Day 21: (Morning after) Husinish to Mealasta (6Nm, 3hrs)

Yesterday had potential to be one of the worst days of the expedition so far and in some ways, it was.

Through the night, the rock for the tarp line had moved and the tarp had come off the pole and was flapping around. Then the pot of porridge I had precooked blew over so I had to get up again to cover it. Then through the night the wind picked up which was pushing the tarp down on me as if the elements wanted to bully me a bit after all the good weather so far. I woke up in the morning at 9am and looked at the porridge, it was covered in sand, so breakfast was cold sandy porridge with jam. Then I planned the trip, Husinish to Gallan Head (19Nm). The only problem was that it was blowing force 4-5 NE or E which was totall the wrong direction for me. It would be 10+ hours to Gallan Head, so I planned to just see how far I got and camp wherever that may be.

So I set off. I should have been up much earlier, and have now vowed to plan trips at the latest the night before. I made slow progress, quartering into a F5. Eventually I made it across the bay to more sheltered water. The coastline to the east looked awesome for exploring but I had to resist. I continued, making better progress in the shelter. So many inlets that I wanted to explore but I knew I had to push on. I was now looking for a lunch spot. Eventually I found a nice beach at Mealasta.

And, of all the places I thought I'd find girls in bikinis, the west coast of Harris wasn't one of them! After nice chats and gifts of cheese sandwiches and apples, I set off again. The journey got more negative again. I was going to have to paddle directly into a F5-6 for 3k to get to the next stop. I checed the GPS and was managing to make 0.5kph! Then I heard to forecast on the VHF - F4-5, 5-6 in the Outer Hebrides. That was it, no way was I paddling into that. I turned around and with with an average speed of 7kph and a max speed of 13, I got back to the beach in no time!

I set up camp and went on the search for firewood and thanfully found some, but no heather. It was going to have to be a stove night. Luckily the Harris bikini girls as I called them, and PJ, offered me dinner which I accepted gratefully. A nice night of chat and whisky followed.