Another day of unpromising weather, so we did not feel inclined to leave. Ashore we chatted to the usual bunch of people outside the cafe. An ex-fisherman told us a lot about the building of the ferry pier and some of the problems involved in getting the job done properly. He offered us a lift up the road to the school as we had decided to walk to Kildonan, so it could become a circular tour. His van was maintained to the usual standard in the island. You can’t get to a garage to have servicing done and vehicles cannot do many miles on the island, so maintenance is not seen as top priority. So if you are walking down a narrow road and a car or van comes down the hill – step off onto the verge quickly as it might not be able to stop!
Our walk was rather wet, but we picked a few blackberries and a large mushroom which only had a few maggots in it. We also saw a yacht arriving from the mainland.
Back on the boat, we were surprised to see the yacht spotted earlier coming into the inner harbour and going alongside the yacht wall ready to dry out. Late in the night we could just see it was rather bows-down.
We had been invited to visit the French family on their boat, which was moored right at the top of the beach, tied to the shore and with stern anchors out. Very secure but they had still felt the gusts of the previous night and asked what our wind instrument had indicated. They and their 3 children come from near Brest and are doing a 6 month cruise with the children doing school work on board. The have done a number of long cruises in various boats so seem to know what they are doing. They plan to head south to Dunstaffnage and then hire a car during the coming bad weather. Their boat has 2 unstayed masts, originally junk-rigged but now converted to bermudan sails. It has a long shoal draft keel with a drop keel and is big enough to allow plenty of room for the family. They seem to prefer to find sheltered coves and park on the beach.
