On Wednesday 1st July we joined Dave and Katherine aboard their beautiful 42' yacht, Hannahtinga, which was anchored at Badachro near Gairloch. After a welcome aboard and a tour of the boat we settled down to a quiet evening, blethering about all things under the sun. Skye and Kaitlyn enjoyed exploring the yacht while we lay calmly at anchor. The weather clouded over so we were not sure what was in store for us the following day.
Luckily the sun greeted us through misty clouds, as we arose.
After a hearty breakfast we set sail.
Unfortunately there was not enough wind to get anywhere so on went the engine and once out of the harbour we went back to sail power again. The water was very still and the girls enjoyed spotting fish and jelly fish in the water and steering the yacht.
Still with little wind we headed over to Big Sands where we were going to be camping for the following three nights. The sun shown over the beach and it looked great.
We spotted some porpoises/dolphins ahead and then they passed us, but not too close so wasn't able to get photos. Dave had shown us some great videos of Dolphins swimming alongside the boat taken earlier in the week when they were out with other GSers, awesome.
Out to sea we could see some clouds heading our direction.
We set the girls paddling and surprisingly our speed did increase.
We headed towards Gairloch and anchored up for lunch, including great homemade soup, which was delicious. It was quite damp by now and we sailed back to Badachro. After tea and cakes we left the boat to head on to Big Sands while Dave and Katherine prepared to head home, back to work.
Dave kindly lent me some books on local walks which came in handy over the following days.
Normally Dave and Katherine run the trip for two days which allows them to reach places further afield but time and finances meant that our short trip suited us all. I can highly recommend the offer Dave is making in support of the Calums Road Charity. http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176721
It was an adventure that we will all remember for a long time to come and the girls absolutely loved their time on Hannahtinga, thanks to Dave & Katherine.
More Photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 81177db807
