Feels like a long time since the last update. It all feels a little sluggish at the moment, I think we just have our eye set on Cape Wrath and rounding the top of Scotland so it’s downhill to home..
We just made the window through Loch Alsh, amazing little place! We went from a steady 3.5 knots to 7 or 8 knots within the Kyle 🙂 Unexpectedly we had about 30 seals in that small area playing around and staring at us, a bazarre 20 minutes!
Out the other side we powered on to try and see my parents who’ve travelled up from Devon to see us, amazing! We crept around the corner and got a text “we can see you!” .. Creepy … We couldn’t see them but as we got closer I noticed mum dressed in the brightest clothes she owns along with a bright pashmina to wave to us in case we missed them! Turns out we could get close enough to speak and mum was screaming as expected 🙂 It was emotional seeing them and I think they felt the same, it got to me a little, watching dad walking (bobbing) along the Skye bridge, taking photos from afar, I know they’re proud and it’s a nice feeling.
We carry on… We’re still unsure what is happening with this unstable low over Scotland, there will be northerlies but we’re not sure exactly when they’ll come in and how strong? It seems to be a little later and not as strong as expected so we’re heading for shelter 10 miles below Cape Wrath (Bodha Roin) to regroup and reassess the weather. If we’ve got allowable conditions, we’re only 2 days from getting around John O’Groats which is a massive milestone because I can eat my pork scratchings.
Today we had the coastguard intentionally fly-by us and circle us, amazing experience and we’ve got a little video so we’ll try to get that up but it was a real moment watching the winch men pretending to pull on the oars, a real boost!
We continue to slog away and now we’re close to 20 miles from shelter where we could be stuck for 2 days?! Hopefully not, if there’s an opportunity to move then we will but the fact is that there’s not much shelter on the north coast, especially from a strong northerly wind!
It’s lovely to hear lots of inspiring comments from home and from people we hardly know but will hopefully get to when we’re back, party on!
We’re both in good spirits, we’re working well together and hopefully Jay isn’t secretly cursing my struggle to get up for late shifts! I’m doing my best 🙂
Lots of love to everyone at home, don’t forget the charities 😉
JT