Tuesday 26 June

A bright day, which has now degenerated into spells of light rain, which have moved up from the southwest. I have spent the day (so far, it's 5.40pm) monitoring the progression of the group of 8 intrepid swimmers who are crossing the Minch from Ullapool to Stornoway. Other people take the ferry, but this lot take turns swimming the 45-65 miles. The ferry has been tooting at the team as they ploughed their way through the swell, and passengers on board have been asked to donate. The swim is organised to benefit the RNLI. A pod of killer whales came to check out one swimmer, who lost no time getting out of the water. A 20 ft whale is not something to trifle with, and orkas have those nasty, sharp teeth. The swimmers were south of Point an hour ago, and are expected into Stornoway between 9 and 11pm tonight. I'll keep an eye out for their support vessel, the MV Cuma, which will be cue to head out to the shoreline. I'll update later with pics of the team as they enter the harbour, something I can monitor from the window here.