Day 29 Loch Sunart - Arisaig
Yesterday morning the manager of the harbour pulled up a lobster pot belonging to a local fisherman. He had placed it in a stupid place in the harbour and a boat had caught its buoy around the prop. He removed the pot and inside was a huge lobster, he looked at me and said do you want it I don't eat shell fish and I am not going to let that fisherman have it. It did not need much thinking about!
In the afternoon I decided that I wanted to go for a cycle so I got one of the folding bikes out of the locker and set it up. There was a cafe in the next village about 4 miles away. I didn't realise how much interest I was generating until later.
When I was ready to leave the people on the boat in front said "are you going out without a coat it looks like rain", I told them that I was going to be optimistic. I charged off only to find myself pedaling hard uphill as is often the way when you go away from sea level! Eventually I reached the top of the hill but I was still a mile or so from the village but it was a fantastic cycle down the other-side. The cafe was buzzing and people were queueing out the door. I decided to eat outside but no one served me so I went inside. The waitress found me a table in the corner of the L shaped room. I had tea and a scone, it was lovely.
When I came to leave I paid the bill and went for the door, it was pouring with rain. I decided to hang around to see if it was a shower. After about 10-15 minutes the waitress came out to see what I was doing, I told her I had cycled from the harbour. Ten minutes later she had finished work and said look you have a folding bike I will give you a lift. As we approached the harbour I asked her to stop so that I could cycle the last bit of the way and be as dry as a bone. I flew into the harbour, down the pontoon… there was no one there to see me :( I went in to Sea Crusader and Linda looked up from her book and simply said, "you are not very wet, we have had lots of rain here", and returned to her book.
This morning we left and decided to go to the Island of Muck and anchor there for the night. When we arrived it was lovely and there were a huge colony of seals in the entrance on the rocks. We did however decide that it was too exposed and simply stayed for lunch.
After lunch we headed for Arisaig a protected and lovely harbour with a very tricky entrance. To get in you need to wait for sufficient rise of tide to cover the rocks and allow you keel to clear the rocks too. We arrived without incident but not without some anxiety as all the sailing instructions are couched in such a way as to terrify you to go anywhere.
Once inside the channel and in the bay our depth sounder gave up the ghost. Fortunately I have a good track and I simply need to reverse it to get out safely, that's the theory.
We went ashore and it is a pretty little place with four places to eat and a great Spar. The old Library is now a restaurant of the same name and looks lovely. Needless to say we didn't go for two reasons they were fully booked on a Monday evening and we had a huge lobster to eat. Linda grilled it in a butter, garlic and lemon dressing. It was delicious.
In the afternoon I decided that I wanted to go for a cycle so I got one of the folding bikes out of the locker and set it up. There was a cafe in the next village about 4 miles away. I didn't realise how much interest I was generating until later.
When I was ready to leave the people on the boat in front said "are you going out without a coat it looks like rain", I told them that I was going to be optimistic. I charged off only to find myself pedaling hard uphill as is often the way when you go away from sea level! Eventually I reached the top of the hill but I was still a mile or so from the village but it was a fantastic cycle down the other-side. The cafe was buzzing and people were queueing out the door. I decided to eat outside but no one served me so I went inside. The waitress found me a table in the corner of the L shaped room. I had tea and a scone, it was lovely.
When I came to leave I paid the bill and went for the door, it was pouring with rain. I decided to hang around to see if it was a shower. After about 10-15 minutes the waitress came out to see what I was doing, I told her I had cycled from the harbour. Ten minutes later she had finished work and said look you have a folding bike I will give you a lift. As we approached the harbour I asked her to stop so that I could cycle the last bit of the way and be as dry as a bone. I flew into the harbour, down the pontoon… there was no one there to see me :( I went in to Sea Crusader and Linda looked up from her book and simply said, "you are not very wet, we have had lots of rain here", and returned to her book.
This morning we left and decided to go to the Island of Muck and anchor there for the night. When we arrived it was lovely and there were a huge colony of seals in the entrance on the rocks. We did however decide that it was too exposed and simply stayed for lunch.
After lunch we headed for Arisaig a protected and lovely harbour with a very tricky entrance. To get in you need to wait for sufficient rise of tide to cover the rocks and allow you keel to clear the rocks too. We arrived without incident but not without some anxiety as all the sailing instructions are couched in such a way as to terrify you to go anywhere.
Once inside the channel and in the bay our depth sounder gave up the ghost. Fortunately I have a good track and I simply need to reverse it to get out safely, that's the theory.
We went ashore and it is a pretty little place with four places to eat and a great Spar. The old Library is now a restaurant of the same name and looks lovely. Needless to say we didn't go for two reasons they were fully booked on a Monday evening and we had a huge lobster to eat. Linda grilled it in a butter, garlic and lemon dressing. It was delicious.
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Ardnamurchan Lighthouse -
Seals at the Isle of Muck -
A lovely sail -
Dinner -
Anything green is above chart datum at low tide.