Just for a change, more gales

Funnily enough, it got all windy again. Still, we are now experts at removing and replacing the bimini cover so that is becoming second nature. The forecast had 41 mph gusts, they were a bit stronger than that in reality:

Somehow, we are getting used to having at least a couple of days of stupidly strong winds each week. Used to - yes. Enjoying - not as much, However, we had the little hire car and a beautiful string of islands to explore which kept us more than amused.

We visited Berneray (the most northerly island in this chain), enjoyed watching the basking seals and the beach area. Apparently the UK has 90% of the world's population of harbour / common seals and Scotland hosts 40% of them. We bet the local fishermen love that bit. Taking the little car up a long steep hill to the outskirts of an MOD radar station we hoped to get a view over to St Kilda - some 47 miles away. Sadly the visibility just was not good enough but the views over the islands were spectacular enough anyway. 

There are loads of "photography prohibited" signs around the base and lots of wire and CCTV cameras, so this was the best we managed from inside the car with the windows shut as we left:

There must have been braver souls than us about as this is a better picture borrowed from the internet showing how they really do not want you around:

On a particularly grim, windy and wet Sunday we opted to visit the Politician inn for lunch. Named after the famous SS Politician which sank off Eriskay during the second world war and which inspired the film(s) Whisky Galore. If you are not familiar with the story, this is well worth a read Scotsman newspaper article.

The Inn has some great memorabilia, including a flare pistol from the ship:

a bottle containing some of the original whisky and an empty original bottle from the wreck:

They also do some lovely food and have the friendliest staff that you could ever wish to be served by. We know that "dropping in" to a place on Eriskay is not the easiest thing for most readers to do, but it is well worthwhile.

On the return journey, the mist was clinging to the hills behind the harbour and things looked quite atmospheric:

even when photographed from inside the car as it was too windy to want to go outside. Waiting for the winds to drop, we did the important things in life. Visiting the Co-op for a provisions stock up before the hire car had to go back, enjoying the local wildlife (lots of short eared owls out hunting during the day) and being sociable with some of the other marina folks.

We were less friendly with the rash of French yotties who had arrived. They were all hopeless at handling their boats in the confines of the harbour, running into things, getting pinned to the pontoon fingers at right angles etc etc. We helped one of them move his boat and the whole thing was a comedy of errors. They threw lines without securing one end of them, left the engine in gear as we were trying to pull them, argued with each other, tied both ends of one rope to the pontoon (no idea what they expected that to do) and generally didn't care about how much damage they caused to other craft. Racist comment we know but this seems pretty typical. There are a large number of French flagged yachts about here and we have seen so many "moments" - including one who clattered into our anchor (luckily) when he messed up mooring ahead of us.

Way friendlier was Skip the Fox Red Labrador who was on the converted Ark Royal tender that we mentioned beforehand:

One seriously cute and well behaved dog.  The harbour has some strange road signs that we enjoyed too:

Never seen one that warns you to look out for otters crossing the road before and for a very specific distance too - we hope the otters know not to stray further than 640 yards or they could be in danger. 

After dropping back the hire car (no checks for damage or a full fuel tank, all taken on trust) we prepared the boat for departure as the forecast had improved dramatically. Putting away over a week's worth of stuff that had miraculously migrated out of cupboards takes quite a while you know.

Some friends on their rather posh Malo yacht were planning to head to Salen so we planned to do the same thing. They like gin and wine. Oh dear.

Maintenance news:

We have some. The master cabin light switch had been misbehaving. Initially we thought it was the breaker itself as cycling that made the light switch work but it was actually the switch in the cabin intermittently failing. We dont have a spare on board so instead we "borrowed one" from another switch panel which has never done anything at all. With the trim piece removed, the switch panels are simple things:

with removable switches inside the same style of housing as the mains power sockets:

The great mystery is still, what did the switch we have "borrowed" ever do. There were two wires attached to it but we could find no lights that it operated. If the engine refuses to start we know where to look......