Portavadie/Kames Bay/Holy Lock/Carrick Castle and back to Bute

We've been to a whole lot of places since I last blogged. Most of the anchorages and moorings didn't have internet signal, but we're still out here and still enjoying ourselves. There's been a lot of rain this week and very light winds so our trips have been fairly short, sailing at two miles an hour and taking in the landscape.

Typically it's looked a bit like this.

We met up with Jolly Olly and the intrepid Oliver Rofix again in Tarbert and as he was going across to Portavadie so did we.

Jolly Olly lying next to Tehari II

Portavadie is the most luxurious marina I've ever been in. Beautiful facilities, showers bathroom etc complete with hair straighteners, heating and piped music. Also very good restaurant. After that it was anchorages and mooring bouys again.

Sailed up loch Long, very slowly, to Carrick Castle and met up with Douglas and Liz from Dream Weaver who treated us to a lovely meal and taught us to play Rummikub. (Thanks again for a lovely evening Doug and Liz.)   Now at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, replenishing the larder and planning where to go to pick up Kirsty and Rick next week.

Ardrishaig to Tarbert

Its amazing how much easier the Locks were today. With Bob running around with the winch handle and Angela steering the whole thing was a doddle! His extra few pounds of weight displaced the water so much more efficiently than I managed to. The lock gates which were so good at resisting my efforts, never stood a chance.

I am now more than willing to make a return trip, in fact I think we should do it again, Bob needs the exercise and I need the parking practise. Also should have got a picture of Bob doing all the work in case nobody believes me.
We sailed down towards Tarbert in very light winds, enjoying having the sails up and drifting slowly along, but then due to a series of minor disasters put the engine on and made haste towards port.
1) Angela broke a front tooth.
2) Bob developed an itchy rash due to midge bites.
3)The tin opener broke halfway through opening lunch, which then had to be discarded.
Fortunately Tarbert has a good chemist, right next door to an ironmonger. Bought tooth glue, antihistamine cream and a tin opener. Order restored on board.

Tarbert is an old fishing harbour, very reminiscent of the French harbours we've visited. The main streets form a square around the harbour so the shops and restaurants all overlook the water. Its another very quiet place, even though the new, modern marina is full of visiting yachts. 
People seem to be sitting on their boats rather than venturing into the village.

Crinan Canal

Since leaving Tobermory we have been in areas where phone, Internet and television signal has been spectaculary absent.
We spent the first night in Loch Aline at the end of the Sound of Mull waiting for tide to take us down to Loch Melfort.

We had intended to stay the night in Loch Melfort but found it a little quiet even for us and as both boatyards cost as much as a proper marina and offered little in the way of amenities we instead headed down to Crinan and anchor off there until morning.

Took the dinghy ashore for a walk round and a drink in the bar and met up with some sailors from Birmingham having a boys week out, and also a family from Conway with five young kids on board their boat.
The Crinan Canal basin is very pretty but Angela found the locks quite difficult to open and close and also there were lots of them. Definitely doing the Mull of Kintyre on the way back, or I'm catching a bus.
Now at the town of Ardrishaig, close to the end of the canal. We intend to stay here two nights and perhaps cycle back down the canal tomorrow to see the sights we missed coming down due to perpetual rain!

Hoping to get some pictures of the sun shining soon!!!

Loch Sunart

Yesterday we set off for a short sail to Loch Sunart. As we left Tobermory we were hailed by Scottish Lady, one of the boats that was holed up with us in both Lowestoft and Arbroath waiting for weather. We were tempted to turn round and go back in but as they said they were staying for at least two days we carried on with our planned sail for that night but decided to return to Tobermory next day.

On the way down the Loch we passed yet another casualty of the storm. (thank God for Arbroath with its storm gate which the harbour master kept shut for two days!!)

Spent the night on a mooring at Salen a place reported to have a lovely pub and restaurant. There were no visitors moorings left but a local told us that one of the permenant ones belonged to the Laird and he used it very infrequently, to go to the pub, so we jumped on that one. This meant unfortunately that we couldn't go to the pub ourselves in case he turned up and wanted us to move.   
Today we sailed back to Tobermory and met up with both Scotish Lady and Reiner, the German chap who was also safely moored in Arbroath for a week.

Scotish Lady are travelling with their dog on board. Here she is being taken ashore in the tender for a walk, she seems to have adapted well to life at see.    

Tobermory

A beautiful sail down the Sound of Mull, tacking against mostly light winds into Tobermory. So far we haven't spotted any of the wildlife that this area is famous for. We probably need to go further out but the weather isn't quite right for that yet.
The town is just as quiet and pretty as Balamory showed it to be, and largely unspoilt. There is no gimmicky reference to the tv program at all, and no exploitation of Scotishness, cheap kilt and tacky gift shops etc. In fact they don't try very hard at all as far as tourism is concerned. Most attractions, the museum and the distillery for example are shut at the weekend.
We went for a walk in the evening and were passed by just one car. There were some motorcyclists waiting for the ferry and a lot of back packers but no motor homes or caravans.

The Lord Nelson arrived and moored up, on its way to Oban for a change of crew before the Tall Ships, cruise in company and then Race.

After seeing three hundred cyclists set off for an eighty mile ride round the island, and feeling a bit ashamed of our lack of exercise lately we went for a cliff top walk and got thos photo from above the bay.
You can just see Tehari II on the pontoon.

Loch Aline

We stopped last night in Loch Aline about a third of the way up the Sound of Mull, and like it so much we are staying another night before finishing our journey to Tobermoray.

This is Ardtornish House on a big estate of the same name. Admission to the grounds is via an honesty box set in the gate. We took the dinghy ashore and did a few of the walks.

This Loch has more signs of life round the banks, though well hidden in the trees. There's even a shop and a pub. The shopkeeper said that next month there will be pontoon berths in here, with water and electric and next year maybe even showers.
She didn't seem to think it was a great idea, having all those boaters being able to get a shore so easily.
Last night was very quiet but we've moved the boat up to the other end of the loch so we are now closer to the car ferry. I hope it stops before midnight and doesn't start too early.
Unexpectedly, after a misty start, we have had sun all day and have even been lying out on the deck sunbathing. I'm sure it won't last.

The view from our mooring tonight. No clouds!!!

  
 

Loch Feochan

Leaving Oban we passed this rather sorry sight.

A beautiful boat high on the rocks. It was thrown up after breaking its mooring during the force ten that swept across about a fortnight ago, when we were sheltering in Arbroath.This picture was taken at high tide. There have been several attempts to float it but with no success and the area is not easily accessible for a crane. The locals are already shaking their heads and declaring her doomed.

In fact all the boat yards up here are booked up for the rest of the summer repairing casualties of those winds. We spoke to a guy whose wooden boat was damaged in an unrelated incident, who has been warned that he'll probably miss the whole season waiting for the work to be done.

We sailed down to the south of Kerrera and anchored in Castle Bay, with the intention of going a shore to look at the newly restored castle.

But after listening to the lunch time forecast, which mentioned sevens decided to head for somewhere more sheltered.
Loch Feochan is a deep wide loch with steep wooded sides. The entrance is a narrow shallow rocky channel, buoyed fortunately, were the current runs very fast. We pushed in, motoring at six but only making two knots and sometimes feeling the boat being swept randomly sideways. It was worth it though.

We motored to the far end and had the place virtually to ourselves.
Tying up on the jetty next day to get gas we came across another casualty of the force ten. His southerly had been holed by another boat which had broken free from its mooring. He was waiting for the insurance assessor to turn up.    

   

Oban and Kerrera

On Monday Sunday we sailed down Loch Linnhe through the narrows at Corren Point and into the lovely quiet  Ardmuchnish Bay.

A village on route. 

We needed to locate a sail maker to put a few stitches in our jib. The directions that they gave us were a little vague, something about walking through a caravan site and turning right. There were two caravan sites.

Eventually we decided which one was the one we wanted and anchored off till morning.
Next day , in the pouring rain, we put the tender in the water. The weight of both of us (very wet) and the enormous sail was very nearly too much for it but off we went, and ten minutes later we were hauling it up the beach.
We got a few funny looks as we struggled through the caravan site soaking wet, in full oilies and carrying a suspicious looking package between us. We decided to tell anyone who asked that it was indeed a dead crew member we were bringing ashore, but no one asked.

The sail safely delivered we returned to the boat and set off for Oban.

The marina is actually on the small Island of Kerrera in Oban Bay. Kerrera has a population of 34. A ferry goes hourly to Oban, a trip of only about ten minutes. There are no shops on Kerrera, the last school closed fifteen years ago and the only licensed premises is the bar on the Marina. Its a lovely little place with fantastic views and walks. There's a castle at the otherend of the island and a teashop but we didn't make it that far because of the rain. Perhaps we'll take a picture of it from the water instead. 

Looking across to Oban.

We went over to Oban to buy charts and food and spoke to a school boy on the way back. He wasone of the politest teenagers I have never met.
 He said that he and his three sisters were the only school age children on the island but there were two toddlers in one of the houses.
Life is very different here to Brighton. A farmhouse that sells eggs works on a help yourself and leave the money in the tin basis. When there were too many people waiting for the ferry which is only licensed for twelve, instead of  declaring that they were there first and refusing to make eye contact people were falling over themselves to let someone else on and be the ones to wait!
Our sail was delivered to an unlocked box at the top of the jetty, where it was waiting for us tonight. Everything is done on trust. Most refreshing.

Oban is a good size town built round the harbour wall. There is a seaplane from Glascow to Oban, it has to give way to all boats until landed, (thank goodness because we hardly ever look up for potential hazards) then it obeys the rules of a normal motorboat.
Moving on tomorrow, we don't know where to yet, probably south.
      

       

Goodbye Ben Nevis

We're sitting in Corpach Basin at the foot of Ben Nevis. We came through ten locks, each of which dropped by some ten feet, and only one more will take us to sea level and out of the canal.

We went for a walk towards Ben Nevis and were a little tempted but in the end blamed the lack of footwear for failing to make an ascent. It would have been irresponsible, wouldn't it?
We spoke to a family who we met earlier in the week, at that time they were sailing a hired YM30. They returned the yacht on Friday morning, and then climbed the mountain, Mum, Dad and two young children. Both parents were tired and achy but the kids could have happily run up it a second time!

While we're on the subject of walking, if anyone hasn't sponsered my amazing daughter Helen Hindle, who is doing the....
Trailwalker UK 2011 The original 100km team challenge, across the South Downs with the Gurkhas. 100 kilometres in 30hours. The link is
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=whoateallthepi&isTeam=true

Thanks.         

Ben Nevis

After a slow and relaxing transit, moving alternate days and taking plenty of time to look around, we are now moored up under Ben Nevis.There's still snow on top, one chap didn't think it would go at all this summer, especially as more fell only a few days ago.
Its a bit of a privilege to see the mountain this clearly, the locals say its only visible one day in four at the best of times. The lock keeper hadn't seen it for a month due to the amount of cloudy weather wet and misty weather lately.
We intend to resume our journey this afternoon, going down Neptune's Staircase, a daunting flight of eight locks, which will bring us close to the end of the canal. 

Loch Lochy

We manged to sail the full stretch of Loch Lochy. It was slow but enjoyable, tacking against a south westerly that varied as the wind seems to up here between six and twenty six knots. No mean achievement without a decent jib. Our foresail suffered damage in the strong wind in Loch Ness and has had to be taken down ready for repairs in Oban. We are using the storm jib and cruising chute instead.

Its very pretty here, lots of forests and farm land, less rugged than Loch Ness and greener. 

Locks and Lochs

The Scottish guy at the lock said that these two words are pronounced differently, Damned if I could make any distinction between them.
Made good progress in horrible weather (rained all day and breezy at times) down the Caledonian. Negotiated a flight of five locks outside Fort Augustus, followed by two separate locks and two swing bridges. We have finished going up and will start the downward locks tomorrow.
At the last lock we called in on a friend of a friend, a retired policeman who lives up here in an old lock keepers cottage. Very interesting fellow and good company.   
We have now transversed Loch Oich and are waiting for tomorrow to dawn bright and sunny and dry (as promised by the forecasters) before we enter Loch Lochy.  
No pictures, visibility too poor.

Fort Augustus

Urquhart Castle

We've spent the last two days relaxing in Fort Augustus, drinking cider in the local bothy (bar) and G&Ts on the boat with a very lovely couple from a neighbouring yacht. During the day we caught up on laundry and did touristy things, ice cream and photos were involved.
Bob particularly enjoys watching the various boats that come and go, chatting with skippers of every nationality and talking to the lock keepers on the nearby flight of five locks.