It all started well.

Seven Club Members, Friday 22nd May, 7am at Fenwick.

Load the kit, mobile compressor and cylinders into BDO Brian’s van, with extra cylinders, lots more kit, and bodies in my pickup. Hook the boat on, and off we go.

But that didn’t happen.

The trailer light bar would not work. No rear lights on the trailer. That light bar had been carefully checked, with everything working perfectly less than two weeks previously, then stored dry. Eventually, it worked.

Head on up via Glasgow and Dumbarton to a very near miss with an artic at the narrow part of the Loch Lomond road.

First stop, as planned, was The Green Welly at Tyndrum.

That’s where the supporting strut for the tailboard broke. Cable ties bodged it.

Our next stop was for our dive on the John Preston wreck at Kyleakin. Cold. Launch and recover the boat. No problems.

From then on, it was just a matter of completing our drive to the Croft Bunkhouse in Skye, where we unpacked in pouring rain and howling wind.

All tired and weary after a long day, we dined and retired for a good night’s rest.

It was not to be.

Some snoring can be gentle and easily ignored, but the sound of someone using a jackhammer to knock down a wall beats all efforts at sleep.

Bleary-eyed in the morning, we set off.

Rain and high winds meant that our intended dive sites were inaccessible. Two boat dives in the shelter of Loch Bracadale were all that we could manage. Excellent visibility, water temperature 10 degrees, and lots of scallops for later that night.

With the boat off the trailer, I checked the wheels.

All four sets of wheel bearings were slightly loose.

All had been renewed, torqued and pinned correctly before we left Fenwick.

All were re-set in the rain.

Lunch was hot soup and a burger with bacon and eggs on the gas BBQ, accompanied by the deafening music of our diesel-powered compressor.

Another problem to contend with.

The compressor was slow to deliver 232 bar. The drive belt had slackened and had to be re-tightened in the confined space at the rear of the van. Cramped, hot and oily.

Back at our bunkhouse after dinner, a harsh decision was made.

We found a collapsible camp bed and our snorer was banished downstairs.

Recovering the boat onto its trailer was a bit of a nightmare.

10.30 pm to suit the tide. Dark. Pouring rain. High crosswind.

We made it.

With the wind and sea conditions spoiling any chance of a further boat dive, we drove to Meanish and managed two dives at Meanish Pier.

An interesting dive along to the seaward end, where a near-vertical rock face exists.

Monday was the journey home.

Trailer board lights not working … again.

The drive south took us to Ballachulish and a dive at Kentallen Wall. A long swim out, and then the drop-off. Probably the best dive of the weekend.

We broke the journey at Tyndrum for overpriced fish and chips.

Heading south, we received a call from the van behind us that the light board had fallen off. A combination of rust and metal fatigue.

Cable ties again.

A later call told us that a trailer mudguard was hanging off.

Cable ties.

Finally back in Fenwick, we unloaded all the kit and compressor.

The general conclusion seemed to be that, despite all the problems, the lousy weather, rain and wind, the limited dive opportunities, and the snoring, we had had a good weekend.

However, as Mr Murphy said:

“If anything can possibly go wrong … it will.”