Author Archives: James Rogerson

Up at 7.30. It has been the same everyday. People stir and poke their heads out of their curtained bunks or sit on the edge looking a bit dazed. These people who were strangers 10 days ago now familiar. A team. A crew. It’s overcast and still. A sea otter is in a bay aContinue reading “Bessie Ellen to the Hebrides Day 9. Loch Drumbuie to Kerrera Aug 29th”

No wind. Again. We get all 8 sails up but we’re still only doing 1 knot or less. Heading for Ardnamurchan Point. When we get within half a mile engine goes on. At helm hard over to starboard but makes little difference. 1100 I fill in the logbook. Course 150 degrees. Sea 0 or still.Continue reading “Bessie Ellen to the Hebrides day 8. Muck to Loch Drumbuie Aug 28th”

While swimming on the deserted beach on Sanday in the morning a woman with thick grey hair and a big white hat floats along in a canoe. ‘Morning.’ ‘Morning.’ ‘Is it warm or cold?’ ‘What do you think?’ ‘Ha! Well you’re very brave.’ On parting ‘I wonder what you’ll make of Muck. It has aContinue reading “Bessie Ellen to the Hebrides Day 7. Canna to Muck Aug 27th”

Every night I wake up to go for a pee. It’s always a bit of an effort to drop myself out of the top bunk and onto the bench alongside. After that I always go up on deck. Two nights ago the moon was up and creating a soft reflection in the ripples of StContinue reading “Bessie Ellen to the Hebrides Day 6. Harris to Canna Aug 26th”

Depart about 8 past the cliffs of Conachair where I looked over the edge yesterday. The cliffs where the fulmar slaughter would take place. 8.50 Across to Boreray, Stac Lee a giant lump of granite crisscrossed with fissures where the gannets sit in rows or else wheel in great circles over the top. This isContinue reading “Bessie Ellen to the Hebrides Day 5. St Kilda to Harris Aug 25th”

‘When a skua flies towards your face put your hand up and it’ll come close but then fly over the top of your head.’ So advises Sue the Ranger from the National Trust for Scotland about walking around Hirta, the main island of the St Kilda archipelago. It’s an indicator of how much this isContinue reading “Bessie Ellen to the Hebrides Day 4. St Kilda Aug 24th”

I wake to the sound of a foghorn low and mournful. Sure enough there is a sea mist and the sun a smudge behind it. We leave before 9 heading south to cut through the bottom of the Outer Hebrides passing close to Pabaigh then heading roughly North West to St Kilda. There is noContinue reading “Bessie Ellen to the Hebrides Day 3. Vatersay to St Kilda Aug 23rd”

Named after the original owner’s daughters, Bessie and Ellen. She is 120 feet long. According to her dedicated website ‘Bessie Ellen is one of the last surviving West Country trading ketches from a fleet that once stood at nearly 700.’ She was capable of holding 150 tons of cargo. The website says how she ‘transportedContinue reading “Bessie Ellen”

Fairly good sleep. The faint restlessness of a new situation sleeping with strangers. No movement. No creaking like on Leader 2 years ago. A fantastic breakfast: fruit, yoghurt, cereal, sausages, rolled cheese. People eat quietly. Many talk enthusiastically about the wildlife: seeing humpback whales and 2 minkes on previous trips aboard BE. Underway before 9.Continue reading “Bessie Ellen to the Hebrides Day 2 – Tobermory to Vatersay Aug 22nd”

Oban is rain soaked. It’s coming down in solid lines: the sort of rain that gets through to the skin in less than a minute. North Pier is on the front near all the shops, eateries and throngs of visitors. There are boats of different shapes and sizes: a motor launch that advertises ‘Sea Exploration’Continue reading “Bessie Ellen to the Hebrides August 21st-30th 2021 Day 1”