Craobh Haven life and damaged crew

Thursday was a day of maintenance, short walks and looking for winter sun. More polishing kicked it all off. Then after lunch, smothered in insect repellent, we prepared to walk across to Ardfern (we gave up on the walk in the other direction earlier on, beaten back by a million horse flies). This time, as we headed off, it started to rain and got progressively more serious. So, a turn about and afternoon aboard sorting out admin stuff and looking for spots to visit in November that might be warmer and sunnier than the UK. That walk is fated.

During the day, we recalled that we'd left a boat key with the Kilmelford Yacht Haven team when we went south and forgot to pick it up yesterday.... Grr. So a trip back up Loch Melfort was planned for Friday to retrieve the errant key. The location is so lovely that we were happy bunnies though:

And then there were 6: On Friday, the Nordhavn quota here increased once more. We watched Suilven, a 43, arrive and neatly berth close by:

We'd met the owners, Colin and Janet, back in 2009 in Portland harbour when they kept their boat on the south coast. They saved us the boat trip back to Kilmelford to reclaim the key by very kindly offering a car ride there instead. It felt strange being in a Porsche Cayenne after so many years of BMW's of course! Way better than the hire cars we have enjoyed recently of course....... It was good to chat to them and swap "Nordhavn life" stories, they have been in Scotland for a while now (3 years)  and are still exploring new places. Colin is another motor trade man, with stories about his time as a truck engineer to complement the car versions the captain can offer. Somehow felt sorry for the other halves.

As there was WIFI, we also managed to book flights and a hire car to go south for the Admiral's funeral in a week or so. The O2 signals are generally poor and so internet access via the phone is painfully slow and unreliable. Still better than the EE or other second tier competitors signals though (ie, they don't offer a service here!)

The walk to Ardfern was finally conquered on Sunday, smothered in insect repellent and ignoring the light rain, we made it. Only about 3 miles up the hill and down to Ardfern over tracks but after 2 aborted attempts, it felt like Kilimanjaro. Sad, aren't we? The best bit was a repeat of the earlier tea and carrot cake enjoyed in the local tea room "The crafty kitchen" as a reward:

Not the all time best carrot cake (see St Ives update) but up there in the "greats" list. This was a prelude to raiding the village store again for salad stuff which the captain manfully lugged the 3 slightly soggy miles back.

Then it all went downhill. Back on board, feeling good after the 6 mile walk up and down Kilimanjaro, the captain did some maintenance work that involved leaning over, reaching to full arm extension and twisting. Not a good result - big back twinge. So, the rest of the day was spent doing exercises and putting on the cold pack etc to try and help the rather painful back. Such fun. Apparently things like this happen during periods of high stress. Thought that was a week ago or so - mind you, the captain always was a slow learner...