Day 6: Blue Lagoon (1-2Nm, 4 to 5hrs)

I spent today trying to either catch or find food. Both failed, not for lack of trying.

It’s a nice night again, the mist has come in in the last few hours. That’ll be the forecast warm front I guess. It’s high water just now so the coast looks clean without the 2 to 3m of sea weed.

Firstly I was fishing on the north coast of Gighay with a rod and some mackerel feathers. I have to admit I’ve never caught a mackerel, or anything else now that I think about it, from the sea with a rod, and I had little faith that I was going to this time. I tried deep water, shallow water, flicking it up and down, towing it, but nothing. I came round a point and saw a cormorant looking alert and I thought he/she much be fishing, so I paddled over, scared it off, and had a shot – still nothing. Eventually I got a snag and lost my tackle, so that ended that fishing for the day.

Then I thought I’d try to find some other protein. I was hopeful for mussels. I searched high and low, under a food few stones, sweeping sea weed aside. By the end of my search I had found a grand total of six mussels, and left them where they were to help their sparse population. Does anyone know where mussels like to live?

So no protein for tonight’s dinner again then – unless there’s protein in the stringy sea weed that I cooked? The rest of the day’s time was taken up with collecting and boiling water, cooking dinner, moving the bivvy/tarp to get better shelter from the light shower, and of course the video diary, and planning tomorrow’s journey – approximately 15Nm.

Reflecting on the day, I’ve improved my cooking technique by using stones to support the grill instead of wood which means I’m not wasting wood.

Today’s food: breakfast – last night’s dinner; lunch – bread, jam; dinner – potatoes, shrubs, stringy sea weed, yoghurt cake.