Loch Scavig, Skye

 Nico has a favorite English sailing author named Eric Hiscock. He sailed these waters in 1937 in his little 23 foot engineless sailboat named Wanderer II. Nico thought it might be fun to go to the various anchorages that Hiscock described in his book, Wandering Under Sail. One of the more memorable passages was about two nights he spent in Loch Scavig on the Isle of Skye. He describes it as a “wild place, hemmed in by the silent brooding mountains”  and “one of the most lonely and isolated in the British Isles”. Later, he was trapped by bad weather and he has one of the worst nights of his life, leaving him beaten and stunned. He called it a devil’s cauldron. Wind swept down the 3,000ft mountains that rose from the sea, waves crashed over the protecting rocks and hit him like sleet and the roar of the waterfalls drowned out that of the wind. Some place. Of course Nico wanted to go there. After checking the wind forecast carefully, we did.

There was a little climbers’ cabin, or bothy there. A small group had hiked in over the mountains to celebrate a birthday there. Deer were picturesquely grazing along the shore. The white object in the foreground is a jellyfish, of which there were many. 

We followed a waterfall to a loch behind the cabin and climbed the knoll overlooking our tight little harbor. Two other sailboats joined us in our spot. The sailing guides, which claim this is the most dramatic anchorage in Europe, warn not to anchor too close because strong downdrafts roar down the mountains, spinning boats about and laying them over on their sides. As you can see, we picked a calm day!

The loch behind the loch. Lochs can be both fresh and salt bodies of water.