After seven gruelling days cruising from Yorkshire to Oban, Scotland via England, Wales and Ireland, Ian Furby and his friend Dobbo push on north via the treacherous Cape Wrath
DAY 8: 17 JUNE
OBAN TO UIST, OUTER HEBRIDES – 70NM
Morning came quickly and by the time I came downstairs, Dobbo was already in the lobby of our B&B eager to start his adventure. We headed back to the boat and put on our oilskins, wary of what lay ahead even though it was a beautiful morning.
I turned the isolator switch on, expecting to hear the usual bleep as the electronics came to life. Not this morning: nowt, nothing, nada. Must be getting tired, I thought. A couple more flicks on and off, along with a good spray of WD40, and things started bleeping as they should.
We were underway just before 6am, taking the north channel out of Oban Bay into the Firth of Lorn. I know this area well, so I didn’t really need the chart, but I’d already paid the price for being complacent when I ran aground near Dublin. At least that was a sand bank – in this part of the world most of the hazards are unforgiving rocks.
The tide was flooding up the Sound and the water was like glass. I took Summer Buoys up to 30 knots, revelling in the idyllic conditions. Before we knew it, we were approaching Calve Island, the rocky islet that protects Tobermory’s natural harbour. It was still only 6.45am but the local fuel station didn’t open until 8am so I took Dobbo on a quick sightseeing tour. We crossed the Sound into Loch Sunart and then on to a magical safe-water anchorage on the southern shore called Loch Na Droma Buidhe (pronounced Drambuie). From there we went further up Sunart, through the narrow channel between Risga Rock’s sheer granite and the mainland before heading back towards Tobermory, pausing briefly to watch a sea otter sunbathing on its back in the water.
TOBERMORY
Once in Tobermory marina, we tied up (leaving the isolator switch on just in case), loaded the four 25-litre cans onto the folding sack barrow and wheeled them off to the Harbour Garage. After filling and paying, I poured the first three cans into the boat’s tank then went back to refill them. Fully loaded with 200 litres of fuel, it was time to rock and roll again.
Back out into the Sound and heading north, I hoped to hop between the inner islands of Muck, Eigg, Rum and Canna before making the crossing to South Uist in the Outer Hebrides. From there we’d run up through the islands, passing North Uist, Harris and finally Lewis. That was the plan, but it was heavily dependent on sea conditions. The forecast was for a westerly Force 3-4, fine while we were still in the lee of the inner islands but potentially problematic once we’d poked our nose past Mull into the open North Atlantic.
