Flying North

Flying from Stansted to Glasgow, to Stornoway is certainly an efficient way of getting north. The Stornoway plane sat on the runway at Glasgow for nearly an hour for some reason, but all that meant was that we only needed to wait 10 minutes for the bus that runs every 2 hours into the centre of Stornoway.
Both Julian and I were glued to the bus window, waiting for our first glimpse of Robinetta on her borrowed mooring. The relief when we saw her there, covers still in place, had us grinning at each other.

I spotted Worm too, upturned on the shore near a boat shed where we had left her. Her red anti-fouling looked unusually pink after a month exposed to the air.

We had lunch ashore, then did some shopping before heading round the bay to launch Worm. I tripped on the way and fell, bruising the palms of both hands quite badly. Not a good start! Putting any pressure on the heel of my hands hurts, but it does not feel like I've broken anything.

It seemed like a long walk after that, carrying luggage and shopping, but getting Worm across the beach and into the water was easy. Her oars and floor were safely stowed under the thwarts where we had left them, and she looked none the worse for wear.

We had been warned that sea birds would use Robinetta as a perch and they obviously had, but no worse than when we left her a month unattended at West Mersea and Julian got on with scrubbing the stern and cockpit cover while I went below and unpacked.

We had left our damp gloves hanging up in the cabin to air when we left. They were still damp when we returned and were growing a coating of green mould. Julian's hiking boots, left in the hanging locker, were the same, and our pillows were damp too. We would normally have put them in a dry bag, but this time they got left out accidentally. Not a good thing, and I realised I had forgotten to pack pillow cases too. My heart sank at the idea of using T-shirts over the damp pillows: we could do it if we had to, but there was a Tesco just over the water...

We got into Worm, with Julian rowing for a change, and headed for the town side of the bay. There is nowhere to leave a dingy there long term, but there is a broken slipway we could tie her to and walk up. It was high water, so the sewer pipe that runs parallel to the beach was covered, but not enough to let Worm float across with two of us in it. I  had my sea boots on, so got out while Julian stayed in the boat and floated to land dry shod on the beach.

I've had my sea boots for longer than we've had Robinetta, but it turns out that I should have replaced them, like Julian did. This was their first dip in the sea this season, and they both leaked. I walked round Tesco sloshing slightly (why didn't the water run out as quickly as it ran in?). Tesco had no pillowcases, but they did have pillows, so we bought a pair. I also got some cheap tea towels to sew together into cases, while Julian picked up some draw string bin bags to stow the new pillows in when we leave. Tesco also supplied a salad, and a hot chicken for our dinner. Bliss!

Julian phoned Donald Macsween, the generous owner of the mooring, to say thanks, and he replied no problem; it was good to have something keeping the ropes out of the water, so weed and barnacles could not make their homes on it.
We went to bed early, having decided on a 4 am alarm. The winds are forecast to go light tomorrow afternoon, so we want to use the wind while we can.