The storms still rage so we went on another sight seeing day out. First off was Glen Garrioch distillery. A tour followed by whisky tasting. The distillery is now owned by the Japanese and is very small. Next we went off to Fyvie castle to the delight of some crew members and the disappointment of others. It was very interesting and now a national trust property which has an interesting history over the last 600 years. We do not plan to leave tomorrow as the weat...

Strong winds and heavy rains forecast for today and tomorrow. We decided to hire a car and go sight seeing instead if sailing. There are limited safe ports with safe entry south of here so need good weather window before leaving. We went to Fraserburgh and visited the lighthouse museum. This was excellent and we got a tour of the former lighthouse. The tour guide was the spitting image of Fulton McKay from porridge. He did not like lighthouses, women, the English...

We sailed to Peterhead today, again good wild life with dolphins, porpoises, basking shark, seals, puffins and cliffs with thousands of birds nesting on them. The wind slowly built from force 1 to force 4 and with a flat sea we took a short Coastal route going over the overfalls at Rattray Head without any problems. We have now said goodbye to Sue and Alison and welcomed Clare, John an Tim. Last week was very different in the canal and a good break from the lon...

Neil left after 2 weeks onboard and will be missed by us all. Today was a great day of down, yes down wind sailing. Set off from Inverness at 8:30 for 60 mile trip east up the Morray Firth. Good day for wild life as Morray is nature sanctuary. We saw dolphins, seals, a shark or small whale which was probably a basking shark. Arrived in Whitehills which is a tiny harbour with a very tight entrance. The harbour master was very friendly and gave us advice on the ni...

Slowed down over last 2 days. Yesterday had engine preventative maintenance done and today stuck waiting for tide to rise so we can exit the canal into the sea at Inverness. Typing this whilst waiting for the washing to do!! Weather has been grey and occaisional showers, we expect this to continue for a couple more days as we make our way east towards Peterhead.