JB, Claire & Sooty

After are last sail of the season from Rothesay we are now in Ardrosson over two weeks earlier than our intended arrival here. The weather has won and we go home tomorrow (Wednesday) on the train. I will be back again with Bob R on the 16th to lift Coralie out for the winter. There is still a list of jobs to do but less than previous years but as I have said many times you don’t have a boat to save money. There was a break in the weather on Monday when we arrived and we managed to dry the sails out by just letting them hang in the wind before taking them down. Below decks now looks a little overcrowded with the two sails down below but they are dry and will be going to the sailmaker in Poole in September to be inspected and stored ready for next year. I have yet to find out why starlings are attracted to boat masts. They certainly are as you will see in the video. It’s a lovely sight but the mess they leave behind on the deck isn’t!! Till next year then🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿☔️🌞⛵️⚓️

After three nights sheltering in Portavadie, the rain and wind reached a crescendo last night topping 42 knots in the marina, we left at 10am to go to Rothesay. We managed to dodge the rain and enjoyed sailing in gusty conditions touching 8 knots through the water which is pretty good for an old lady! It’s the Highland Games here on Saturday and I was nervous we wouldn’t get a slot in the small marina but it’s empty. We will stay until Sunday and unless there is a miraculous change in the weather we will head to Ardrosson in preparation for heading home. I think a lot of people have given up already.

We went into the canal on Sunday afternoon and tagged along with a yacht with four gentlemen on board who had known each other since university, two GP’s , one gynaecologist, one ophthalmologist! As you can see from the photos a good time was had by all. The Crinan Canal starts at Ardrishaig on Loch Fyne, and ends nine miles away at Crinan on the Sound of Jura. It was designed to provide a quick link between the west coast and islands at one end and the Clyde Estuary at the other, and so avoid the long voyage around the south end of the Kintyre peninsula. Work started on the canal in 1794 under John Rennie and it was opened in 1801: two years late, significantly over-budget. (Nothing new there then!) In the nine miles from Ardrishaig to Crinan there are 15 locks and the canal reaches a height of 65 feet above sea level. The summit reach of the canal is relatively short and every time a boat goes through the locks about 300,000 litres of water are used. No fewer than seven reservoirs feed the summit reach to try to ensure that the Crinan Canal does not run dry. Every year two to three thousand vessels, mostly pleasure craft, use the canal. This is a far cry from the early days when the canal formed a vital link in Scotland's transport system. Until the coming of the railways the fastest way to travel between Glasgow and Inverness was by steamer using the Crinan Canal and the Caledonian Canal, usually calling at Oban en route. The Crinan Canal's starting point is at Ardrishaig, a little under two miles south of Lochgilphead. After a basin and several locks the canal parallels the shore of Loch Gilp and the A83. It then skirts the western side of Lochgilphead before striking inland to cross the peninsula . We spent the night in the canal and continued our passage at 9.30 and left the canal at 15.00. It was chucking it down and we motored for two hours to get to Portavadie in the pouring rain. The marina has a swimming pool and a spa and with an awful forecast it looks like we will be here for two or three days. Claire is very 😃

The weather has just been awful. We watch the weather forecast and the north west gets a brief mention of wind and showers (it’s been like this all summer) while the south is basking in the sunshine with the odd drop off rain! We had friends on board for a couple of days and then attended a Moody muster in Loch Aline. The loch is famous for mining the best Silica in the world that’s used in the glass making process. This morning we left at six am to get to the Crinan canal. This is only 9 miles long but saves you going round the Mull of Kintyre. The forecast for the next week is not good and going through the canal saves 80 miles. It’s also very pleasant as the photos show. We have tagged along with another yacht with four people on board and that’s saved us the price of a pilot that would operate the locks for us. We are now half way through and have stopped for the night as the canal is full of boats making the transit. Scottish canals must think it’s Christmas with so many boats transiting due to the weather 🥴

We spent two nights at anchor and the anchor alarm went off Sunday evening meaning we had dragged it! We recovered the anchor and repositioned Coralie. Rule of thumb is you let out three times the depth. We were in 5 mtrs and let out 30 mtrs of chain. We slept soundly Sunday night. The weather went through and with the rain and wind forecast to die down this afternoon (Monday) we decided to make a move, not before the heavens really opened this morning. This afternoon after arriving at Tobermory you would think we were in the Mediterranean. The sun is out the sky is blue (could be a song there). Before we left the anchorage we spent 30 minutes observing two otters 🦦 . The first time we have seen any. Wonderful animals and a joy to watch. Wednesdays is looking awful so it’s three nights on the pontoon at Tobermory. The video is rain water from the mountains!!!

There is some nasty weather forecast for Sunday and we sailed with just the headsail and a following sea to anchor in Saipan Mor on the north side of Oronsay. The pilot says it offers good shelter from all winds!!! 30 minutes after we arrived the stuff that makes Scottish whiskey came down with a vengeance and a short while later out comes the sun. So here we sit watching the world go by and watching the Olympics.

The forecast is not good for the next few days. Wind and rain from the south! So rather than sit it out north of Ardnamurchan Point we are spending the night and possibly tomorrow night at anchor in Loch Mingary on the north coast of Mull being watched by 20 highland cows on the shore. We had a very good sail to windward here but of course it’s not sailing in a straight line but then we are not in a hurry. We hear that most of the country is complaining about it being too hot! Come to the Western Isles to cool off🥴🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⛵️☔️

A night stop in Mallaig and a catch up with the laundry. Since our last visit when the boat looked like a Chinese laundry an enterprising lady has started a laundry business. It’s picked up and delivered the next day. So rather than looking at a washing machine for half a day we just enjoyed Mallaig. The weather is closing in on Friday so we headed over to Eigg for the night with the intention of going to an anchorage on Mull tomorrow. On the way Claire pointed out a large mass of weed directly in front of the boat. There is a slight chance of sucking seaweed into the engine water intake so we went left to miss it. It wasn’t seaweed but a huge amount of fishing net that if we had gone over it would have certainly got wrapped around the prop and probably would have meant calling out the lifeboat. Using the spinnaker halyard we lifted the net up onto the foredeck. Arriving at Eigg we offloaded the net onto the jetty and we were met with mixed emotions from the local coastguard. He accepted the net was a danger to shipping and we had acted correctly but was concerned how they were going to dispose of it from Eigg with their limited resources. We were just glad to offload it! Look at the photos to see it!!!

The new batteries are holding their charge and after six nights on the pontoon it was decision time as to where we were going next. The weather looks settled for the next week but we both decided that we didn’t want to do long legs so going north, then out to the Outer Hebrides and south to be in Oban to meet friends in the second week of August would be too much. Decision made to head south and we are now on a mooring at Armadale. Just before we left, a yacht that had lost engine power was towed onto the pontoon by a passing support vessel. The cause was weed being sucked up into the water strainer causing the engine to overheat and stop. The jelly fish in the photo is a lion jellyfish and the sting is very painful plus you don’t want to suck one up into the water intake to the engine! Castle and gardens visit planned for tomorrow and what shall we do on Monday to celebrate Claire’s birthday? 🎂

No we didn’t Coralie on a trailer! A local garage owner kindly lent us a car for the day, whilst at first glance and after receiving instructions what to hit if it didn’t start it made you wonder if it would get round Skye. It did and it never missed a beat. We are glad to have had the opportunity to explore Skye, it was an amazing day and if you get the opportunity give it a go.