Well whilst the flagstones have been cracking in most of the UK, the Outer Hebrides has been damp and covered in mist. No point in leaving our anchorage in such poor conditions, let us not add to the problems at sea. An easy decision to make when you have no time constraints. However, many other boats did leave when a blow came in but we stayed put with faith in anchor. The local fishermen even stayed put on 3 of the fog bound days and that tells you something..
So what is a girl to do? How would I fill my time whilst being fog bound???? Day 4 of dawn to dusk fog and I was indeed beginning to feel a little stir crazy. I tried hard to relax and accept the stillness but the gremlin in my head was having a field day! "This was not what you signed up for, you should be working and earning some money. What a waste of your life, sitting on a boat doing nothing useful! Is this the best you can do? Reading nonsense, writing more blog articles, cleaning and catching up on social media, really!!!! "
Brown, the name I give to my gremlin was to be silenced, not forever as my inner critic is apart of me and is here for the full ride but right now Brown is too loud. There is no point arguing with Brown he simply thrives on that type of attention. This reminds me of the old George Bernard Shaw proverb: Never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty and the pig likes it.
Simply noticing his noisy chatter and thanking him for his contribution was enough to cease his mind game. Working long and hard was a habit but life is no dress rehearsal and I wanted to mix it up a bit and be more adventurous. Live a bit more, see more and buck the trend of working myself to death. I loved my job and all my busy catching my tail antics of the past as it did indeed make me happy too. So no judgement on either way of life just a change of habit. Happiness is a choice and a moving process. There will be fabulous days, but they won’t last forever. There will be really rotten days, but they won’t last forever either. In every moment, you can find adventure and chose to be really aware and only change if you want to.
We actually ended up staying on anchor in Vatersay for 7 nights in total. Thankfully not all were fog bound and the two bays gave fantastic back drops to some great photo sessions.
Vatersay Beach
Vatersay Sunsets
The Outer Hebrides are endlessly fascinating, absorbing, and addictive, but never boring. We commenced our tour of these far flung islands in Loch Boisdale before heading to Barra, Vatersay and Eriskay. None of these places felt as remote as the Small Isles which was strange and some what bizarre as we could not get any further west in the UK if we tried. Each place had its own charm and local characters..... Asti the Harbour Master in Barra made us smile the most. A man of many jobs, 24hour taxi driver, bar man, member of RNLI, councillor, and tour guide. Asti took us to the airport on the beach, the beautiful beach of Vatersay whilst also introducing us to his neice, nephew, brother and many more. We listened with affection to his patter and tapped our knees to the music in the car. Jokingly we said "Is this your band Asti?" To which he said " This is The Vatersay Boys and I am their manager" The tour now took on a new path as to include each band members house and musical venues. Oh we laughed, what a character!
Barra planes, castles and big waves!
Loch Boisdale stood out for its very reasonably priced fuel and the absence of a shop. The Co-op was 4 mile away but we found a taxi driver to help us on our way. The hotel bar also had a Star Wars feel as we entered and a very noticible two tariff system for drinks. One price for the locals and another for visitors, good job we only stayed for two!
Beach Sunsets in Loch Boisdale
Eriskay was also a hike to the shop but far more manageable. Good exercise should we say. We caught up with friends from Ardrossan in this anchorage. Compo, Foggy and Clegg certainly knew how to sip the whisky and hell did I pay the next day!
Eriskay delights.
Until next week.xxx
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