tobermory isle of mull to skye

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The next night we had lovely oysters and good fish. We went to the oyster bar.We spent some time looking in the shops which appeared as tiny but were filled with every kind of object that you could need. There was a soap making shop, a bakery, a kind of ironmongers, a coop and lots of little gift shops. The bakery did good cakes and coffee. Next morning we left Tobermory about 10 am after Alan had walked the dog.
Mull has a population of white-tailed eagels, we did see a large wing -spanned bird, but don't think it was one of those. The walk to the lighthouse above the town was very pretty, another haven for wild flowers, the tiny delicate harebells of Scotland, that I remember from my childhood, white wild garlic, the smell lingered for hours after we had touched them during our walk, tiny violets, lots of tiny splashes of colour, a steep bank, and the sea swirling down below. It says in the guidebook that the population is 2500 but there seemed to be plenty of people around, especially when a large cruise ship anchored off the bay! Every language was being spoken in the pub, and there was a japanese lady wearing a very fetching pair of tartan trousers, a tartan hat and a tartan scarf, very scottish, shame she couldn't speak a word of english, or I would have told her so. We were then heading for Isle of Muck. 10.53 Morotsailing up the sound of Mull, misty and cold, dolphins spotted.12.30 we anchored at the Isle of Muck. Good holding, and nice clear anchorage. lots of seals.We went ashore, but decided not to take the dog when we noticed hundreds of sheep everywhere. We walked over the island, it is very small, green , there are a number of houses and a generating plant. A little shop, a tearooms and a hotel. As it was Sunday there seemed no sign of life, except for a few people walking their dogs. The views were spectatular, the mountains of Skye dominating the skyline. The sheep were very cute, little lambs at their side, we wondered what they were having for sunday dinner in the crofts and houses....dah! It is hard to imagine what a small place like this must be like in the midwinter, when it is too rough for ferries, and there must be weeks that they are cut off from the mainland. Back to the trusty guidebook, Muck warrents at least 2 paragraphs. It says the population is 30, we must have seen half of them walking their dogs! Back to the boat, for lunch and a snooze and on to Skye. 1400 weighed anchor ( I just like writing that, it seems very nautical!) Then we wer sailing through the sound of Eigg, 6.35k , the sun just coming out. Incidentally I just looked at the log, and we have sailed 894 miles since we left Weymouth. We were approaching Loch Scavaig, Skye looked very imposing , a bit like the wordsworth poem,. the prelude when he is rowing in the lake district, it just got higher and higher. The entrance was through a rocky channel, but when you negotiated this, the anchorage was truly one of the most incredible we have ever anchored in, yes the pitons in st lucia are scenic, yes , Greece and Turkey have fantastic places, to be anchored next to an ampitheatre was one of the highlights in southern turkey, but for natural beauty our own little country certainly takes the biscuit. The mountains, the Cullin hills, towered above us, clear as a bell, we were in a pool which was protected from all directions, safer than a lot of harbours we have been in. We went ashore on the steps provided, for the tripper boats, that drop walkers off here. Onshore there is a small hut for mountain walkers, and a river pouring into the sea, from a long loch. The dog was in heaven running around and enjoying the sticks. Romping through the heather, in the sunshine. Yes! The next day was beautiful. Even hot! We stayed until about 12 pm, after watching all the little boats come and go and disgorge their well equipped walkers. We took so many photos, it was a photographers dream, and even I got some good ones. The seals were splashing round the boat, making the dog growl, and basking on the many rocks, they look a bit like white seasoned fat logs, until they move. We could hear them barking at night.Carefully leaving we wended our way around the hidden rocks to the open sea. 21.5.12The sea was flat calm, the sun was hot, and the roof was down, heating off at last. A motor past Eigg to Mallaig. We needed some provisions. In Mallaig they have laid a lot of new pontoons in the harbour. We tied up on one, and soon a man came and told us that it would cost £12! to tie up for one hour, he said we could have stayed 6, but we only want milk etc. Wow Expensive bottle of milk. Still the man was very pleasant, and did suggest we stayed longer to enjoy the charms of Mallaig. A quite pleasant little place, with a big fishing fleet, who were landing boxes and boxes of fresh langoustines, or prawns as they call them here, into a huge lorry Denholme fish selling. Probably bound for Spain , two 20 ton artic lorrys. Back to the boat for jam donnuts and tea, and on to Inverie A five mile motor, we saw dolphins ahead, jumping out of the water. Very hot and sunny. We tied up outside the OLdForge Pub. A free mooring if you had dinner. We did. It was a seafood platter and very nice. We had one between us, it was plenty. Then cheese and biscuits back on the boat. INverie boasts that it is the most remote pub in Britain. It is on the Knoydart Peninsula, which is still an area of Britain which is cut off by 'miles of rough country' it says in the lonely planet guide. Maybe because it is in this guide is the reason there are so many foreign people here. The pub was crowded, and we had to wait for a sea in the restaurant. Every member of staff was foreign, Australian, French, all sorts. We sat outside in the sun, it was very relaxing especially as the sun never seems to go down! Even at 10.30 returning to the boat it was bright daylight. I wake up at 4 am and it is bright daylight! Very strange after the Caribbean where it was always dark at 6.30 pm. But at least there it was warm enough to sit in the cockpit.... Next morning we went ashore and did a good walk through the forest. They have had some serious storms here in the winter and great swathes of the trees have been blown down. At the bottom of the hill they are building some sort of a holiday village, and we had been walking on a cycle track for very adventurous mountain bikers. The forest was a little bit scruffy, but up higher very nice, and Breezy raced around like a demon. We had coffee and shortbread in the tiny tearooms. It was quite strange, as the walk was well laid out and signposted everywhere, but when we asked two of the locals if there was a good dog walk the night before , they told us that there were sheep everywhere and dogs would get shot...we never saw a sheep and the walk was perfect. Sometimes local knowledge is a dangerous thing. The sun is out now, and the boat calm and relaxed.

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