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Well, it looks like the "massage" of Bill's worked last night since he is in full swing again with better movement in his neck and shoulder and little pain. Up at 6am, quick breakfast and away on the 7.30 ferry, in bright sunshine and no wind, as foot passengers to the three small islands of Muck, Eigg and Canna. Is this the calm before the storm? The ferry does not call on these islands that often and since we have not time to stop we will have to be content with just stepping off the ferry onto dry land. We have had to arrange with the staff to let us onto land and back quickly since we are technically due to pay landing fees if we step on land, which would double the price to about £30 each. We left our bikes in a container on shore and as soon as we set off my DV Camera battery went flat, my spare was dead and, as you would expect, my battery charger was in the container in my panniers. Ugh!
The first island today was Canna visited in glorious weather. Attached to Canna is Sanday, which looks like you can
walk over a bridge to gain access. Unfortunately, we did not have time to hop over onto this island. Canna looks a very nice island which has low, green hills with cattle grazing and two churches in view by the harbour - one is actually on Sanday. We keep on moving and Muck is made over one hour later after sailing through the Sound of Canna just above Rum. From this side you can see the rugged nature of Rum with its steep hills, covered in mist and gorges with very little vegetation, made all the more gaunt with the morning shadows in the deep crevasses. On our way we saw Skua's, Shearwaters and some Gannets diving into the sea. Bill saw a school of dolphins alongside the boat near Rum and managed to get a shot of one before it disappeared (with his camera not a gun of course). Eigg was visited briefly and looked much like the other two. A quick brew in the harbourside cafe and off on our next ferry to Armadale on Skye. Sixteen miles later we were in Broadford looking for a bed for the night. There looked to be plenty of choice and we plumped for a nice cottage called Millbrae, midway between the two restaurants in this small town/village. It was owned by a nice couple, Phillip was an ex teacher from the Bradford area originally and his wife Viera was from Slovakia. We went to the restaurant nearby for a meal and asked about Rassay island, which is our destination tomorrow. We were told that it was a strict Presbyterian island and the only pub and everything else, except the church, would be closed. Since it is such a bad forecast with 28mph winds and heavy rain we could end up with hypothermia being a real possibility we are therefore debating whether whether we should attempt to get there at all. We will get to Sconser in the morning and then decide. If we need to make it 43 islands we could always charter a boat to some other island later on in better weather. Or a third possibility is that this cottage is that cosy we may stop here or a week or two and ride out the storm.
PS. I made a mistake yesterday, it was 15 islands to date, not 14, and with the 4 today it is now 19. Only 24 to go - Easy!
Says who?
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