Blue Chief: Man of the black cap what do you say
As your proud ship cleaves the brine?
Skipper: My speedy ship takes the shortest way
And I’ll follow you line by line
Blue Chief: My men are eager, my men are ready
To drag you below the waves
Skipper: My ship is speedy, my ship is steady
If it sank, it would wreck your caves.

Legend of the Blue Men of the Minch

I took a while to go over, my mind full of past memories and future plans. We had discussed plans for when we finally retire, some involved travels  on water of course and some involving our recent purchase of a truck top tent. It was fun to think what the possibilities were. I also woke early, a commotion at the bow, most likely an otter or seal grabbing a catch and using the mooring buoy to dispatch its kill, not my usual morning wake up call of woodland birds at the feeder outside the bedroom window!

We had an early breakfast of sourdough toast with smashed avocado and egg, no short measures on this trip! There was no wind and the cloud hung low over the distant hills. The skipper had computer work to do so I took the long watch. It was a monochrome sea, smooth surface but no wildlife to see. The occasional pair of guillemots, fathers with their chicks, he takes over chick rearing once they have fledged so that the mother can return to sea to feed and regain her strength after egg laying and brooding. If it was a pair it was nearly always guillemot, a small raft of black and white birds were usually puffins, just hanging about, being puffins.

We passed Reiff and the cliffs were almost discernible, I remembered visiting there many years ago after another memorable adventure. We had made a canoe trip along with our middle son, his pal and then girlfriend to paddle the five lochs including Fionn Loch, Loch Sionasgaig  and Loch Veyatie. This involved leaving a car at each end and a shuttle, paddling the lochs then portaging (dragging) the canoes and gear across the moor to get to the next one. It was late autumn and a particularly cold spell but we were undeterred. I think our son wanted to impress this lass who was not really outdoorsy but was game to have a go. She was a very slender girl and no matter how many layers we put on her, she was freezing. Paddling and hiking were the only way to keep warm so we kept going as much as we could. At the start we had a rare feast of fresh prawns that we got from a local fisherman in Ullapool on the way through, he refused to take any payment and simply said to buy him a pint if we were ever in the pub. We  cooked them on a camping stove and sat by the loch peeling and stuffing our faces with them. The canoe trip was good and at the end we had visited Reiff to see the sea cliffs, famous for climbing. The skipper and boys did a bit of scrambling about while we women folk looked on encouragingly. The relationship with the girl did not last, they had different paths to follow but the friendship with his pal still lasts and it is a pleasure to see them both now, married and fathers to two children each.

A solitary seal bobbed up to add some excitement and a distant splash and fins of a couple of dolphins but too far away to warrant letting the skipper know. I watched the MV Seaforth head out of Loch Broom on its way to Stornoway and a few fishing vessels motored by slowly.

The compass was firmly pointing north and it was a bit monotonous motoring along for hours but it was getting us where we wanted to go. We finally rounded the headland and into Loch Inver and took a space on the visitor pontoons. We settled and changed clothing to go for a wander in the community woodlands. I noticed a boat landing crates of something on the pier so we popped along with a bag and cash and got two large cock crabs for tea. The skipper took them back to the boat, holding them by their two rear legs to avoid being nipped. He returned proudly stating  he had cut their front claw tendons and put them in the sink for cooking later. I was not that confident they would still be there after having seen them climbing out the crates. I had visions of them scuttling around the boat and finding one at the bottom of my bunk!


The woodlands were lovely, mossy, green and carpeted in sorrel. There were many tree species including oak, birch, beech, hazel, sycamore and straggly ash trees, badly savaged by ash die back disease though the ivys were quick to take advantage of their weakened state and climbed up their trunks. The smell of damp mosses and woodland plants was lovely though the drizzle that had started was now strengthening to rain so we cut it short a bit and made back for the boat. We passed a beautiful loch covered in water lillies and then the cutest little primary school built on a promintary in the loch, what a place to be educated!

By the time we got to the harbour it was  pouring and we were soaked. I gingerly came aboard ready to strip my sodden clothes off but was curious to see where these crabs were – they were safely still in the sink thankfully. We searched about to find a pot big enough to cook them and dispatched them quickly, cooked them and settled down to enjoy this fresh sea harvest though in a damp fuggy salon, not quite out in the cockpit, sun streaming down and chilled glass of vino!