Leg 16 - Lossiemouth to Inverness

The river Ness at Inverness on a gloriously sunny evening

The die is cast. There are strong wind and gales forecast for the far north of Scotland for the foreseeable future, so the journey to Orkney is off. Instead, I've headed along the coast to Inverness and will travel down the Caledonian Canal and through Loch Ness.

Leaving Lossiemouth harbour was an adventure. When I woke up this morning, the wind was still howling although the rain had stopped. The forecast had predicted calmer weather today, but I had to set off anyway in order to get to Inverness. The harbour entrance at Lossiemouth is very narrow with stone walls on either side. Just outside, the water is shallow so the waves are particularly steep and intimidating. There were a few anxious moments until I got out of the harbour and into deeper water; it was the first time on this journey where I asked myself "Why am I doing this???"

Once outside, the swell coming in from the North was huge. Although the boat was perfectly happy and coped very well with it all, it felt a bit like the images you see of boats in the Southern Ocean. One moment you're on top of a wave and can see for miles, the next you're in a trough looking at the next wall of water heading your way.

As the day wore on, the wind started to die down and the swell became gradually less. As I entered the Inverness Firth, the sun even broke through and the sea was completely calm. I arrived at the marina at about 5 o'clock, so went and had a shower and headed off into the city to find somewhere to eat.

As I walked into town, there were throngs of people, many dressed in tartan, heading in the opposite direction towards the marina. It seems I had arrived the day that Rod Stewart was giving an open-air concert at a stadium next to the marina. After I'd had dinner, I came back to the boat and sat listening to the music; quite a result!