Post from Jen

Shorts and sunscreen should be fine, Thom (with enough whiskey you won't notice the rain and cold!). We had a wonderful day on the water! We paddled less than 2 miles across to Stroma, a pretty little island dotted with ancient stone houses that weren't entirely abandoned until the 1960's. Just about as 'Scotland' as one could imagine. The tide races were friendly for our first trip (thank goodness because the 'Coast Pilot' for the area, not to mention the advice of some people who've been here, had me more than a little worried). Neap tides and fair weather made for a glorious trip. Then the ominous clouds. Wind against tide and lumpy bumpy seas all the way back and me hoping I hadn't called it too late. But we made landfall in fine fashion and the weather hadn't gotten ugly enough yet, so we toodled down the coast a bit longer. It got nearly ugly enough as we turned around and soon found ourselves clawing our way into a force 8 (30mph) headwind. Weather reports claim it was force 7 but that's from some nerd in an office somewhere! It took us an hour to paddle a mile (normally an efforless 15 minutes). I was disappointed that this wasn't accompanied by driving rain. Scotland is letting me down. It did rain - after we were snug in our van eating a hot dinner. Hope the breezes are fair and gentle wherever you are!