Good Evening from Kinlochbervie.
Where to start?
I have been away from the boat for a week as I returned to Cardiff for the wedding of Mr & Mrs Wyatt who is my better half’s sister which was fantastic and a good weekend but I must say it is good to be back on the boat.
I have been sitting here studying the weather very closely and although there have been boats in and then heading north they have all had crew and are cruising around the north of Scotland. So the weather hasn’t been so much of an issue for them as they have plenty of time to hide from the weather and if they are caught they can take turns with the boat duties which I do not have the luxury of.
The extended outlook for the north of Scotland is not good and although there is a two day break in the weather I cannot go through the Pentland Firth as we are now heading for springs I do not feel comfortable for my safety and the boats safety so I have had to come to a very hard decision which has pulled me between pillar and post.
The plan for the next stage of the trip I have decided to head back south to the Caledonian Canal and then go through there and this will then pop me out at Inverness.
I can assure you that this decision hasn’t come lightly but due to the bad weather we have up here and the timing for the tides through the Firth, then the extended outlook being so poor and then the most important factor – mine and the boats safety… I am sure Francesca would give me a stern telling of if I jeopardised either. It has been a really tough and heart breaking decision I have had to come to as my goal was to reach the Shetlands and then head south but mother nature doesn’t want me to get up there just yet, but there will be a next time and I will get there but on this trip it is just not meant to be.
I set out to sail around Britain and even though I haven’t got round the whole of Scotland I will have got around Britain and I hope you can all understand why I have come to this decision and I want to thank you all for your support and to my sponsors especially Dave at Wifionboard and Keith with the BoatShed group for their continued support and we will get this challenge done and in the bag.
Please do keep supporting me and don’t forget you can donate on the My Donate page and also the txt donation, text btos31 with amount £2-5-10 to 70070.
Thank you all for your continued support.
Until Next Time
Alex