Sorry for the long blog, I should write more often, but we are all so busy! So much has already happened again! Time is flying by. It’s hard to believe everyone has already been onboard for more than 4 weeks! After the windy day we spent anchored in Carbost there was the calm after the storm and I felt comfortable leaving Guppy alone at anchor for the day, knowing she had had good holding the night before in 30 knots of wind. So we packed our bags and headed off early in the morning ready for a 7.5km walk to the fairy pools. The weather was lovely, some clouds covered the tops of the Cuillin Range making them look even more magical. We could easily imagine the tales, and stories and understand why this island is called the Misty Isle.Most of the walk towards the pools was along the road, which was much more busy with tourist cars then I had hoped. But the views more than made up for the walking terrain. About halfway we could go into a lightly wooded path next to the road. It’s there that we started having some midges around us. The notorious scottisch biting midge. Of course we hoped they would get less once we left the wooded area and entered the river and pools. They didn’t… We battled the midges all the way to the end of the path.

We had planned to take a little dive into the pools, so despite the midges some of us still really wanted to go for it, actually the midges made me want to jump into the freezing water more, just so I could get a little break from the midges 😉

I, among some others, seem to be fairly lucky and don’t get as many bites, Sander however is now one big midge bite. We stopped counting. They seem to like him the most, which may save us a little?

After Carbost we sailed to Dunvegan and anchored in front of the castle, a very beautiful and calm anchorage with seals and little isles around. We then continued to a small anchorage just south of Stornoway. So far all the sails have been very calm, no waves, usually just enough wind. I am both worried and somewhat looking forward to our first ”real” sailing with some rougher weather which is bound to happen at some stage as the teens now all think that sailing is just always calm and amazing 😅 They might get a bit of a shock, because of course they don’t believe me anymore when I say it can be different. For the past few days we have been in Stornoway, re stocking, exploring, schoolwork and doing a bit of maintenance. Today we rented cars and explored the island. I thought is was absolutely amazing! I loved to see the views, learn a little bit of the history and get to know the people who live here. The islands Harris and Lewis are very diverse, high hills in the south and more flat with some hills and cliffs in the north. There are many beaches with white sand and blue water. We also visited a lot of old rocks in different forms as the teens called it.. I was very impressed by the Calanais standing stones which are more than 4000 years old and a very well preserved stone circle. I had never visited a stone circle before.I loved to ponder on the mystery and history surrounding the stones and imagine how and why they were build. We than visited a Broch – (I learned so many new things today as well!) they estimate the broch to be build in 200BC! Just imagine that! looking at this drywall stone building I realised how much thought went into every single piece or rock. To shape and balance it all, that such a big part is still standing after so long. So, Brochs are thought to be used as strongholds and dwellings, the architecture is quite fascinating. On the way back to Guppy we stopped at a restored Nordic Mill and Kiln, where they dry and grind wheat, barley and oats. All with all it was a long but lovely day.

Laura

Calanais Stone Circle