Our sail from Lymington, England up to Inverness, Scotland was surprisingly tranquil and fast. Continental Europe was enduring a May heatwave. That warm, southerly flow sent us gliding smoothly up the North Sea, a sea where boats don’t usually glide smoothly. We covered those 668 nautical miles in 11 days making stops in Brighton, Dover, Shotley, Lowestoft, Tynemouth, and Peterhead. We also enjoyed two overnight sails where the late-May-sun at those high latitudes just barely set.
The miraculously well-engineered, 60-mile-long Caledonian Canal provides a navigable sailing route completely across Scotland from the North Sea on the east coast to the Sea of the Hebrides on the west coast. Along the way we transited 29 locks which floated us 70 feet up and then back down to sea level once again.
The gorse and Scotch broom were in full bloom along the banks at the start of the Caledonian Canal. We have come to love running European canals.
This waterway consists of a series of hand dug canals connecting several lakes strung out along a natural valley. The most famous of these lakes is Loch Ness. We were lucky to have sunny skies and a tailwind for our day on Ness making for some fine sailing. Amazing to realize that we had sailed our little boat all the way from Boston to Loch Ness!
Scotland is not known for its gentle climate. To minimize the most Scottish of the Scottish weather we intentionally put the historic climate patterns in our favor and aimed for May and June which are said to be the sunniest and driest months. At the start of our trip we were handsomely rewarded with day after day of gentle winds and warm sunshine.
Then on May 29th the weather changed. A raw breeze from the west ushered in a wet and cold slug of air. And so began a period of rain that would continue for more than a month. So much for a dry June…
Welcome to the Scottish Highlands. The Southwestern end of the Caledonian Canal cuts thru some serious mountains including the highest peak in the UK, Ben Nevis. This was the first time we had ever seen snow from the moving deck of Sundance.
After clearing out of the canal and into the Sea of the Hebrides, we made a stop in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull where we paid a visit to the local distillery:
Then on we went, with our fresh provisions, to the majestic Isle of Skye.
Like they did in May, Continental Europeans suffered through another miserable heatwave in June. But up in Scotland, we were beating the heat. Our weather oscillated between ‘wet and cold’ and ‘windy, wet, and cold.’ In total, we had a stretch of 37 straight days of rain. Fortunately, there were many sunny breaks along the way. But unfortunately, they always lasted for hours instead of days. When the sun did come out, the camera came out too. And what a place for a camera!
Friends from Boston, Joel and Cybill, came to visit us in the Hebrides in June. Their cozy, warm rental car took us to some amazing spots.
Alex and Cybill took the rental car on the ferry from Skye to Lewis, while Chris and Joel sailed the boat.
During our time in the Hebrides, everyone we met had a brother/cousin/friend who was currently in our hometown of Boston cheering on their World Cup soccer team. The trading places situation made for a fun and curious bond. We tried to match those fans beer for beer across the ocean, but may have come up short.
Chris’s sister came to visit next. You can barely make her out in blue in the photo below. Not much of a portrait, sorry Sarah. We’ll try harder for a better photo of you on your next visit. I guess we were too busy with the camera during her visit snapping photos of all the stunning places where we walked.
We bought some tweed in Harris. (When in Rome…) You gotta admit, it’s pretty cool to sail to Harris to pick up your Harris Tweed. We don’t do a lot of ‘decorating’ on the boat. In our opinion, she was a masterpiece when she left the builder’s yard and it would be a mistake to tinker with her look too much. But the two cushions in the cockpit, and the four in the saloon, are aesthetic touches that we hem and haw over frequently. We rarely agree on a solution and usually end up in a stalemate. Then in that wee wool shop on Harris our marriage stars aligned and we instantly agreed that we had to have these four little orange devils.
We based ourselves in a marina in Stornoway for much of the time when our visitors were in town. The marina had electricity and it felt like a decadent indulgence to plug in our little electric heater at night and thaw. But after a while we were itching to get back to living in remote anchorages. Luckily, we were in the right place for perfect anchorages.
The summer solstice found us anchored off the island of Taransay in the Outer Hebrides. This is a remote place and we had it all to ourselves. Special.
Many years ago, freshly engaged to be married, we took a trip to Scotland by airplane. We love this place and the intermittently horrible weather is somehow a part of the appeal. Back on that first trip Alex, lovestruck by the landscape (and her soon to be husband) casually remarked that the best part of Scotland was “the immediacy of the weather.” There has been a fair bit of joking about that statement in the decades since and we’re here to tell you that the weather in Scotland is still pretty damn immediate.
Swarms of little bugs called midges are known to be a terrible menace in Scotland. We didn’t see a single one. We can only conclude that they all must have either frozen to death or drowned during our stay in country.
We can’t bitch about the weather. It’s Scotland after all, and we knew what to expect. Everything about Scotland is epic. The landscape, the sea, the indefatigable residents, the cheery and helpful bus drivers and shop keepers, AND the weather. We’re not so much complaining about the weather in this post as we are marveling over its ridiculous severity.
Our daily perusal of the forecast in the Hebrides always called for continued rain with temps in the 40s and 50s, often backed by SW winds 25-35 gusting to 45. Meanwhile, we couldn’t help but notice that Belfast, only 100 miles away in Northern Ireland, was enjoying a long stretch of sunny weather with gentle breezes and temps in the 70s. Eventually we couldn’t resist that temptation. On July 5, after six weeks in Scotland, we pointed our bow south and sailed for The Emerald Island. We had people to see and things to do in Ireland after all. Sure enough, the sun was shining down there and arriving into Northern Ireland felt like arriving into the tropics.
We love you Scotland! We’ll be back.
Onwards
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Lovely pics, pithy commentary, keep up the good work.
Thank you!