Stornoway is in our hearts for the hospitality and friendliness of the people we met.
A couple that had seen us coming in came down to the pontoon and offered to do our laundry “to have some fresh and dry clothes again when you leave”. “We’re happy to do your shoppings or if you need anyt kind of food, just let us know”.
The harbourmaster took al our wet foulgear and boots down to the port control office to dry. And last night when we returned from dinner (a duet of Haggis and Black Pudding on caramelised red onion followed by a cooked Lewis Lamb (from the island) and two l
arge red wines) we found a bottle of Aberlour, 10 year old Highlaand single malt Scotch Whiskey in our cockpit with a letter from John O’Conner. How sweet is that? And they all speak with that Sean Connery deep accent.
(Tsjakka, 19.9 knots! And guess what? A dolphin on starboard. And port. And starboard again.)
The Out Hebrides are a rough group of Islands in NW Scotland. If you had to paint them you’ll need every colour green you can think about. Your metal box with caran d’ache would be 1.5 meter wide only to hold the different green pencils. Rough, stones stick out of the water. Higher island, lower islands. Needles.
See if the pictures we took and the footage we shot show something of the breathtaking beauty we’re sailing trough.
Now under sail again.
Left Stornoway at 10 this morning and done 12.15 knnots average since then. Spectaculair sailing under single reefed main and Code0.
Violent showers with wind gusting up to 38 knots. And more.
Finally had to take the Code0 down in too much wind (with crew you always push harder). Sitting on the foredeck to furl the bastard in I had to take deep breaths every time La Promesse burried her nose into the next wave. Massive amounts of water came over
and made me more a diver than a sailor. Bart said after the job was done that it was spectaculair and hilareous to see me go under a couple of times and hear me shout the zero in with every pull.
We have a lot of fun. This boat is so fast in speed and acceleration. That surprises every time again. Fun! What a fun!
Heaading for Skerryvore to turn SE towards Bally Castle amd Belfast and trough the Irish Sea past Dublin to Penzance at Lands End.
Hope that we’lll have a bit of sunshine the more south we come and some higher temperatures. It’s freezing cold here. Wasn’t it supposed to be summer now?
JanKees & Bart
La Promesse NED7576 