The rain set in steadily and the mainland was almost continuously blotted out. It got very cold, too, and the water looked anything but an inviting element. I had one or two nice problems set me for the first time. For instance, I felt I was going in the right direction, and wondered if the compass was being affected by the near vicinity of the heavy anchor and chain. I tried vainly to test this by shifting the compass, but it was hardly the moment for experiment. I trusted the compass, of course, and presently satisfied myself that we were heading for Loch nan Uamh, south of Arisaig Point, between which and the island of Luing Vore lay our entrance. And here the Sailing Directions had one of its capital little notes, for it said of this island that it was ‘the only one in the vicinity which shows trees on its summit’. We therefore simply could not go wrong.

But we soon realised how different is an indented mainland coast, with islets and rocks off it everywhere, from an island in the ocean! We held north but could neither be certain of Arisaig Point nor of any island conforming to the size and appearance of Luing Vore. Yet by our time, we should have had the Point abeam before this. I was completely baffled and stood along the coast, with masses of floating seaweed here and there, and, rising out of the obscurity ahead, a nest of large rocks spouting spume. I could doubtless make Mallaig or Loch Nevis but I wanted to make Arisaig, and none the less so that the Sailing Directions considered a detail chart essential! ‘Written instructions would only confuse, as the coastline is so broken up, and the rocks and islets are bewildering. The detail chart 2817, is the only sure guide, and it would be well to make this harbour for the first time at L.W. or soon after, when the reefs are showing.’ But it also mentioned the trees on the island and said there were poles to mark the ‘very narrow and winding’ channel to Arisaig, even if ‘the marks are on the highest parts of the rocks and not on the shoal water’. Which sounded clear!

Though it was impossible to stand without holding on, the Crew was doing her best with the glasses, but in the rain and haze they were useless. However, suddenly she drew my attention to some Scots firs on a low summit well behind us. I was now quite certain that we had passed Arisaig Point, even if we hadn’t seen the island. I had yet to find out that when a coastal island lies between you and the mainland, it is generally impossible to distinguish it from the mainland. I had observed those trees before coming to them, but, as they had seemed to be well inland, hadn’t given them a second thought. Now, however, as we glanced back, they at least appeared somewhat isolated, and as the engine was behaving very well, I decided to have a proper look at them.