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Day 37 Loch Harport - Loch Moidart


On Saturday night after our visit to the pub the wind had picked up and was running the full length on the Loch. We were anchored in thick mud which is usually the best holding but the boat moved about 20 feet. I think that was probably the chain stretching out but I did not sleep well.

The next day we read and binged watched "Outlander" (You have to if you are in Scotland). We had a table booked in the pub for 8pm but we decided to go early as it was still blowing hard and we wanted to get back to the boat before it was pitch black.

In the pub we had a pretty mediocre meal but as soon as we had finished eating we went to the bar and had a rare old time. Eventually we joined another table with some other yotties from a boat Sandpiper. They had sold their house and were now permanently living on their boat. A great evening was had, it was just like normal life.

On Sunday we had an early start because we were heading for Loch Moidart. The pilot books describe the entrance as one of the most challenging that a yachtsman is likely to face, clearly the writer had not been to Finland! With today's super accurate GPS and fantastic charts it was a straightforward entrance. We were heading for an anchorage on the wrong side of a shoal so it was important for us to get there when the tide was in.

There is probably nowhere prettier than Loch Moidart in Scotland, but with the dark grey clouds and winds it does not show in the photo's in fact most of the photo's look Dickensian. There is a fantastic almost ruined castle on an island in the middle of the Loch and our plan was to anchor in the lea of is.

When we arrived far from being in the lea the wind whipped around the castle and accelerated between it and the bank. As a result we decided to go further up river but unfortunately we lost the view of the castle.

We found a spot with the right amount of water but it was almost a pinch point with rocks both side but when we dropped the anchor we came to a very abrupt halt, the holding here was probably the best we have had ion Scotland, we were really secure.

Later Sea Rose joined us, they has spent two days in Arisaig and had not had a great time owing to the strong winds and little in the way of shelter. Arisaig is very safe with good holding but if the wind blows you are going to feel it, when we were there it was much nicer.

Sally was cooking so we put on the anchor light and launched the dinghy and went to Sea Rose. Drinks in the cockpit tent and then dinner below. What a fantastic evening, the wind was blowing but we didn't even notice.

It was time to go… we said our thank yous and went up on deck. I have never in my life been anywhere so dark. The skies were think cloud so there was no moonlight or starlight. There were no lights on shore, there was nothing. You could not seen any reflections in the water and you certainly could not see Sea Crusader. We had our life jackets with us and they have lights so if either of us had ended up in the water it would be very easy to locate them, the only thing we could see was our anchor light. We cast off and headed for the boat, we were not far away and we were soon there. I nodded straight off.


  • The castle - which is far more impressive in real life
  • Rocks to the left of us
  • Rocks to the right of us
  • Sea Rose behind us

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