“She set out across the sea,

When her ancestors whispered “come home.”

She thought “something’s waiting for me,”

And could feel it in her bones.”

Lily: ‘Find her in the Highlands’

I had a yearning to go north. Just head north with no real destination or timescale. A true stravaig. I loved the islands, I knew them like friends, we’d shared happy and sad times, I knew their secrets, their soft spots and charms. But the north, the far north felt like an old friend, childhood memories, places whose names read like poetry and each mention of them had allure and a beguiling call. I felt it was time I made my acquaintance again.

We were lucky to have an extended period of time off together, I had a long academic break and the captain had taken the boat off charter so we could spend some summer time together, a rare occurrence since starting the business. We discussed what we might do and using the boat ourselves was an option but I questioned was that not like a bus man’s holiday or indeed a captain’s holiday? He refuted this immediately and explained how much he’d love sharing his sea life with me, showing me the delights of our coastal home waters and even cook for me. It was a deal!

We calculated over two weeks to spend away, allowing time to get back and prepare for the little Catalan stravaigers to arrive for their annual journey back to their Celtic homeland, so we packed, planned and prepared.

The morning of departure I ferried the numerous bags down the slipway ready to load on to the boat once she was brought alongside. The food bags were many and heavy and I did wonder if we ate all this would we return carrying all this extra weight inside!! I also wondered as I handed the bags containing our bikes which had been dismantled and packed over the guard rails, if I would be more successful than my previous attempts to cycle.

I had recently been out of action with a very frustrating and debilitating condition affecting balance and although was well on the way to recovery, we decided just to set off and see how things go. I wasn’t sure how I’d be onboard never mind cycling but what’s the worse that could happen!