to the pub. Afterwards we carried on east to the harbour from which the ferry used to go to Eriskay, before the causeway was built, before heading back with a stop off at the bright pink Lochboisdale Post Office-cum-café for tea and cake.

We used the bikes again a day or two later to hunt for another iron age house, have another look at the Atlantic, and stock up at the Co-op. The only snag was that the NE winds meant a head-wind for the last 4 or 5 miles back to the marina both times.

When the NE winds stopped for a few days we sailed slowly north past the rest of South Uist and Ronay before winding our way round behind Floddaymor & Floddaybeg to anchor just south of North Uist. From the anchorage we could see through the rocks, islands and shallows towards the Atlantic between Benbecula and South Uist. We saw red deer on North Uist, and one decided to swim to Floddaybeg, got half way across then changed his mind and swam back. 

Successful invasion of Taransay

From Floddaybeg we motored through the Sound of Harris and round Toe Head to Taransay. Two sea eagles were sitting on the low ridge at the end of Toe Head - they are huge. Taransay is the largest uninhabitated Scottish island, and the beach looked so inviting, with smooth white and golden shell sand, that the bears decided to mount an invasion. Accordingly we dinghied ashore with them to provide photographic evidence and ensure they didn't get sand in their fur.

Later 7 kayaks arrived and camped on the beach, and about 30 red deer appeared on the isthmus.

Poll nan Tighmhail, Rodel

The following day was beautiful and sunny but with hardly any wind. The kayakers set off, with some of them paddling over to us for a weather forecast before they left the bay. We sailed and drifted round to Loch Leosavay but, despite a large castle on the shore, it wasn't very pretty so we headed back to Taransay for the night. Next, we headed back through the Sound of Harris and through the excitingly narrow and shallow entrance to Poll an Tighmhail at Rodel. We took the free visitors' buoy there, which was the east-most of the three, and went ashore for a look round. At Rodel is the church of St Clements, built in the 1520s to house the tomb of the founder. The tomb is very impressive with fine carvings and a recumbent knight carved in black kneiss. There are a couple of other tombs with black knights, and some mediaeval carved grave slabs, but it is no longer used as a church which isn't surprising as there is nothing much else at Rodel except for a hotel.

The tomb of Alastair Crotach

We had been planning to walk from Rodel to Leverburgh the following day, in order to buy some food and do the ferry trip through the rocks to Berneray, but the wind swung round more northerly and at low tide we realised we had swung so that the rocks were rising very close to the stern of the dinghy. We checked with the Antares chart of the pool, and it confirmed that we were indeed right on the edge of the deep water with very close contours rising to no depth at all. We weren't happy to stay on that buoy for the following evening's low water, when the wind was due to be northerly and stronger, and the tide wound be lower, so we had to either move buoy (is one of the other yachts left) or move on when the tide was high enough to get out through the channel. We decided that rather than spend at least two more nights at Rodel, assuming one of the other yachts left, we would forego the ferry trip and move on to Scalpay.

Scalpay South Harbour

We'd been to Scalpay once before, in 2005, and anchored in the south harbour, so we decided to try the north harbour this time as getting ashore would probably be easier. We left Rodel a couple of hours before high water, with 0.4m under the keel at the shallowest part of the channel, and tacked north to Scalpay. By the time we reached the north harbour there, the wind was gusting F6 off the mountains, and we found 5 yachts already anchored in the harbour. We anchored temporarily but we felt that it was too busy, with not enough swinging room, so after a cup of tea and some malt loaf we weighed anchor and moved round to the south harbour, taking advantage of the northerly gusts to sail south down the west side of the island under genoa. We were the only yacht in the south harbour so swinging room wasn't a problem, though on our first attempt at anchoring we dredged up an old lobster pot which stopped the anchor digging in. 

Scalpay North Harbour (after the yachts had left)

Getting ashore proved to be easier than we remembered so we stayed a few days and visited the Caolas Gallery with coffee and "yummy cakes" in an old croft just across the bridge to Harris, had a very good fish lunch in the new (since our last visit) Bistro attached to the shop, walked around the island and stocked up with fresh food.

From Scalpay we tacked (again) north-east through the Sound of Shiant, successfully dodging the overfalls, to anchor in Tob Lemreway in Loch Shell for the night before mixture of sailing and motoring the last 15 miles to Stornoway.

Stornoway harbour has a lot more marina than when we were last there (in 2009) so we were able to pick a berth from a few empty ones, and even managed to reverse into it for an easy departure in what we hope will be a westerly wind. Since we arrived we've done a number of jobs - restocking gas, diesel, food, water..... as well as trying out some coffee shops and delis which have appeared since our last visit, having a good lunch at Digby Chick and going for a walk in the Lews Castle grounds. The castle, and new attached museum, were supposed to be open by now but are now scheduled for the 14th July so we won't get to see the genuine Lewis Chessmen which are supposed to be on display.

Has he read the notice?

Since we reached the Outer Hebrides, nearly 3 weeks ago, we've had mostly beautiful weather, with only one morning of showers and one evening of rain. Most unexpected! The drawback is that the wind has been mostly north-easterly with occasional interludes on nothing much, which has meant a lot of tacking to get anywhere. We're now wanting to go straight to Stromness, or Scapa Flow, so the NE winds are definitely unhelpful. An upwind passage of about 112nM, including rounding Cape Wrath, does not appeal so we won't be moving on in the next few days.