We moaned about the Kyle facilities before and that hasn’t changed, but without a doubt the star of the show is Hughie the pontoon manager who lives aboard his small motor cruiser there during the season. He is endlessly cheerful and helpful, always ready to take mooring lines and by the time we had landed he had already got 60L of diesel waiting for us. Great service, thanks Hughie.
The night is indeed rough but the morning brings some calmer weather and we meet Lyn and Ashley from the 11.30 train from Inverness, having travelled up on the sleeper. They must have crossed unseen paths with Chris in the night. With dreary drizzly weather we look around Kyle while waiting for the tide through Kyle Rhea…this doesn’t take long…sorry Kyle we wish you luck and better times.
We take the tide and sail for the first half an hour or so before turning into the inevitable headwind through Kyle Rhea. Even in the mist and gloom, the majesty of sailing between the imposing slopes of Skye on one side and the mainland on the other is inspiring. As the narrows open out, we get tantalising glimpses of peaks and glens which then disappear back into the gloom.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Our destination tonight is Armedale on Skye where Brian and Anne are also waiting to meet us. They call us on VHF in the proper manner…”Heydays, Heydays Heydays this is the yacht Skoling, over.” This results in an immediate and concerned response from the Stornaway coastguard, before they realise that Heydays is a yacht and not a misheard emergency call. Perhaps we should change the name of our boat…
We spend a great evening with Brian and Anne who come over for some snacks, bringing with them a tin of Haggis which delights John and Yee Tak. They have written out for us a wonderful list of great anchorages (complete with details of un-published showers) and have taken such great care of us ever since we first met them in Peterhead last Autumn. We shall miss them as we trundle inexorably south and hope that they too will come south some time so we can repay their kindness.
heydays346 
Seems like a magnificent and unforgettable experience to be between Skye and mainland.
LikeLike
Magnificent and awe-inspiring for sure. You would be making a much better deal of the photos though…
LikeLike