After our mid morning wake up call, we finally moved, went to Marina Reception checked in and got showered ….. Barry then suggested a big fry-up breakfast, very helpful lady in reception suggested a cafe/bakery not too far away in town. We were not disappointed, although Barry did grind to a halt as he’d gone for the rather large ‘Challenge’ option and had to leave one potato cake & half an Irish pancake!

We then took a walk around town,

visited the local museum ……. really good and informative displays without being too much, ideal in our tired state, a quick visit to the supermarket for some fresh stuff and wine, before a lazy hour or so until beer o’clock.

Around 6pm there were lots of local boats leaving the marina, spinnakers at the ready …. obviously race night, but we couldn’t see anything from behind the marina walls. Jackets donned and monoscope in hand off we went to find a vantage point. Not easy around the marina/housing(flats) complex

and fenced off boat yard …… however, the sailing club gate was open, so in we went. As we approached the locked front door, Dennis a member opened it and let us in …… visiting sailors are more than welcome. Everyone was really friendly, we had a grandstand view of the racing and the G&Ts were excellent ……. we just hadn’t eaten since our greasy spoon late breakfast/early lunch, so racing completed we bid our farewells and departed to a local restaurant for some dinner, the food we’d bought earlier would have to wait for another day.

Not really a lot achieved today, but we now know there’s lots to explore during our stay here!

Having closely been following our various sources of weather forecasts …… Met Office, Predict Wind, Mateo, Gribview, Coastguard updates ……… we were concerned about being stuck in Islay for nearly a week and there’s only so many distilleries you can visit! Hence we’d now decided that the best weather window to depart from Scotland was Wednesday pm when there were 8-15kts from SW, due to veer to NW by mid evening.

After breakfast we walked the 1.5miles to Laphroig Distillery

and did the 10.30am tour ….. probably the best distillery tour we’ve done to date …..

Barley peat smoke dryer fire …..

Pear Cutting Tools ….. still fine by hand

Spirit still

Warehouse

Royal Warrant for last 15 years …

Smoke house pagoda chimney

and it’s Ruth’s favourite whisky anyway, we then walked back to Port Ellen, getting an RAF low level fly past from an A400M …….

got everything sorted on board ready to depart from Scotland towards N Ireland. Final check of forecasts, still the best option to depart soonest, the sea looked calm and we had very little wind, so although we’d be against the tide for a few hours it shouldn’t be too bad ………

All togged up in our foulies as there was a mizzly rain and it would be very late when we would again be alongside. We left the marina and got everything sorted and tidied on deck, putting up a reefed main and Genoa once outside the entrance channel. With the 15kts wind we could make about 170 degrees heading …… COG of 200, so not ideal but generally heading southwards. This continued for an hour or two, but the wind had been gradually strengthening, now 25+, the sea was also very choppy with quite large waves close together, we means that SW almost grinds to a halt when you get some big ones together. This also affects our COG which was getting closer to 230 degrees, so we furled the genoa away and motir sailed with just the reefed main, it gave a slightly easier motion, boat speed was improved and the COG could be maintained at 200-210, however, our SOG was hovering around 3-3.5kts. The visibility at times was very poor, whitecaps as far as the eye could see and certainly nothing like ANY of the forecasts we been receiving or watching ….. the Coastguard 3hrly updates said F3-5 ……. really!

The one bonus of our 200 degree track was that we missed the NI/Mull of Kintyre TSS completely, as we got level with the middle ‘no mans land’ / central reservation of the TSS, we had absolutely horrendous rain, Ruth experiencing how heavy rain actually flattens out a rough sea for the first time! The wind had now started to ease 18kts as we’d had sustained 25-30kts for the previous 2.5hrs ….. not a pleasant time! As we were now approaching the bottom SW corner of the TSS, the wind had started to veer and Barry was looking at when to tack so we could keep clear of the TSS on our new track, the continued to drop until we now only had 5kts. Again the rain was deluging down and suddenly the wind went from 5kts to 38kts in about 10 secs, complete with a 120 degree shift, so from being on the nose, to abaft the beam, SW heeled over, Ruth went white, Barry disengaging the autopilot and steering to get things under control, heading up wind and furling away the main sail. No sooner than we’d done this and started back on our proper course, than the wind completely died …… 2kts apparent on the nose!

By now the tide had started to turn in our favour, we could just about make out the lighthouse flashing on the Eastern end of Rathlin Island …… only 5Nm away and at 5.30pm, but the visibility was still fairly poor. The tide was gradually building and speeding us on our way ……. 6.3kts boat speed = 10.4kts SOG, as the sea was no more reasonable, Ruth went below to cook dinner ……. just as we started to encounter the eddies and rip tides that occur in this stretch of water. Barry had tried to stay offshore as much as possible without encroaching on the TSS, and well outside the charted area of these seas, but we still got significantly bounced around for a good hour or more, all the time maintaining 9+kts of SOG!

By now we’d taken a fair battering and needed to decide whether to break our journey in Glenarm or continue our tide assisted good progress southwards, the Coastguard weather update confirmed the F7 from SW for Thursday, so we decided to continue. Ruth at this stage managing to get some shut eye for an hour or so, Barry frequently furling or unfurling the Genoa, when the wind played ball! Eventually we were past Larne and starting a slow turn to starboard around the bottom corner of County Antrim to enter Belfast Lough, we now had consistent wind on the nose, the tidal assistance was by now nonexistent and would soon be against us, but we only had 8Nm to go to Carrickfergus …… easily said!

The wind was now gusting 20-28kts, the tide was running against us at over a knot and with increasing wave heights our boat speed was severely hampered …… Ruth was fascinated by all the lights and how foreshortened distances can appear on a dark night. Although it was a full moon, we didn’t see it through the heavy cloud cover, eventually we neared Carrickfergus Marina and after a number of calls they responded that we could take any vacant berth inside the marina entrance.

We slowed down and then drifted on the wind and tide whilst we deployed fenders and warps, not easy in 22-27kts wind and pitch black, before entering the marina. Barry spotted a berth where we could drive in to it and then stop SW letting the wind blow us on to the pontoon ….. by far the easiest and safest option with 2 very tired bods at 01.30am!

Safely alongside and tied up, after a 60Nm passage (our longest to date) we got out of our wet foulies, had a cold beer and retired …. not to be disturbed until 10.30am, when Virgin Media called Ruth and awoke us from our slumber ! On reflection the passage across was not the easiest, Ruth is still not comfortable with the big seas and high winds, but now quickly recovers from weather surprises and contributes hugely to what we need to do on board. Given the winds today, we’re still convinced it was the right decision to leave yesterday!

Another very peaceful night on a buoy, or so Barry thought …… apparently Ruth had been dreaming all night about 26 mooring buoys with maritime code flags attached to them, and yachts entering had to go around and pick the next one up in sequence??? If they didn’t then they had to go back to the start and begin all over again ….. the mind boggles!!

Dropping off our Craighouse buoy after breakfast,

pleasantly surprised to see the large stink boat attached to the buoy by only the thin pick up line, still there in the morning …… it does make you wonder about their thought processes …….

there was hardly a breath of wind, so out through the entrance channel heading down towards Islay another couple of boats following in our wake about 20mins after us. A leisurely motor and a glassy sea, however, as we got down towards the passage between Jura & Islay there was a clear wind line showing on the water. Very soon we had 12kts on the beam, so unfurled the Genoa and turned off the engine, this continued for about an hour, with the wind gradually increasing to 20+kts …… not quite what the weather man told us! As the wind built to 25kts, we’d by then furled some of the Genoa away, the wind also gradually backed until eventually we were heading 30+ degrees off course. We persisted for a bit further by which time we were only about 5nm from Port Ellen entrance, so furled the sail away and motored back upwind, okay we could have gone further and tacked back, but we took the easier option!

Once inside the port entrance

we got down to the marina and found ourselves a nice berth facing in to wind. After a spot of lunch we ventured ashore, booking a table for dinner at the Sea Salt restaurant, before going back to SW. As it was too late to visit any distilleries Barry refilled the diesel tank …… a nice local chap giving him a lift back from the garage to the pontoon with the full cans! It was then shower time and relax before beer o’clock. We then visited the local Inn for pre-dinner drinks,

Ruth trying a local Botanist gin ….. very nice and then we both had a splendid meal in the restaurant …… one of the best of the trip so far!

The weather has changed for the next few days and into the weekend, so now planning to leave Islay Wednesday afternoon/evening!

After another very quiet night on the hook, there was no real time for one of our legendary lazy starts …. needing to catch the tide. Hook up at 07.45, on a beautiful morning …….

another mud & seaweed infested anchor appeared ….. the good old Bugel certainly seems to cut through the kelp & weed! Once out in the tidal stream we had over 2kts of assistance, with virtually no wind we motored south, eventually we had 8kts wind appear ….. yep on the nose again, but as we only had 18Nm to cover to reach Craighouse, persisted with the diesel spinnaker!

Arriving in Craighouse around 11ish, just as the last yacht vacated the bay, so we had the choice of the 16 mooring buoys,

these have a pick up buoy but no thick bridal ….. so it’s a thread a mooring warp through the eye job. Safely accomplished we made a brew and relaxed, as the internet showed the Jura Distillery tour started at 2pm😀

Just after – we launched 1350 and headed to shore, booked ourselves on to the tour, headed to the hotel to pay our £10 mooring buoy fee, reviewed their menu for tonight ….. hmm, we’ll eat on the boat!

Whisky tour was interesting, it’s good to see the difference in techniques and Copper stills between the different distillers. They have over the last few years started to make different ‘flavours’ of whisky…… mostly only available when travelling (airport duty free) but also only available to certain markets/regions. Ruth was not impressed with either of the ‘new’ ones she tried, preferring the older more peaty whisky.

After an ice cream and stroll around the village we headed back to SW, took on the late afternoon sun ….. and not much else!

Off to Islay tomoz, weather patterns are currently pointing us towards a departure from Scotland on Thursday, before a southerly blow starts Friday & through the weekend!

So, we did decide to move on after lunch on Sunday, emptied the rubbish, topped up the water, disconnected shore power and off we went. Although by now at 14.15hrs there was not a lot of wind! As it would be a downwind sail if anything we just put the Genoa out and motored down the Sound of Mull, although we had virtually no wind we could see other yachts reefed down nearby that were really heeling over, hence precautionary furl away some of the Genoa ……. then as we got near to Duart Castle

we had plenty of wind so engine off and away we went.

The sea was very disturbed off the point, At Craignure as we turned to due south and the start of our homeward journey, which we are both very excited about! At this stage we decided to get down to Jura, although it was very cold and wet, probably the worst weather we’ve seen since exiting the canal back in June. The tide was helping us on our way and down through the sea between Lunga & Luing we were hitting 10.7kts SOG with only 6kts boat speed….. also seeing some pretty impressive water back swirls & eddies!

We’re now safely anchored in Kinuachdrachd Harbour, the wind is still blowing, but the rain has stopped …. for now, the protection from the land is also giving a flat calm sea ….. all bodes well for another peaceful night!

Our 2nd night in the peaceful anchorage, was disturbed mid evening by the Oban Lifeboat going south at 22kts ….. they do kick up a fair wake, we saw them return just over an hour later with some unfortunate yacht in tow. We later found out they’d had engine failure down near Coll and after issuing a Pan Pan had sailed up to the Kerrera Sound to meet the lifeboat.

After lifting the anchor, Ruth needed to helm whilst Barry removed the extensive amounts of seaweed around the chain and thick mud from the anchor, she then helmed SW all the way through Oban Harbour

and out through the small boat north channel, Which means keeping the wrong side of the large channel markers ……. closely followed by the big Isle of Mull CalMac ferry, which caused a little angst, although they did give us plenty of room once clear of the channel!

With next to no wind we set the autopilot for Lismore Lighthouse

and relaxed, an hour or so later we passed the lighthouse and went through very disturbed seas

that made the autopilot struggle to maintain course! Back up through the Sound of Mull once again we passed lots of other yachts heading in the other direction and eventually turned to starboard into Loch Aline.

We’d contacted the marina 20mins before and could take our pick of available berths, so went for the straight drive in option …… easy to berth and leave, but also it meant the forecasted 35+kts and rain would be on the nose/30degrees on our stbd bow! There were already 2 other Moody boats berthed either side of us, also got in early ahead of forecasted bad weather!

After a spot of lunch, we launched 1350 and headed off to get some beef sausages from the ‘estate’, disappointed that they didn’t have any this time, but we did get their last packet of Venison & Whisky sausages! Back on board we got laundry done and went for a walk to the village, joining the social club for 50p each and having a couple of ‘cold ones’ before returning to SW. After dinner Hamish & Dot from Loose Cannon and Leo & Marilyn from Katy II came aboard for evening drinks.

After they left it was time to put up the re-stitched cockpit enclosure ahead of the forecasted high winds and rain in the early hours! Barry did have to move at 4am to quieten the port aft warp …… that was squeaking with every wind surge, however, once sorted he was quickly back asleep and remained so until after 9am, despite the best efforts of the weather to wake the dead!

This morning Ruth said she’d slept right through all night, possibly due to the peacefulness of the anchorage, but also because the Compass magazine is now finished and she can finally relax ….. well done! After phaffing about on board, we were eventually ready by mid/late morning to launch 1350 and venture ashore ….. Navionics indicated it was 2Nm to the Oban Yacht Club pontoon, from where we could walk in to Oban town.

The sea was a flat calm and although against the tide we were walking off the pontoon 20mins later.

After a good explore around town, Ruth found a shoe shop selling some of her favourite brands ….. 3 pairs purchased it was now time to source lunch. Various options & menus perused, finally settling on an open air shack next to the fish harbour, and a fine meal was had by all! Next it was time to hit Tesco for our weekly shop/resupply, the large trolley was quite full, Ruth being concerned about it all fitting in 1350 ……. bearing in mind we had 6 adults in it a week ago in Canna!

Anyway, once paid up, we ordered a taxi to get us back to the yacht club and everything did fit into 1350, however, by now the wind was up and directly across Kerrara Sound, so until we could get to the far side and into the lee of the hills it was slightly wet going, despite only taking it slowly! Once back on board and all safely stowed away, we then decided to stay here for another night and transit the 16Nm to Loch Aline tomorrow …… so many hard & difficult decisions to make when cruising!

After a quiet night on the hook, it was a lazy start again ……. Ruth completing last amendments to Compass, Barry improving his sewing skills by repairing the tired/rotten stitching on the cockpit enclosure, we watched boats come and go across the whole area around us

and then mid afternoon, with the tide in the right direction, we lifted the anchor (another good session with the deck wash pump required) and off we set.

Initially going south down between Luiga & Shuna, past a number of fish farm enclosures where we could see the fish jumping out of the water ….. it actually looked like they were ‘tail walking’.

Then further down it looked like the fish were being harvested …..

Next on the animal front ….. were cows paddling …..

Not exactly something either of us have ever seen before and most certainly not in sea water! We then turned hard to starboard and went north up the other side of Luiga & Lunga, this way we would avoid the ‘exciting rapids’ of Cuna Sound!

Continuing north, the sea was like glass and after about 9Nm we went in to Ardmore Bay, this should give us protection from the light Westerly wind forecast overnight …… however, once the anchor was set and we’d relaxed, there was far more swell coming into the bay than we wanted, giving SW a rocky/rolly motion. Also, as we needed to anchor clear of the rocks to the north, we wouldn’t really get much protection from the West.

We’d watched the clouds building on the mainland for a few hours and now it was absolutely torrenting it down, although we were well away from it Barry quickly deployed the boat umbrella (Bimini) in anticipation of what might come! Then it was anchor up and lets try a bit further up towards Oban or even pick up a mooring buoy at Oban Yacht Club. Barry had identified a couple of small anchorages on the Kerrera Sound (passage up to Oban), by now the rain was literally sheeting down and we eventually settled in Harbour Bay, well clear of the mooring buoys for private yachts and about 2.5Nm from Oban …… well done Ruth in her wet weather kit.

Once again settled we were a little affected by the tidal streams, but on the whole sheltered and peaceful. In fact so peaceful that after dinner we sat in the cockpit until it went dark …… the first time this trip, ok we’ve been quite far north and it doesn’t even get dark until fairly late, but very nice nonetheless!

Monday morning, rain coming down …… oh, no need to move yet as we’re cruising! Hence another 09.30 move from the aft cabin ….. about the same time as the rain stopped! Once moving properly Barry took the recycling away and got another new gas bottle…… the 2.5kg camping bottles only last for 3weeks with all the cooking and bread making we do! But at £37 each they don’t come cheap, David from the marina said that 4.5kg Calor bottles are only £19, so almost 1/4 of the cost, but would they fit in the gas locker?

He lent us an empty one to try and yes it fits, a job for this winter is to source an old 4.5kg bottle to exchange for a full one, then get a suitable regulator and we should be in business!

By now Ruth was proof reading the completed Compass magazine and enlisted Barry’s help to make it quicker, we then had lunch and departed the pontoon….. heading down the loch to a small anchorage at the top of Shuna island, where again we’ve local friendly seals keeping an eye on us.

Not a very demanding start to the week, but on our way once more, there’s also a bit of a ‘blow’ forecasted due on Friday, so we may get to Loch Aline a bit earlier to get safely hunkered down before it arrives!

We awoke on Sunday morning to torrential rain, it had been on and off most of the night, so after a lazy start & breakfast, Ruth got the computer out, whilst Barry did a few small jobs, latterly splicing a boom preventer rope for downwind sailing days….. if we ever get any!

After a late lunch and tidy up as the weather has now improved we eventually decided to go for a walk around the bay towards Melfort Pier. The houses along the loch side are all exceptionally well presented

as are the road sides & verges, with lovely views down the loch.

An old stone marker post indicated an extremely high water mark ….. on 22nd Nov 1881….,

After a couple of miles there was a sign for Melfort village and the Shower of Herrings bar & restaurant…… well it was fairly late on Sunday afternoon so we can pop in for a quick libation if it’s open…….. the village is a high class timeshare type set up with a huge green area in the middle and a big river running down one side. There are tennis courts, children’s play area etc and restricted access for cars so fairly child friendly.

The SoH was fortunately open and empty, we had an outside upstairs table overlooking the entire green area and with the sun beating down it was all very pleasant! After our disappointing meal the night before, we asked for a menu after a couple of drinks and decided to stay for dinner, as the chicken breasts we had defrosting could wait until tomorrow! Both our meals were absolutely fabulous and we then had the stroll back to SW to complete our day…… seeing a quite bizarre ‘planter’ arrangement…..