Skye

With my all weather crew of Tim and Trev we left Mallaig at about 10am.  We were careful to turn Bonita round on her pontoon berth using ropes before we left to avoid unneccesary manoevering under motor in a confined space. With light winds we headed north. Much of the scenery we passed was familiar to Trev from his army days and many of the montains we saw he had himself climbed or persuaded other people to do so.

We passed through Kyle Rhea, a narrow channel between Skye and the mainland where the tide is very  fast and very turbulent. We watched a ferry going through against the tide under full power and moving very slowly indeed. We arrived about an hour before the tide changed and anchored on the edge of the channel for a cup of tea waiting for the right moment. We were reassured to see several local yachts doing the same. We eventually got through the channel   without trouble and sailed under the Skye bridge. Even with the bridge there are still bonnie boats speeding over the sea to Skye but today they seem to be mostly diesel powered ferries. 

We then had a brisk west wind and had a good sail with one reef in threading our way through the channels around several small islands before we got to Portree on Skye at about 8pm and picked up a buoy in the harbour. We suspected from previous bitter experience that we would be unlikely to find anywhere to serve food by the time we got ashore so we ate on board and prepared to explore the town tomorrow and stock up for wilder and more remote islands.

Sent from Samsung Mobile