Update

 A lot of adverse winds.

We worked our way down the Atlantic side of the Isle of Lewis.

Then to Harris Sound which lets us into the Sea of Hebrides: at Leverburgh, the ferry port there, a fisherman advised us to move to a better harbour because of an imminent storm. We promptly hared off to Lochmaddy, North Uist, to a quay where we could step out & go to the village. The storm blew through for two days: many broken branches & a few trees down.

                               Mimulus, aka monkey flower. 


Down the inner coast of N Uist, to inside of Floddeymore island. A wild place. Lots of deer. Clusters of great blue herons, among which were a Golden Eagle. It seemed that the eagle and the herons kept each other company. 

The next day, to Lochboisdale harbour, South Uist. A few days waiting for a weather window to run south to Tory Island, 120 NM. 

With the window we passed between Mingulay & Barra Head - the latter the southern end of the Outer Hebrides - very wild waters, tormented by the large incoming Atlantic swells squeezed into the strait & compounded by running currents. 

At Tory Island I realized that the harbour, open to the east, was no good for an incoming low with gales. The local bays were shoal: the fishermen advised Lough Swilly, 23 NM east, so we ran for that.

A few days, at Buncrana dock behind the local summer ferry. 

We indulged in our favourite pastimes, eating out and walking about. Here is an oddity but rather a propos these days...

What this old sign was really about was, and shall remain, a mystery.

For the last 3 days the forecast has held steady for shockingly favourable winds. Starting tomorrow at first light the winds to be from the north, for two days, tapering off on the third day to NW breezes ending with the light winds of an incoming high. Incredulous.

From here it is 170 NM to Clifden, and we should be able to do this in 36 hours, maybe 30, with just one night at sea. We leave at first light in the morning.

   Michael exploring the Universe on his phone, while I have my book from a local thrift shop, a C J Sansom mystery, Dark Fire, set in the year 1540 when Queen Elizabeth was a young woman and when persecution and superstition ran rampant.