Widewall Bay

We

We hoped to go to Widewall this morning but Alison noticed the spot on her arm where she extracted a tick had swollen, with a 1cm pink aureole . Due process resulted in her getting the bus to the hospital in Kirkwall for it to be checked. Lyme Disease is serious stuff and it pays to be careful.

So I was going to have my Gaelic class in Stromness again.

I took the opportunity to find the boat builder in Stromness. I was lucky, both Ian Richardson and his grandson were there and I had a lovely chat and look around the sheds. Ian has retired. He doesn't take on work. But that doesn't stop him restoring a Harrison Butler yacht, or building one of his lovely yole-derived counter-stern dayboats. This one is the biggest yet!

Ian spent some time working at McGruers in Clyde, so he knows our home area too!

Alison got back about 1 pm, with the all clear, as the infected area had decreased with no other symptoms. However she has some hefty antibiotics to take if the redness reappears or spreads. She said we should go to Widewall after my class. That worked out a treat.

Of course, leaving at 4 pm meant dodging everything else coming in. And keeping clear of the ferry going out!

We broad-reached, gybing when needed, all the way into and across Scapa Flow with the tide under us and the sun shining. Glorious. The ferry to St. Margaret Hope came in too, but too far ahead to worry about.

We got a good view of the WW2 defences on Hoxa Head as we came past.

Widewall Bay on South Ronaldsay has two anchorages. The north one is protected from any direction except SW and the south one from south to west, probably more. The forecast is for NW to W so we are in the north anchorage. It is very sheltered from the wind but the swell is pretty uncomfortable.