Two days bad weather delayed us in Kinlochbervie Harbour, and were mainly spent on replenishing fuel and water supplies, and reading up and planning the next part of our journey, with the occasional tuning in to the goings-on in SW19 of course. That Nadal/Rosol match was a real cliff-hanger. Although Kinlochbervie is not the most beautiful of harbours to be stuck in, there are compensations, not least of which is the donated fresh fish referred to in the last post on this blog but also the very friendly fishermen. The Skipper was delighted to be given complimentary tours of a couple of these splendid high tech trawlers and will be pleased to relay all facts and figures to interested parties, e.g. they run their vessels' engines continuously, only shutting down for 2 weeks in the year for maintenance work. This port is one of the top 10 in the UK for the size of catch, landing over 100,000 tons of fish per month. Now here's the killer: the great majority is exported to France and Spain. They are magnificent craft though.
The weather cleared on Friday evening so we explored the surrounding countryside and did a spot of beachcombing into the bargain. You can just spot the Skipper climbing the hill clutching a stray orange buoy, for which he no doubt has a use in mind.
It was an altogether beautiful evening. And this far north the evening lasts well into the night ... the next photo was taken at about 10 p.m.
Today, Saturday, Follyfin pointed her bow northwards to make the final 14 mile push to the most north-westerly point on the British mainland: Cape Wrath.
Now one would be forgiven for thinking that the name of this impressive headland referred to the turbulent waters that swirl around it - caused by the meeting of the Atlantic Ocean with the North sea. But no - in fact 'Wrath' is a Gaelic word meaning ... 'turning point'. Before reaching the Cape, we passed another impressive, free-standing rock stack named Am Buachaille ('The Shepherd'), looking for all the world like a giant tower of children's building blocks.
Now we are heading to Orkney, the most northerly point of our tour, looking forward to seeing with our own eyes some of the very well preserved prehistoric remains, and to visiting Scapa Flow.
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