North wind

It is blowing a force 7 from the north this evening, straight in from the Arctic. Temperature at the moment +5C, which is not too bad for late March. At 7pm, I went outside to get some coal in, but I was 'frozen' by the time I came in. It is pouring with rain as well, which makes it doubly cold. A northerly wind is bad news in this part of the world, and it is borne out by the disruptions page on the Calmac website - full of orange and red, meaning disrupted or cancelled sailings. The 5.35pm sailing from Ullapool to Stornoway was called off, meaning the 7 am sailing in the opposite direction tomorrow morning will not operate either. Looking at AIS Minch, I see nearly a dozen fishing vessels of Dutch, Danish and Norwegian registration in port or sheltering south of here along the coast, where the Point peninsula provides some shelter.