Day 2: Loch na Droma Buidhe to Tobermory

Dreams of slipping into a womb-like sleep while being gentle rocked on a boat were just that. Dreams. The reality was that Husbant and I had a space big enough to lie side by side on our backs with our arms straight down our bodies and our feet at right angles at the end of the bed. No bent elbows or legs. I was on the edge so could bend a leg but that meant half my leg was just hanging in air supported awkwardly by a fairly hard wooden lip along the side of the bed. Sleep was the last thing that I could think about. We tried actually cuddling but that only made us too hot – I even thought about just lying on the floor with a blanket at one stage. But I did fall asleep at some point as I was woken up when Husbant had to clamber over me to use the loo. No bad feelings though because I had been to loo at least three times as something to do that wasn’t working out how to lie in bed and fall asleep.

Worse things happen at sea… oh wait, we are at sea. But we both managed a few hours and were woken up at 7am as the engines were started to ensure we had hot water for our showers. No complaints there. The shower was great and big white fluffy towels on a boat are very luxurious.

I made my way onto the deck to do some stretches – given the limited bed space, my body was telling me I had to stretch. I actually did some of those instagram moves I had saved previously (although not the star jumps). It was a brightish sunny morning and the view was great. However, very quickly, it started to rain so I had to cut short the ‘wave your arms around in opposite directions 20 times’ and scuttle back into the boat for breakfast.

Generally everyone seemed to be rested although one woman had been freezing all night. More blankets were promised and others readily offered up their water bottles.

Breakfast was full and hearty – porridge and bacon/eggs and scoottiee or scooney. Wasn’t sure what it was but it was delicious.

After breakfast we sailed to Tobermory via some cliffs where a pair of white-tailed eagles were usually visible along with many seals. I saw some deer. But that seemed to be it despite the good hour of glancing through the binoculars dodging the rain. We headed for Tobermory and moored up on the pontoon. With an hour to kill, Husbant and I put on all our clothes and wet weather gear to venture onto dry land and find some shops. It poured down but we loved every minute as you can see in the photo below…

Back on board for lunch – a warming bowl of cullen skink which was delicious – accompanied by some first rate focaccia.

By this time, I have realised that although this was advertised as a ‘Search for Food’ cruise and one for real foodies, I think Husbant and I are really the only foodies on board. This isn’t a big problem but it makes for limited conversations about the delicious food we are eating. Chef is lovely, though, and we have had some good chats. After lunch we braved the changing weather again and walked to the lighthouse – actually it was sunny most of the way and we walked through loads of wild garlic. We bumped into chef on the walk and swapped our love of wild garlic so I picked some on the way back and she might make some cheese and wild garlic scones tomorrow!

Husbant got to see the white-tailed eagle but it had flown away before I got to use the binoculars. We also saw some oyster-catchers at the lighthouse and some shags. I like shags.

Back to the boat via some shops – I bought some blackthorn salt and Husbant a tile depicting Tobermory. There was a gorgeous broach in a silver jewellery shop shaped like an axe – not sure why I was drawn to it but I didn’t buy it.

We have just had dinner – scallops with pea puree. The guy who owns Hebridean cruises is on the sister ship and is a scallop diver so he went down and got them this afternoon for us to eat tonight. I have never seen such big scallops and they tasted so fresh. I so wished AnnieB was with me to share in the delightfulness.

Main course was chicken schnitzel with bang bang sauce and a yummy salad;

Followed by an excellent pannacotta with shortbread and rhubarb

Luckily the dinner conversation was more lively. The Americans are definitely on the same wavelength – it’s always a bit sticky these days when you aren’t sure and don’t necessarily want to talk politics.

So tomorrow after breakfast we head for Ulva and I think there is a bit of dinghy stuff which will be exciting.

Am so tired tonight am thinking the narrowness and shortness of the bunk might not keep me up.

Speak soon! Thanks for reading.