Loch Hourne, Isle of Rona & Loch Torridon

Monday 26th July, 2021, Mallaig to Loch Hourne

Its a sad day today because Caleb was leaving us and heading back to Stirling. It had been great having him onboard for over two weeks, sharing our sailing adventures. We had to get him to Mallaig to catch the train which should have been simple. We called the harbour to find out that they were full! So we had to anchor just down the coast and walk two miles in to town. The town claims that Mallaig is the jewel in the crown of the western isles???? I didn’t agree as we fought our way through the crowds of tourists, the ice cream and fish and chips shops. It felt a bit overwhelming to me after the remote places we had been visiting for a month. We ate our fish and chips whilst defending ourselves from the over friendly seagulls. We put Caleb on the train and stocked up at the local coop, and then headed back to the solitude of the boat.

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We raised the anchor and set sail North from Mallaig up the Sound of Sleat with Skye on our port side and mainland Scotland to starboard. Then we headed in to Loch Hourne to soak up the views. There are many anchorages in the loch but the one we had in mind was already occupied so we kept going. It was well worth the effort, because this loch just gets more and more special. There are two narrow sections that open out again in to larger waters. We anchored next to the first narrows nestled between 3 small islands all on our own surrounded by steep sided mountains and misty views. It had the feel of a remote Norwegian Fjord. I realised that I had visited this Loch many years ago when I walked the Cape Wrath Trail with two friends. We had walked over the Noydart peninsula and come down these steep mountains and stayed at a little farm on the edge if Loch Hourne at a place called Barrisdale. I could see Barrisdale from this anchorage and it was great to be back again!

Tuesday 27th July, 2021 – Loch Hourne

The next day we took the canoe out to explore more of the inner Loch. It was very sheltered and we drifted down with the tide to the second narrows and spent a great day exploring this wild place.

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Wednesday 28th July, 2021 Loch Hourne to Balmacara Bay

It was time to head North again and so we needed to do some careful tidal planning. At the top of the Sound of Sleat is the the Kyle of Rhea where the water gets squeezed through a very narrow section and the tidal streams can reach up to 6 knots. We needed to arrive at the entrance when the tidal stream was heading North. Leaving the anchorage at Loch Hourne we had strong wind on the nose funnelled by the mountains so we had an exhilarating sail, short tacking our way up the loch doing nine knots on flat waters. The winds here are completely dominated by local effects and bear no resemblance to the forecast, so you have to just ad-lib! Leaving Loch Hourne then we shifted from a close hold to almost dead down wind in light airs, a complete change to the feel of the day. We had got out of Loch Hourne a lot faster than anticipated anyway, so we ghosted slowly up towards the Kyle of Rhea and managed to arrive just as the tidal stream turned.
Once through the Kyle, the water opens out again in to Loch Alsh, and we dropped the anchor on the North side of the Loch in Balmacara Bay for the night.

Thursday 29th July, Loch Alsh to Isle of Rona

We left the anchorage at 11am and head up towards the Kyle of Loch Alsh with some trepidation. The chart says the bridge to Skye across the Kyle is 29m high at the centre. Azimuth’s mast is 24m high. It was going to be close, no room for an error! We slowed right down under the bridge, but the tide was quite strong. I lined us up to with the right heading and the marks on the bridge. It felt VERY close!!

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We sailed out from the Kyle for a couple of hours until the wind died and then motored up the inner sound until we were called by “Range control” on the radio. I hadn’t noticed in the chart, but it appears we were about the enter a live firing range! We were instructed to divert to within a 1 nautical mile of the coast of the Isle of Raasay to avoid being hit by shells! Once past Raasay, we sailed through the tight gap of Caol Rona between Raasay and Rona and arrived at the entrance to Acairsaid Mhor anchorage. This is a very sheltered place with a very tight entrance winding through rocks and reefs. We sneaked in slowly and dropped the anchor in this popular spot, although in the end we had the whole place to ourselves!

Friday 30th July, 2021, Isle of Rona to Loch Torridon

In the morning we took the dinghy in to the Isle of Rona, bumped in to the nice bloke that runs the hostel and the Rona ferry, on his advice we went for walk round the island. We climbed the track up the highest point on the island. We stopped for a rest and whilst Ailsa was checking her messages on her phone, I decided to walk the last bit of the path to the trig point to take some pictures. I was gone for 10 minutes, and when I got back, Ailsa had disappeared! We then spent the next hour trying to find each other again. Finally meeting up, she blamed me … and I blamed her …. oh well! Rona is a pretty place and worth a visit. It has geology that looks very similar to Iona, and the Ross of Mull, with pink granite and serpentinite.

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The sail across the inner sound to Loch Torridon was nice with light winds. Happily the range was not firing, so no hassle either. Eventually the wind died, and we headed for Loch Diabhaig a little loch on the north side of Torridon. It proved to be way too deep and difficult to anchor in and there was a strong local wind making the conditions choppy. So we decided to sail downwind to Loch Shieldaig and anchor off the village. We took the dinghy to shore and went for dinner at the little local cafe. It was an excellent meal!

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