Day 27

As planned we left Plockton at 6am and set off for Mallaig.  The weather was meant to be okay earlier but set to deteriorate around 4 pm.  It was a very gloomy morning with low clouds mist and showers.  The wind and tide behaved at first but was pretty poor by the time we got to Loch Alsh just South past the Skye bridge.

There is a race that can reach 8 knots at Kyle Rhea, when we got there the tide was running at 4 knots in our favour.

We reached Mallaig around 1 pm to discover as predicted that the marina was full, so onto Tobermory!  This was a bit of a slog, the weather was as forecast and by 4 pm it was pretty foul.  We ran under jib and the engine, sometimes not making much progress.  

Unfortunately we heard from the radio a serious Mayday call from a fishing boat and as we approached Tobermory, the Lifeboat sped past us on the way out to them.

We arrived around 8 pm and grabbed a mooring buoy as it was and is too rough and as I write this, in the harbour, to get to a pontoon safely.  84 miles today over 14 hours but tied up safe even if it stays bumpy and noisy we will sleep soundly tonight!

Skye bridge in the gloom

Getting closer

3.3 knots of tide.  Speed through the water, second from left 3.72, speed over ground lower right hand 7.0 

knots.

Our track from Plockton to Tobermory, you can see when we ran into the weather and put the engine on……