Dartmouth and Home

Delayed in Dartmouth due to Fog.
Although the fog only lasted until 11 or 12 in the morning it meant we missed the tide for the onward journey, so after two days of waiting we repositioned the boat to Brixham for a night so that we could depart that, much less complicated harbour early next day and make the trip to the Solent in one.

Two French navy vessels arrived in Dartmouth on our last day. After sitting outside the Harbour for a few hours waiting for the visibility to improve the emerged out of the fog as we slipped our lines.

Next day we left Brixham, catching a favourable tide down to Lyme Regis where we picked up a mooring buoy to wait for the right tide to make Portland head and the needles in one.

With two knots of tide behind us and a favourable wind we were approaching the familiar waters of the solent by midnight, and despite having to slow down following reports of a dinghy drifting in the needles channel were tied up outside Yarmouth by one in the morning.  
Next day we headed for Portsmouth where we met up with Gerald on Scarlett Lady, who had come to meet us, and the intrepid Oliver on Jolly Olly.
All three of us set off on Monday  3rd of October, a brilliant sunny day with just the right amount of wind for the sail to our home port of Brighton, and the end of our wonderful six month journey.

Jolly Olly en route.

  Along the way we have met many fine people who we hope will remain friends forever and experienced practically every type of sailing and weather that the Gods can throw at you. We have explored beautiful new sailing areas, and explored the Scottish Islands, experiencing a way of life, and indeed a pace of life, that makes you wonder if your still in the UK.
We will never forget this journey, and will always be grateful for having had the opportunity to make it. 

Plymouth to Dartmouth

We have enjoyed a very social time recently. We were joined in Plymouth, first by John a friend of Bob's who lives there now, and then by Joan and Ian from back home in Brighton We explored Plymouth, both shoreside and sea, and did the coastal walk from the river Yealm to Wembury Bay.
Moving onto Dartmouth we met up with more friends, Helen and Andy who live here, and had an unexpected encounter with Matt and Elise from Brighton marina.

Start Point Lighthouse.

The weather has turned gloriously hot for the first time since April!!

Dartmouth is full of ornate old buildings. 

The view from the boat.

Took a trip up river almost to Totnes.

Nearly home now...

fowey

One last picture of Falmouth before leaving for Fowey. We left in beautiful conditions, unlike yesterday when we left in rain and fog but had to turn back due to finding a handbag that didn't belong to us on the boat. We returned it to its owner who then, full of unnecessary guilt cooked us a lovely meal on her boat.

  This time we were actually able to see the lighthouse, much better day to set off, I don't know why we bothered yesterday at all.

 Sailed all the way to Fowey, tied up on the town quay for a few hours of looking arround then out onto a mooring bouy for the night.

Sailing in Falmouth Harbour

We were joined in Falmouth By Pauline and Chris.  

Sailed up the river, passing some unexpectedly big boats at the top.

Whitehaven to Falmouth via Wales.

We left Cumbria with every intention of making a swift passage to Lands End, with only a few overnight stops. However...Having decided to stop at Bangor overnight and negotiate the Menai Straight, we found that after the Swellies it was necessary to spend a night in Carnarvon to get the tide right for the Bar.
This was just long enough for the weather to change.

We made a good passage down to Fishguard but from there it became very lumpy and we had to pull into Milford Haven to wait for suitable conditions for Landsend.
The tail end of Hurricanes  Elaine, Lee and Katia steamed across the Atlantic one after another, while we waited.
It seemed sensible to use the time to hire a car and head home to visit family, which we did for a week. Unfortunately we returned without the camera, so a bit low on pictures for this blog.
We waited a further week before setting off again in very favourable conditions (though with a two metre swell) for the trip round to Falmouth, arriving after a twentyfour hour sail.
This was the only trip during which we saw dolphins at close quarters and in significant numbers. They joined us just after midnight and stayed with the boat for several hours jumping and diving in our bow wave.  We looked out for them again next day but they didn't appear.

Lands End

Longships Lighthouse. Taken from my phone.

Whitehaven

We met up with Bob's brother and family who live near Whitehaven. They took us back to their house and we enjoyed their hospitality for five days! We were treated to a comfortable bed, many long soaks in their jacuzzi, many fine meals and best of all they own a dish washer! Angela felt very lazy but relaxed.

The children crabbing off the jetty, while the adults were trying to find the source of an annoying leak in the domestic water system.

They caught several! This one was nearly big enough for a sandwich.

The children really enjoyed the boat and want their parents to buy one now.

Last look at Scotland and on to Cumbria.

We left scotland in the early hours of the morning on the 18th of August to catch a favourable tide for the passage to Whitehaven and enjoyed near perfect conditions for the whole trip.

Portpatrick

The mull of Galloway. Our last view of Scotland.

Bob lowering the Scottish flag. 

Tehari II arrived in Whitehaven at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and met the only other Salar that we have seen on the entire trip. The lovely owners were on board, they gave us wine and showed us round, then came for a look on ours. They had owned their Salar for fifteen years, crossed the Atlantic travelled round the med and didn't have a bad word to say about the boat.
 

Oban to Port Patrick

We're finally on our way back after a fantastic three and a half months in Scotland.
We left Oban in the early hours of Tuesday morning, heading south to Gigha. A lovely sail in mostly light winds but with a bit of a sting in the tail. The clouds gathered about an hour before arriving and it blew up to thirty knots, making end of the journey fast but the anchorage a little bumpy.
We decided against going ashore as sorting out the dinghy is hard work in a blow but were entertained by the crew of a neighbouring boat playing the bagpipes in the cockpit.

Mull of Kintyre

Left early on Wednesday and had a cracking sail down to Portpatrick, a lovely old fishing village. We went past the Mull of Kintyre under sail and with three to four knots of tide behind us. We acheived a speed over the ground of over ten knots for about two hours and seven to eight knots for the rest of the trip. Instead of coming in at five in the evening as predicted, on an average speed of five knots we were tied up and buying fish and chips off the quay by two o'clock.

Port Patrick is our very last Scottish port and has proved a bit of a treat. Bright sunshine, lovely walks and beaches and a friendly atmosphere, we wish we could stay longer but have decided to continue as planned and set out for Whitehaven tomorrow.

Harbour

Lighthouse

From the Mull of Kintyre it is only twenty miles across to Ireland, another big temptation. It seemed sad to be so close and not to go and visit, but we've promised ourselves a return trip in the not to distant future to circumnavigate Ireland.

Marching band

A lovely colourful marching band spotted in Portree.

David's visit

Last week we had another visitor. David flew into Stornaway and joined us for a circuit of the Minch.

This is one of the habour seals in Stornoway. They are very tame as the fishing boats feed them, and come right up to the boats looking for titbits. 

We had a cracking sail across to Ullapool in a reasonable amount of wind but after that it was more motor sailing as the wind went light. We went south to Gairloch and Rona.

This is our anchorage in Rona, one of our favourite islands so far.

It has a population of one, Billy the island manager but has a few holiday cottages. We saw onl one other couple as we walked across the island to a cave that due to its vaulted roof was used as a church when the island had a population. It is now used for one service a year, on Good Friday though other services can be arranged.

David has a better camera than us so managed to get these pictures of eagles as we left Portree, Skye. For most of his week we had beautiful weather but on the Thursday it threatened to break so we decided on 

returning to Stornaway via Loch Torridon and then hiring a car to explore the Isle of Lewis.

 

Isle of Lewis

Waiting for David to arrive in Stornoway, we went to Highland games and show.

Tarbert to Stornoway

Some pictures of the approach to Tarbert and Tehari II on last nights mooring, a little close to the Ferry as it turned out.

Today we sailed Northwards up the Minch to Stornoway, one of the best sails of recent weeks, with the cruising chute up and the tide and wind behind us. Stornoway looks a more interesting town than the other places we've seen in this island chain. It's even got a few trees. 

We met up with a boat that we last saw in Rum. They were intending to go all round but unfortunately have developed engine problems so may have to turn back.

Tomorrow we intend to go sightseeing.

  

Skye and Plockton and a whale

We spent a almost a week in Skye, waiting for weather and trying to find an annoying water leak. (Our domestic water was dripping slowly into the bilges).

There was off course still time for sight seeing. The above house is typical of the old crofters homes in sky, small windows and with thatch held on with rope anchored down with rocks.     

Skye is more touristy than the Small Isalnds, especially the main town Portree.

We also went over to the pretty village of Plocton for a couple of nights. The route was sheltered and sailable and we were starting to get cabin fever staying in one place. It was well worth the visit despite not getting us any nearer the Outer Hebrides.

We sailed up Loch Carron, also stunningly beautiful. It's strange that some of the unplanned trips, taken only because the wind is blowing right for them, are often more rewarding than what we were aiming for in the first place.

Yesterday the weather was finally right for the trip across the Minch. Dolphins and other sealife are supposed to abound so we kept our eyes fixed on the sea. Nothing showed itself except a few very pretty puffins. Then about a mile away we spotted what looked like white water breaking on a rock. Not having expected a rock to be there we checked the chart, nothing. We looked at the rock again, it seemed to be moving. We got the binoculars out  and saw that said rock was disappearing under the waves and resufacing, throwing up spray with a huge belly flop. It was a good forty foot long and moving very fast. 

It was our first whale sighting and we both felt glad it was not any closer!

We are due to set off up the Minch to Stornoway tomorrow and are not sure if we want to see anotherone or not. 

Below is a clip of arriving at Scalpay. An island that boasts a population of three hundred people most of whom are related.  

The town is losely spread and has a shop and a school.

  

Rum to Skye.

Rum is as different from the Muck and Eigg as they are from each other. After a long history of settlement by a variety of different peoples it was 'cleared' of its population in the early 18 hundreds by the landowner who wanted to use the land sheep.

The crofters were forcibly removed from their stone houses and shipped to Nova Scotia. The landscape is still dotted with the 'black houses' so called because of the effect of the peat fires.

The sheep herds proved commercially unsuccessful and only lasted a few years before the Island was up for sale.     

Rum was purchased by a wealthy Lancashire mill owner who used it as a country retreat. It was at the time fashionable to own a Scottish Estate, and his son then built the above Kinloch Castle as a hunting lodge. Deer herds and small game were introduced. The family only visited the Island for a few weeks each year but tales of their opulent life style and outrageous parties are still rife.
The Island was at that time inhabited by staff and their families to look after the castle. When the last owner died his wife sold the Island to Scottish Nature and for the next fifty it was a nature reserve. Only people with special permission and a scientific reason for going there were allowed to land.
So Rum is a beautifully unspoilt home to rare wildlife and plants that are still being studied to this day.    
The Castle was not cleared before being sold and is furnished exactly as it was when last used. It has a Marie Celeste feel to it as the personal belongings of the last owner lay about as if waiting for him to return.

We left Rum in good weather but a worsening forecast and sailed first to Malliag, a fishing port where we decided not to linger, had a quick look at the lovely Loch Nevis and then a sail with the tide (a stream of 7 knots) up to Skye.
We are safely moored in Kyleakin waiting for a series of 7/8s to go through and have hired a car to explore the Island, which currently looks a little cloudy. The picture below was taken at mid-day!

Muck and Eigg

Having dropped Rick and Kirsty off we've now started journeying northwards again.

We had intended to go round the Mull of Kintyre but with a seven in the forecast thought it might be unwise so we enjoyed a short sojourn in the Crinan Canal again before heading up the beautiful Loch Craignish to Ardfern Yacht Haven.
Next day we set off early to get the tide right through Dorus Mor and then the Sound of Luing, both interesting tidal gates where you could end up with seven knots against you. We passed Corryvreckan with its whirlpools and standing waves but didn't feel tempted to venture closer as we had wind against tide. Perhaps we'll do that on the way back.
We spent a night in Tobermoray. We only went in to see who was in there, intending to Anchor in Loch Sunart but found Mike in Jagged Edge, one of the all rounders who were holed up in Lowestoft much earlier in the trip. He had left a day or two after us and had been further delayed by alternator troubles.

AdfernMuck

He had eventually arrived safely and it was nice to see him and catch up with his experiences over a few beers.
Next morning we left for the Small Islands. We had a great sail in flat calm seas and only ten knots of wind arriving in Muck by mid afternoon. Muck has a population of 38. We met most of them and a very contented bunch they all seemed. They even manage to maintain a junior school, apparently there is a new teacher starting in September. She has two children of her own which will double the class size. There are also four preschool children on the island so they expect her to be busier next year.

We walked along the main (only) road.

The sign on the craft and gift shop said it was open 24/7. It sells locally produced goods plus fruit and veg and never locks up but operates purely on an honesty box.
Muck is owned by a Laird. Everyone rents off him and said he was a great bloke.

Farming, fishing and tourism are the main industries. Cows and sheep roam freely.

The Island of Eigg had an absentee land owner but fifteen years ago managed to buy him out. Eigg is now owned by a residents cooperative with some input from Scottish Heritage and boast a healthy population of 83.
Both Island are lovely and to cap it all the sun is out!

Sunshine, visitors and no time to blog...

Last week the sun finally arrived last week, and a day or two later so did Rick and Kirsty.It was great to have company, We picked them up in Ardrossan, sailed to Loch Ranza on The Isle of Arran, went to Cambeltown and then back to Brodrick on Arran before returning to Ardrossan.

We did anchoring and mooring buoys so they had to get to grips with the dinghy for an evening in the pub.

Arran is a lovely island, sometimes described as little Scotland because it has a little of everything that Scotland is famous for. High peaks, glens, pretty villages, lochs and waterfalls.
We visited a castle and a distillery and saw wild deer roaming freely.  
Also saw the steam paddle boat Waverley also visiting the island, probably cost those tourists more!
We took pictures of them and they took pictures of us as we both left harbour together.

   As we settled down for an early night on the evening of Rick and Kirsty's departure the coastguard put out a call for any vessels in Ardrossan. We responded and were asked to go to the aid of a chap who had jumped off the harbour wall (for a bet) and was now hanging to a buoy in difficulties.
By the time we arrived he had become detached from the buoy and was drifting out to sea. Another skipper had jumped on our boat before we left to help which was just as well because the casualty could not help himself at all and had to be lifted bodily on board. When we got back into port there was a helicopter ambulance, tow police cars and the coastguards all waiting. He was airlifted to hospital due to his weakened state but I believe he did survive.