diff --git a/common/gossip_store.c b/common/gossip_store.c
index 8937cddb5..3afc25975 100644
--- a/common/gossip_store.c
+++ b/common/gossip_store.c
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ static bool timestamp_filter(const struct per_peer_state *pps, u32 timestamp)
 		&& timestamp <= pps->gs->timestamp_max;
 }
 
-static void undo_read(int fd, int len, size_t wanted)
+/* Not all the data we expected was there: rewind file */
+static void failed_read(int fd, int len)
 {
 	if (len < 0) {
 		/* Grab errno before lseek overrides it */
@@ -68,10 +69,6 @@ static void undo_read(int fd, int len, size_t wanted)
 			      (u64)lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_CUR), err);
 	}
 
-	/* Shouldn't happen, but some filesystems are not as atomic as
-	 * they should be! */
-	status_unusual("gossip_store: short read %i of %zu @%"PRIu64,
-		       len, wanted, (u64)lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_CUR) - len);
 	lseek(fd, -len, SEEK_CUR);
 }
 
@@ -93,7 +90,7 @@ u8 *gossip_store_next(const tal_t *ctx, struct per_peer_state *pps)
 		if (r != sizeof(hdr)) {
 			/* We expect a 0 read here at EOF */
 			if (r != 0)
-				undo_read(pps->gossip_store_fd, r, sizeof(hdr));
+				failed_read(pps->gossip_store_fd, r);
 			per_peer_state_reset_gossip_timer(pps);
 			return NULL;
 		}
@@ -116,7 +113,7 @@ u8 *gossip_store_next(const tal_t *ctx, struct per_peer_state *pps)
 		msg = tal_arr(ctx, u8, msglen);
 		r = read(pps->gossip_store_fd, msg, msglen);
 		if (r != msglen) {
-			undo_read(pps->gossip_store_fd, r, msglen);
+			failed_read(pps->gossip_store_fd, r);
 			per_peer_state_reset_gossip_timer(pps);
 			return NULL;
 		}
diff --git a/gossipd/gossip_store.c b/gossipd/gossip_store.c
index 26a2a62c7..419a93450 100644
--- a/gossipd/gossip_store.c
+++ b/gossipd/gossip_store.c
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ static void gossip_store_destroy(struct gossip_store *gs)
 }
 
 #if HAVE_PWRITEV
+/* One fewer syscall for the win! */
 static ssize_t gossip_pwritev(int fd, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt,
 			      off_t offset)
 {
@@ -71,25 +72,9 @@ static ssize_t gossip_pwritev(int fd, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt,
 static ssize_t gossip_pwritev(int fd, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt,
 			      off_t offset)
 {
-	u8 *buf;
-	size_t len;
-	ssize_t ret;
-
-	/* Make a temporary linear buffer to fall back to pwrite() */
-	len = 0;
-	for (size_t i = 0; i < iovcnt; i++)
-		len += iov[i].iov_len;
-
-	buf = tal_arr(NULL, u8, len);
-	len = 0;
-	for (size_t i = 0; i < iovcnt; i++) {
-		memcpy(buf + len, iov[i].iov_base, iov[i].iov_len);
-		len += iov[i].iov_len;
-	}
-
-	ret = pwrite(fd, buf, len, offset);
-	tal_free(buf);
-	return ret;
+	if (lseek(fd, offset, SEEK_SET) != offset)
+		return -1;
+	return writev(fd, iov, iovcnt);
 }
 #endif /* !HAVE_PWRITEV */
 
@@ -107,7 +92,8 @@ static bool append_msg(int fd, const u8 *msg, u32 timestamp,
 	hdr.crc = cpu_to_be32(crc32c(timestamp, msg, msglen));
 	hdr.timestamp = cpu_to_be32(timestamp);
 
-	/* Use pwritev so it will appear in store atomically */
+	/* pwritev makes it more likely to appear at once, plus it's
+	 * exactly what we want. */
 	iov[0].iov_base = &hdr;
 	iov[0].iov_len = sizeof(hdr);
 	iov[1].iov_base = (void *)msg;