Christine, Gerry and Dave arrived in Ullapool on Tuesday and we had a lovely time sitting outside in the sunshine, chatting before dinner. However the weather forecast warned us that the weather was soon to change for the worse. On Wednesday morning we all went for a stroll around the village and had coffee; the clouds had rolled in but it was still warm and dry. After lunch back at the cottage it was time for our trip on the Waverley paddle steamer. It was quite a historic occasion, the first time that the Waverley has visited Ullapool. We boarded excitedly and sat on the deck. By now it was a bit drizzly but we had all brought waterproofs so we were well prepared for the weather. We departed from Ullapool with small boats racing along beside us and a drone hovering nearby filming us. It was all very festive, but the weather soon closed in. The rain became heavier, and when we left the shelter of Loch Broom and the Summer Isles the sea got very choppy. Very choppy indeed. The Waverley ploughed bravely westwards, its paddles lifting right out of the water when the ship was lifted by a wave. Also the wooden decks and rails creaked alarmingly, although as Dave later explained, they are designed to creak rather than break apart! Dave, aged 84, was not at all fazed by the adverse weather and sea, he’s an experienced sailor and even seemed to be enjoying himself! Christine and James were fine too, but Gerry and I did not fare so well! I never suffer from seasickness (apart from that one time that I felt a bit off on the ferry to Rothesay) so I didn’t expect the nausea that built up in me. It was pretty crowded inside the boat because most people had moved indoors to get out of the driving rain, so there were no seats anywhere. I was watching the mechanism of the engine with James; the big arms spinning around, when I started to feel very sick. I hurried on to the deck where I spent more than an hour clinging to the ship’s rail in the rain, breathing deeply and getting wet. I wasn’t alone. There was a lady beside me similarly ashen faced and white knuckled, I felt a bond with her although we never exchanged a word! And there were plenty more around the deck, all standing grimly facing out to the roiling sea. One poor soul had his (or her, it was impossible to tell in their waterproofs) arms around a bin, into which they were vomiting. I had no idea where any of the others in our party were; at one point James found Gerry on the deck, cold and nauseous, and brought him indoors for a heat. The captain announced over the tannoy that the waves would ease once we turned south at the Rua Reidh lighthouse because then they would be running behind us instead of side on. I could see the lighthouse like a wee dot in the distance, slowly slowly getting nearer. And sure enough, when we eventually passed it and turned south towards Gairloch, the motion of the boat improved quickly and my nausea disappeared. I went indoors and after the first set of passengers got off the boat at Gairloch we were able to get a nice roomy table for the five of us in the dining room. James and Gerry got us some food which was quite decent considering that it had been prepared while the boat was tossing about like a cork! The last hour of the journey was quite pleasant, although the rain didn’t let up. We sailed underneath the Skye Bridge which was quite exciting and moored at Kyle of Lochalsh, where we ran through the rain to the waiting buses. I dozed on the two hour journey back to Ullapool, and was glad when we were all safely back at the cottage after our gruelling adventure! James plied our guests with some drams of whisky and soon we were all off to bed. I swear that I couldn’t still faintly feel the motion of the boat when I was drifting off to sleep.
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