Up at 5.45am today Sunday….hoping to depart Kinlochbervie at 8am and sail east to Scrabster around Cape Wrath. Disappointment followed after digesting contents of the 6am Met Office Inshore Waters forecast …red line plus the word “rough” and the number 6. So no Sailing…forecast even more important when contemplating rounding Cape Wrath.
On returning to my cabin, opened the starboard side curtains …what did I see?? Well whatever it was …it was not there when I went to bed at 10pm the night before. Staring at me was a big red fender on a white hull…….then it dawned…someone had rafted up against us in the night.
I had not heard anything in my aft cabin as all sounds external were masked by the slapping and slamming of the waves under the stern.
So yes …there was a Sailing yacht tied to us on the outside …known as rafting up. Christine heard the boat and said it was around 1am in the morning!!
Poli Poli …early morning Sunday, and a yacht from Finland rafted up against us.
I went out and met the skipper who apologised profusely as to whether he had woken us up. We recognised the boat immediately as we had seen it in Stornoway in the Hebrides…flying a defaced ensign.. the national flag of Finland. We had chatted briefly when they moored up in Stornoway.
As I write this evening, the wind outside is blowing a hoolie and the rain is lashing down. It has been a very windy Sunday but up to this evening …. no rain.
Morning spent on cleaning the boat …Mike did shopping and “heads” cleaning, Christine did all floors and windows, T cleaned oven and galley area. “A tidy ship is a safe ship” we sing to the rythmn of “What do we do with a drunken sailor….early in the morning”…. a happy crew at work.
Christine cleaning the boat windows with Windolene!!
In many of the marinas we have visited, folk have wandered up and said nice things about Poli Poli. This morning was no exception. A pleasant couple ( the gentleman was from Stonehaven on the north east coast ) spoke well of our Sailing yacht. Good job we had just washed the boat! Always nice to hear though. We met them later in the day in the same eatery.
Our reward was planned by Mike…a six mile walk ( nothing is flat in this part of Scotland ) to the little hamlet of Inshegra, to have Sunday lunch at the “Old School” Restaurant and Rooms.
Along with an early walk this morning around Kinlochbervie…T has done 17,000 plus steps today ( about 8 miles )…as did Christine and Mike. Nice lunch in an old primary school classroom…with the sign “Headmaster” over the door to the kitchen. A faint and brief reminder of another life!
Our 6 mile walk through the Scottish Highlands …beautiful lochs and mountains.
Walking quickly back to the boat as it had started raining …had to get our washing hanging on the guard rails in…Mike. Christine spotted a huge seal in the fish docks…very similar to the possible Leopard seal seen in Lochinver. He or she gazed back at us …wheezing and growling. We think he/she was hungry!
Later in the evening…. out of the blue the Harbour Master appeared …so T went to his office above the fish market and paid the mooring fees…and all very strange …the night before departure was shown the toilets and showers…then HM walked back to the boat and switched on the shore power for us…our batteries were down to 66%… and we needed it. Wind Turbine works well but the wind needs to blow all the time.
All a bit strange Kinlochbervie marina …no welcome, no facilities for most of our stay…and on the phone we were told “this is a Monday to Friday operation!” Disappointing to say the least.
Anyway we hope to cast off our lines at 8am tomorrow Monday and head for Cape Wrath. Fingers crossed for the 6am Met Office Inshore Waters forecast.
Toby's sailing boat Poli Poli 