Plockton, Loch Torridon, Gairloch, Ullapool and Bertha

After Skye we spent a few days in Plockton (the home of Hamish Macbeth, mid 1990s BBC TV series), it was pretty stormy when we arrived but the next day (Sunday 3rd) the weather was much improved. We went ashore, had a shower at a hotel followed by an excellent Sunday roast at the Plockton Inn (half a pint of local prawn, roast lamb and a sticky toffee pudding - yum).  Monday was another grim day, we decided to take a taxi to Kyle to stock up on supplies - 20 minutes in a taxi and the weather was totally different.  We bought our provisions and found engine oil - having completed two hundred engine hours an oil and filter change was now due.

Beautiful Plockton

Filling up with water at Plockton

We planned to set off early on Tuesday to catch the tide up the coast onto Loch Torridon, however the 6am alarm was accompanied with heavy rain so we had a cup of tea and decided to wait until the afternoon tide.  This was a good decision, the weather improved as we set sail and headed north with some afternoon sun.

Stunning Loch Torridon

We had a peaceful night at anchor at Shieldaig (where I uploaded the last post) surrounded by stunning mountains.  The next morning we popped into a hotel and had a bath - luxury - followed by coffee and a splendid home made carrot cake at the local cafe.

Our first stop in Loch Gairloch was at Badachro, a sheltered bay behind a small island with mooring buoys and a popular pub.  A very pretty spot, the sea food and local beer were pretty good too. The next day we travelled a little further into the Loch to Flowerdale bay (Gairloch Harbour) to refuel at the fishing pier and we're lucky enough to then secure Bathia onto the small visitors pontoon - the first time we have been able to walk ashore and plug into electricity for two weeks.

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We stayed two nights on the pontoon and managed to avoid the occasional rain showers and took in the local scenery with a walk along the coast one day and up to a waterfall the next.  With more bad weather forecast we woke at 5:30 on Saturday to make the best of the tide for a 40 mile trip to Ullapool.  Despite the forecast there was little wind but we made good progress under engine and tide and onto a mooring buoy just in time for lunch.  The remains of hurricane Bertha was due to hit on Sunday, we awoke to a calm, bright sunny day and went for a walk, had a pub lunch and stopped into the Tesco (we haven't seen one of those for two months).

Ullapool, the calm before the storm (Bathia rear centre)

Since then we have been confined to the boat while we wait for the storm to pass.