Primetime viewing

After lunch we paddled back along the coast to round the point and the start of an open crossing back to the bothy.  For the moment we were in the lee of the land, but we were aware of the steadily strengthening and cold SE'ly wind at our backs.

We started the crossing, and this is the last photo I took on the way over.  The wind-blown waves from the SE increased steadily as we came out of the lee of the land and the fetch increased.  A complicating factor was a SW'ly swell from the open sea which was crossing the wind-blown stuff to produce a confused swell pattern.  The third factor was that the ebb tide from the sea loch shown just over Douglas' shoulder was running strongly and confronting the SE'ly swell to produce some wind over tide effect.

It was for this reason we'd turned back before lunch.  In full daylight this was an exhilarating crossing on an sparkling blue sea, the boats surfing and surging ahead only to bury their noses into the next short swell, a constant corkscrewing ride requiring concentration and observation.  In darkness it would have been a real challenge.

The crossing flew past and soon our bows touched the pebble beach we'd left in the morning.  Unpacking what we needed, we changed out of paddling outer gear on the beach and climbed up to the bothy.

Douglas has some nice shots of the inside of our cosy abode.  Once warmed up by the climb and a coffee, we made and lit the fire then checked out the in-house widescreen facility.  It showed an increasingly alluring picture so we opened the door...

We gazed out of the door to a smouldering sunset in vertical format.

Stepping outside the world turned back to widescreen format. In our elevated spot we had a grandstand view as the colours developed.  It was compelling viewing.  Pleasingly, the smoky tones of that sunset matched the colour of our dram of pre-prandial 18yo Glenfiddich perfectly! 

Meantime, the bothy was being warmed by our (also slightly smoky) fire and our dinner was cooking.  As the sunset receded the wind continued to increase.  We settled in for an early night.