We’re busy doin’ nothin’ Workin’ the whole day through Tryin’ to find lots of things not to do We’re busy goin’ nowhere Isn’t it just a crime We’d like to be unhappy, but We never do have the time
written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke
Well, with nowhere to go for a few days we set about getting the boat cleaned up and ship shape. So we’ve scrubbed the decks , aired the duvets (in between the rain showers) cleaned through the cabins, polished the windows, done a few minor repairs and bits of maintenance, polished the chrome work, washed all the dirty clothes and bedding, rearranged the accomodation ready for our guests Russell & Nicola and walked into Inverness to do shopping a couple of times.
A relaxing couple of days…
Saturday will be deja vue as we enter the Caledonian for the second time.
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
With four days to go until we move on, it seemed a little strange to have a lie in and know that there’s no specific reason to get up. However the sun was shining, a bit of a rarity up to now, so we took the opportunity to enjoy it.
We spent a lazy day exploring Inverness once again, lunch at a restuarant called Prime, sitting outside by the River Ness across from Inverness castle. In the afternoon we got down to more serious stuff of restocking the boat with food. A visit to the supermarket and a taxi back to the Marina and the day was gone.
Then around eight in the evening we could hear a helicopter nearby, when I say nearby, I mean just off the end of the marina. Looking out we saw there was a full scale police incident going on, it seemed that just about every policeman in Inverness was here. Sadly it was a search and rescue mission for someone who had jumped from the Kessock Bridge. They searched until dark before leaving, we can only guess at the outcome.
A somber end to the day with the sunset matching the mood.
It was just a short hop through the Chanonry Narrows and down to Inverness, and because of the strong tidal streams here, we needed to go in on the flood tide. That meant by 10.30am we were berthed at Inverness marina. Coming through the Narrows we saw a few dolphins. The Narrows, a kilometre wide S shaped twist in the Moray Firth is a place where you can see dolphins almost every day of the year, and people stand on the sandy spit near the lighthouse and watch them feed and play as little as 50 metres from the shoreline. As you can imagine it’s quite a popular tourist attraction, at least two boats operate out of the marina offering whale and dolphin watching trips.
It was time to do some housekeeping, the boat was covered in salt so we took the opportunity to wash and scrubs the decks, which we didn’t think was very interesting but there were plenty of tourists taking pictures of us as they returned from their boat trips. Maybe the dolphins didn’t show up?
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
We looked at the weather for the coming week and to avoid getting another on the nose journey we decided to travel most of the way to Inverness, anchoring in Rosemarkie Bay. It looked to be a good day for sailing at least until the wind died just after lunch. We woke to blue skies and it was warm. We left the harbour a 10am and set the sails as soon as we were clear of the rocks at the entrance. We could nearly point in the direction we wanted to go as well which was a bonus. We had a sudden increase in wind strength after about an hour and soon had 3 reefs in the sails, (F4 had been predicted), but no sweat the sea wasn’t too rough and we were making 8-9 kts. We had two separate sightings of whales, probably minkies.
HelmsdaleDistant WhaleSeals in abundanceTarber Ness LighthouseCromarty FirthFort George
At Tarbat Ness the wind died to nothing in the space of half an hour and we motored for the rest of the way. There seemed to be seals all over the place, popping their heads up from time to time for a look around. We reached Rosemarkie at 5.30pm anchoring in 3 metres of water about 150 metres from the beach. Almost immediately a wind sprang up blowing directly onshore. This wasn’t in the forecast and I was soon checking the forecasts, which had changed, to see if we needed to move. As it turns out it is going to be uncomfortable for a few hours but then as per the original forecast of offshore wind. Hopefully this will be before we go to bed.
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
Helmsdale was formed in the 1800’s as a new town to house the displaced crofters that had been evicted to make way for sheep farming. Many of these decided to emigrate rather than taking jobs an fishermen. Helmsdale is still a fishing port to this day although nothing on the scale that it was.
We are killing time a bit now, having rushed round the top, we are pre-booked into the Caledonian on the 16th July, still a week away and we only have about 40 miles to go. We’ll stay in Helmsdale another couple of days, before moving on to Inverness.
We have been for a few walks along the coast and up the river and searched for gold on the beaches. Helmsdale has in the past had a goldrush when a gold nugget was found in the river in 1868. No luck there!
The nearest lifeboat to Helmsdale is Wick over an hours rescue time away but the support here is strong with a great display outside the Harbour offices.
RNLI DisplayThe emigrants monumentOld and New harbourThe Far North LineGood Salmon fishing here
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
We set off from Wick in bright sunshine, very little wind and a flat sea. On leaving the Wick estuary there was a surprising swell coming down from the North, maybe 1.5m giving us an undulating roller coaster ride. The weather forecast stated a F4/5 Westerly wind and we were looking forward to sailing but as the wind filled in it was from the south and later the South west. Smack on the nose.
Then all of a sudden it was blowing around 30 Knots and the sea was building. The combination of wind, waves and tide soon had us slowed right down to about 3 Knots over ground and what was to be a pleasant 4-5 hour sail became a 7 hour slog. Again! We arrived at Helmsdale around 5:30pm and came straight in without calling up. To our surprise the Harbour Master was waiting on the pontoon to take our lines, they normally knock off at 4:30pm. He looked relieved that we had arrived, and even congratulated us on making it. Was there something we didn’t know?
As an aside we noticed on the local news, that one of the larger Pentland ferries had run aground last Tuesday. MV Alfred is about the size of the condor ferry. News Link here
The wind is even stronger on Friday so we are staying in Helmsdale for at least two nights.
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
We went to the Wick Heritage museum today, a fascinating place describing the history of Wick over the past two centuries or so. Although Wick has been here in some form or other since the iron age, it only came to prominence when the herring industry expanded here. In the 1800’s a harbour was constructed by Thomas Telford, and soon Wick was the largest Herring port in Europe with around 1000 boats operating from the harbour.
Its hard to imagine how so many boats managed to squeeze in and out of the harbour when you look at the harbour now.
At last a day with a bit of sun and warmth, after some lunch we walked south out of town to the Old Castle of Wick a mile or two down the coast. Along the way we were attacked by some terns noisily defending their territories along the cliffs. Walking on, past Trinkie Pool one of two outdoor swimming pools in Wick, a little further on is the old Wick castle at the head of two gorges. It’s more of a tower really, and only half of one at that, but the gorges are spectacular.
Wick harbourrcouple of random Geese Old Castle of Wickincoming ternalmost a fjord gorge
Wednesday is too strong a wind to sail so we’ll be doing some more maintenance and the like, before heading South for Helmsdale on Thursday.
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
Having safely sailed through the Pentland Firth, we are now ahead of schedule. Sunday we look a rest day, well if doing the laundry and going for a long walk is resting, then that’s what we did. The weather over the last week and looking forward, didn’t bode well to sail to the Orkneys as part of the trip. However we still wanted to visit.
On Monday we look a trip via the ferry from John O’ Groats over to the islands, where we took a days’ coach tour to various places of interest:-
The Italian chapel, which was built by italian prisoners of war out of a nissen hut during their internment in WW2. Every part of it built from scrounged materials, apart from the nissen hut of course.
Italian ChapelStatue at ltalia Chapel
Scara Brae. A 5700 year old settlement discovered when a ferocious storm in 1850 washed away the sand dunes that had covered it for thousands of years. Then Skail house, the home of William Watt, the local Laird on whose land Scara Brae sat. Fascinating to see the level of complexity of these very old structures.
We passed over several “churchill” barriers which are a series of roadways joining the Islands around Scapa flow. In October 1939 a german U boat penetrated the Royal Navy’s defences of Scapa Flow and sank the Battleship “The Royal Oak.” After the sinking, Winston Churchill ordered the barricades to be built thus sealing off the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow. The added bonus was that roads were built on top of the barricades linking several Islands together.
One of Churchill’s barriersStone Ring of BrodgaStone Ring of Brodga
Stone Ring of Brodga, Orkney’s Stonehenge
Also a lunchbreak in Stromness and a shopping break in Kirkwall made for a very long day.
StromnessMagna cathedral, Kirkwall
But then came the ferry ride back. By the late afternoon the wind had been blowing fresh at F5 all day and the dragon had stirred. As we left harbour we were warned not to take camera’s out on the outer decks because of the amount of sea spray that would be considerable. Sure enough for the first 15 minutes it was rough. The 200 ton ferry rolled badly as it pounded it’s way through the tidal rips of the outer sound, waves pounded the sides and several people not used to such motions were soon looking or being ill. The cabin sounded like a roller coaster with a mixture of nervous laughter and screams as we pitched and rolled. We could see why the almanac paints such a dire picture, it wasn’t actually all that windy. We’re so glad we made it through when we did!
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
The decision for the next two legs was pivotal on the accuracy of the weather forecast. Firstly the plan was to get to Scrabster in one jump, then through the Firth on Saturday, before bad weather hit on Sunday. The calm weather for the north of Scotland was holding and the strong winds decreasing when they arrived on Sunday, so we are making the decision to go.
I will admit to being apprehensive about this part of our journey. If you read the Reeds Almanac and take it’s highly condensed advice about the Pentland Firth, you probably wouldn’t go. It reads– Tidal streams between Pentland Skerries and Duncansby head reach 12 kts at Springs, the resultant dangerous seas should be avoided by yachts at all costs.
It is a notorious bit of sea and in the wrong conditions can be treacherous and advice on forums such as stay away from rocks, don’t go into the tidal rips, don’t sail within 2 days of a Spring tide are not terribly helpful.
Friday.
An early start of 0500, out of Kinlochbervie, and north to Cape Wrath, in time to catch the start of the east going tidal stream. It was a bit lumpy as we approached the Cape and a stream of 3 knots sped us around the corner, not another boat in sight. I would have liked to stop in Loch Eribol, as many of the people we’ve met along the way have expounded on its magnificence, but we had a schedule and a course to keep and sadly that’s one we had to miss. A straight line course all the way to Scrabster took us up to 5 miles from land and so for 7 hours our main entertainment was the wildlife.
Cape Wrath Iighthouse
We got into Scrabster around 1500 to be greeted by the Harbour Master who took our lines as we berthed. To be honest the facilities at Scrabster were barely better than Kinlochbervie but a helpful HM makes all the difference.
Saturday. Pentland Firth.
Most northerly point.
Having gleaned valuable information from the harbour master, an ex fisherman, about what time to leave and the safest course to take, we left Scrabster feeling a little more relaxed about what lay ahead. Another early start, we slipped out of the berth at 0615 our breath condensing in the cold morning air. Yes it’s July but I still had thermals and full wet weather gear on, it was raining as well. We headed out to Dunnet head where we reached our most northerly point of the journey, 485 miles from Swanage as the crow flies.
Then on into Pentland Firth, flat as a pancake, no tidal rips, no standing waves, nor whirlpools, in fact the fastest stream we had was 3kts off Dunnet head. All my angst was unfounded, the dragon slept today. As if to take the mickey, we even saw a kayaker crossing from the mainland to Ronaldsay.
The inner soundGrubs upJohn O’ GroatsFulmar
We are now in Wick. We’ve made it safely round the top and we are heading south again.
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
We left Loch Inver on a glass like sea, the mist in the mountains and their reflections on the water, quite special. We headed North past Stoer Point with its lighthouse on top and a little further on “The Old Man of Stoer” an impressive sea stack.
We then passed South of Handa Island, and the sea and sky filled with sea birds most of which nest on Handa, which is a nature reserve. There were Guillimots, Razorbills, Puffins, Shags, Fulmar and Skua.
Soon after, a pod of, we think, whales swam past, they were a little way off but the photos show tall dorsal fins.
Finally we reached Kinlochbervie, the west coast’s most Northerly port. A picturesque port despite it being a fishing Harbour. The Almanac telling us there are full facilities for the visiting yachtsman, pontoons with water and electric, toilets, showers, laundry, fuel, what more could you ask for. Well a harbourmaster would be good for a start. Grumpy Gary the locals call him, wasn’t in his office which I eventually found in the fish market, and he wasn’t answering his phones.
So the electric points had padlocks on, the water point was miles away, the shower was in the fish market with the ceiling caved in, with a large sign on the door saying it was forbidden to wash your dog in the shower. It didn’t look like anything had been washed in it for months. Next the Laundry – a broken tumble dryer and an even more broken washing machine held together with masking tape. The toilets were OK, they were built in 1961 according to the plaque. You remember the public toilets at the park, that’s what they were like.
Lastly where do you get fuel. Well in this case you go to the chandlery, which was closed. A passing stranger asked what I was after, and having told him, he went off to the fish market to get Pete! Pete dispensed me some diesel on the quay. How much? Oh go to the chandlers, which is suddenly now open, to pay. Then lugg 40 litres of fuel half a mile back to the boat.
Time then for dinner+ bed. 5am start tomorrow, Rounding Cape Wrath and across the top of Scotland to Scrabster
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
Firstly apologies for the lack of daily updates. Lack of internet signal, lack of sleep and some longer passages have kept me from writing.
So to catch up, after another bad noisy night, we went to Portree, Skyes capital, where we found a bouy to hook up to, then promptly went ashore, where we had lunch in one of the many pubs in town. Portree obviously has very little interest in visiting yachts. There is a short pontoon which can be used to take on water, for £5. However if there is a cruise ship in the Loch then you cannot use it. There are no facilities for the visiting yachtsmen or women. Although after negotiation at the Iocal backpackers hostel in town we did manage to get a shower for £4.00 pp.
PortreePortree
After the last two nights, everyone was in bed by 8.00pm, but the wind hadn’t finished with us, and yet another noisy bouncy sleepless night was had.
Day 61
Sadly Adrian and Jayne had to cut their stay with us short, to make their way back home, to deal with family issues. I took them ashore, early morning for them to catch the bus back to Mallaig where they picked up their car for the return journey.
Gairloch was our next destination, a five hour journey with a decent wind to carry us along. We stopped at the rather rundown pontoons in the Harbour, and took our Calor gas bottle for a walk to the local garage for an exchange. We put our mooring fee in the honesty box and went off to find an anchorage in Loch Shieldaig. A beautiful spot and… QUIET. There was again no internet nor phone signals, so almost as soon as we’d finished dinner we went to bed. We both slept pretty much 12 hours solid!
Day 62.
There’s a bit of a storm coming! It’s due to hit the very top of Scotland on Saturday/Sunday, but before that there are several days of very light winds. We have decided to accelerate our schedule and are pushing North quickly to try and beat the storm round the top of Britain. It’s not without its risks, if the storm comes in early we could be stuck in port for a long time, unable to carry on, or back.
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
What a night! We had carefully selected Plockton for its position in relation to wind direction. However during the evening there was a change in wind direction and all boats on the anchorage spent the night bobbing up and down in the resulting waves that ran into the bay.
In the morning, after a bright start, it became overcast as we left bleary eyed to find a different safe haven. I chose an anchorage near Dunan on the Isle of Skye which appeared to have enough cover to from the surrounding hills to give us a quiet night. We arrived just before lunch after a comfortable sail and anchored in about 3 metres of water in very good holding.
There were some small wavelets but the wind was due to veer behind the land and reduce in strength. During lunch it rained quite heavily and there was some strong katabatic downdrafts from the surrounding mountains. Far from reducing, the wind just got stronger and the waves grew considerably even though we were only 300 yds from shore. It had turned into a squally evening with huge winds and downpours. We couldn’t see a soul on shore and there didn’t seem to be anywhere interesting to go. Besides getting in a dinghy in those conditions would have been dangerous, so we stayed aboard and played scrabble into the evening as the winds continued to howl.
The hook was holding well, in possibly the strongest winds we have ever anchored in. An anchor alarm was set as an additional precaution. Then just before bed we were treated to a big rainbow and a spectacular stormy sunset.
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
After very heavy rain during the night, it was a bright and sunny morning. In the marina there was hardly a breath of wind but the forecast showed SE F6/7. That seemed a bit strong to me, having been caught out so many times this trip, but it was a following wind and we were heading into more sheltered waters, we made the decision to go.
We were rewarded with a great sail, even though the wind did top 32 knots we had only raised the genoa and were still achieving 9 knots boat speed. We arrived at Kyle Rhea Narrows exactly on slack water so there were no dramatics with overfalls or eddies as we passed on into Loch Alsh. There were a few seals around in the narrows but all a bit camera shy. As we had passed under Skye Road Bridge, there was a completely different weather system. Literally as we passed under the bridge the wind went from 30 knots to 4 or 5 and we crawled along heading north up the inner sound, bound for Loch Carron and then around into Plockton Harbour.
Once moored up we dinghied ashore and strolled about the village. We found the Plockton has a small sailing club and it was the first race of the season, we found a vantage point to watch the race over a pint from the garden of the Plockton hotel.
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
We were waiting the arrival of Adrian and Jayne as they travelled up from Coventry. A bright day with clear skys, sun, and best of all, it was warm. We did a bit of maintenance, including a filter change on the fuel system, and cleaning the brown scum line off the waterline. We cleaned the boat through, airing all the lockers, & we also had to rearrange the contents of the boat as over the last two months we had spread our stuff all over the place and now needed to make space for two more people and all their gear!
After some delays on the journey, which included an 80 mile detour for them, they arrived at about 16.45 and we soon had them settled in on the boat. It was great to just relax with a drink in the cockpit with friends. It had been a long day for them, so it was an early night for all after dinner had been eaten. It seems they have bought the sunshine with them.
The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin
We woke to the now familiar patter of rain on the roof, but by the time we got up it had stopped. A local bakery had been recommended by a number of people as the place to go for breakfast croissants, so we went there and had breakfast.
It has been so wet lately that the condensation build up in the boat has been considerable. Despite having a plastic undersheet and an airator mat under, we found the mattress was still damp. Luckily the day had turned out dry so we stripped the bed and took the mattress outside to air. Oh the joys of sailing.
Next was fuel which involved walking 1/2 mile to the garage with two fuel cans twice to fill up the tanks.
Despite it being a nicer day today Mallaig seemed emptier of tourists. It could be that some had been bussed in from a cruise ship yesterday. We asked why the shops closed at odd hours and was told that if the Hogwarts Express train wasn’t running then it wasn’t worth opening.
The nurse didn’t arrive until 6pm for Louise’s treatment, and by the time she had finished it was 8pm. Poor lady had then got to drive home to Elgin, which is145 miles away!
Not quite sure what is going on but there’s a few superhero’s hanging about on the cliffs. (see photos)
Mallaig is an important stop for us, and it’s one of two we have to make. We have had a berth booked here for months. This is the place where Louise will have her first I.V. treatment of the trip, and also this is where we take on some guest crew. Adrian and Jayne will be joining us for a week as we travel up past Skye and beyond.
We travelled from Rum to Mallaig on a single tack, due east from the mooring in Loch Scresort to the outer marker at the entrance to Mallaig. It was cold and grey again and despite the forecast of F2/3 it was soon F4 and occasionally more so we were able to sail all the way. The sea was moderate but coming from behind us so was relatively comfortable.
Goodbye RumPassing Point of SleatArriving at Mallaig
By 12.30 we were berthed and making our way to town for lunch. There were an incredible number of eateries in such a small place and they were all full. We eventually got an outside table at “The Tea Garden and Backpackers lodge.” where we had the best fish and chips we’ve had for ages.
Mallaig has only got one tourist attraction as far as I can see, but it’s a big one. The “hogwarts express steam train” on which you can travel to Fort William across the iconic Glenfinnan viaduct as portrayed in the Harry Potter films. Tickets are as rare as hens teeth for this unless you’ve booked about 3 months in advance and the price is just stupidly expensive. We didn’t go!
We awoke this morning to fog. You are taught in your day skipper and yachtmaster courses not to set out in fog, fortunately by the time we were ready to leave the visibility was about 2 miles, so off we went on a dead flat sea with no wind. There were still patches of fog about but mostly just low cloud rolling off the hillsides. Three miles up the coast we had a milestone moment when we accumulated 1000 miles travelled so far.
Turning left out from Tobermory we crossed the Sound of Mull to its northern shore and followed the coastline round passing the point of Ardnamurchan. Although we may travel further west through the Isles this is also a milestone point on the trip being the most westerly point of the British mainland, which on a grey day such as this looked very bleak and barren. As we passed the fog came down with a vengence and visibility dropped to 200 metres. Fortunately it was only round the lighthouse and headland and soon could see land looming up in the distance.
Leaving TobermorySound of MullMuck with Rum behind.ArdnamurchanRumRum Anchorage
Muck, Eigg and Rum lay before us and at 10 miles range were all blurred into one. Muck was nearest a low lying Island which blends in with Eigg and the Towering mass of Rum behind it.
It wasn’t until we were nearly in Scresort Loch that the sun came out, and the southern edge of Skye, only a few miles away, became visible.
Once moored, We took a walk on the island famed for it’s Red deer, White tailed and Golden Eagles, none of which we saw.
At the head of the Loch lies Kinloch Castle, which is really a house built with a castle theme in the 1890’s by the owner of Rum at the time, George Bullough. The estate became largely neglected after the wall street crash sapped Georges money reserves and was sold some years later to the Nature Conservatory Council along with the whole island of Rum by George’s widow in 1957. It is now sadly run down and falling into a state of ruin.
Due to the rain, condensation and all the salt from spray, the boat has been getting quite damp over the past few days so when the day started warm and sunny it was time to for a wash down and clean. Everyone in the marina was doing the same, duvets hanging over the boom, people scrubbing decks, we even aired the mattress.
We also caught up on some clothes washing, and did a few maintenance items.
After all the thermal layered days of the past couple of months it was a shorts and T-shirt day. We took a stroll out along the tree-lined cliffs to the lighthouse at “Rubha Nan Gall” which means Strangers Point in Scottish Gaelic, from there we could see Ardnamurchan Point around which we hope to sail tomorrow on the way to the Island of Rum.
Strangers Point lighthouse Calve IslandArdnamurchan PointGetting Darker
It started to get cooler on the way back to the boat and by the time we’d done some shopping and had an ice cream the clouds had started to darken and just as we reached Watanga it started to rain. Well it was good timing for us, but couldn’t it just be sunny for a whole day, or even a week?
Just 14 miles we’ll be there in under 3 hours, well that was the plan. The day started bright but around 10.00 when we were setting off dark clouds loomed and rain was falling at the far end of the Loch. As there was no great rush today, I suggested a slight delay while the rain passed over, haIf an hour later we set off. The sun was shining and as we slid out into the Sound of Mull a fresh Northwest wind sprang up giving us the chance to sail, and so we did until with a combination of tide, wind direction and by this time strength, we were crossing back and forth making no headway at all.
On went the engine and we motored doggedly toward Tobermory. Once again the weather goblins threw their full force against us and once again we were fighting against 30+ knots of wind.
Some hours later we eventually made it to Tobermorey, with a bonus of seeing a white tailed eagle being mobbed by several seagulls as it hunted along the edge of Calve Island,
Tis a bit confusing, we are moored in Loch Aline and when we go ashore the village, is called Lochaline. The population is approximately 200, there’s a grocery shop, post office, petrol station, hotel, restaurant, social club, marina, snack bar. There’s also a sand mine here that was opened in 1940 when Great Britain lost trade routes for the supply of of optical grade silica sand, due to WW2. Now there’s quite a big ferry runs from Lochaline over to the Isle of Mull, and goes to a place called Fishnish, there’s absolutely nothing there but a ferry terminal but its somewhere you want to go, just to say, ” I’ve been to Fishnish”.
Lock Aline is about 2 miles long and wooded on all sides and today we explored the lock on foot. We started at the entrance to the lock and made our way along the northern shore toward the head of the Lock where it is feed by two fast flowing rivers. At the end we found, hidden amongst the trees, Kinlochaline castle, now a private residence.
Kinlochaline Castle is a 15th-century Scottish tower house on the Ardtornish estate in Morvern in the Highland council area. It is also known as Caisteal an Ime because a Lady of Clan MacInnes, Dubh Chal, is said to have paid the builder with butter equal to the volume of the castle. Wikipedia.
Made from pink sandstone, it was refurbished in 1990 after being left abandoned for 300 years.
Lots of birds to see here, I’ve never seen a Siskin before.
SandpiperSiskinHeron
Also saw a couple of seals, what may have been a white tailed eagle, and I think nessie might have escaped!
When we woke the wind was still howling, it was peeing with rain and it was cold. Not the greatest incentive to go sailing. We had arranged to move the boat across the bay to the council run transit pontoons in order to pick up a calor gas refill. Looking at the various weather apps showed that the wind would calm down and the rain would stop by 1100 which was fortunate, as this fitted in nicely with our planned passage to Loch Aline to start at 1200.
The dogstoneLeaving Oban Bit of Blue Sky
Edging out into the Firth of Lorn, the sea had calmed and the wind died down to about 18kts, so up with the sails, and we were soon reaching toward Lismore point. The sun came out and all was well. Famous last words, The wind quickly veered and Lismore point could no longer be reached, so we tacked which upset a large ferry which then had to alter course to avoid us. Nothing dangerous or close but it did put a dent in his straight line course.
Lismore point marks the entrance to the Sound of Mull, and the tide rushes out of it at 3 kts or so, and just as we entered this turbulent piece of water the wind firstly died, then just as quickly hit us head on at 25kts. Oo er engine on and a quick furling of the jib and we were back in business. It was a narrow gap we were going through and it wasn’t worth taking any risks.
Unfortunately that was the sailing over for the day and the second half of the journey was motoring against the slowly strengthening wind.
Seabirds at Lismore Light houseLadys IslandDuart Castle
We arrived at the scenic Lock Aline and tried to dock at the pontoons, but a combination of tide and wind made it too difficult to do safely, and so we opted for a mooring bouy further down the Loch.
This wasn’t such a bad thing as the pontoons are close to a working sand mine, which at times is a bit noisy. This mine contains some of the purest silicon sand in the world and is used for making optical grade glass.
As the wind is a bit strong tomorrow we aim to stay two nights here and explore the area.
For no reason in particular, we decided to spend the day in Oban. Now while most of you are basking in the sunshine on the south coast, we are enjoying some dismal weather. We awoke once again to the patter of rain on the roof. Even the locals are getting disgruntled with how cold it is this year.
Oban marina is not actually in Oban, but half a mile away on the Island of Kerrera. To get to Oban you have to get a ferry, to get a ferry you have to book it online, to book online you have to buy credits and the man that is taking the booking is also the boatman and is sitting 50 yds away in his office and will only still only take the booking online. So we book to go at 10.00 and a return at 1600. All good so far. Now the ferry runs every two hours so when we get on we ask, “if we want to come back early can we just turn up at the jetty”. Ah well, he replies, If nobody has booked for the 1400 run then the 1400 run, won’t run. So if you go online, cancel the return, get your credits back, book a new time, then the ferry will run. .
Anyway ferry politics aside, once ashore in Oban, we found another castle to visit, more of a ruined tower really, but it had a small museum, some very nice gardens and a garden shed nobly named “the kettle “, where a staff of two were on hand to serve coffee and cakes.. Afterwards we returned to town to the whisky distillery which unfortunately was fully booked, (probably saved us a fortune). So we consoled ourselves mooching round the shops and had a hot chocolate and cake before catching the return taxiboat to the marina.
We ate out in the evening at the marina resturant which doesn’t have to be booked online and where during the day you can get coffee and cake which you pay for on a honesty box basis.
Two very different approaches to running a business!
As I sit writing this blog, the wind is howling, the rain is lashing the windows and the boat is being buffeted about, could be a disturbed night, luckily we can lay in, in the morning.
There were some funny noises during the night, bumps and knocks and even a running water sound, which on a windless night with no tidal movement was a little disconcerting. There was an anchor alarm active, and we were in a least 6 metres of water, all very strange!
Morning came with two surprises, one we could see blue sky and two it wasn’t raining!
Our next destination was Oban, and once through the narrows at Corran, we decided there was enough wind to sail, it was so nice to be moving without the constant drone of the engine. The wind wasn’t kind enough to not be against us, but the tide was with us to make good progress down Loch Linnhe. Once we started weaving between the Islands, we once again motored, and reached Kerrera Marina (formally Oban Marina) at 1500 hrs. We are actually a bit ahead of schedule so are taking the water taxi over to Oban tomorrow to spend the day.
From our berth at the top of Banavie Locks Ben Nevis looms high beside us, I’d love to share a photo but the peak is obscured by cloud and at times you cannot see it at all because of the scotch mist. And this is the way it’s likely to be for several days yet.
We were expecting to move down the locks this morning, and were up at 7.00am all togged up and ready to go, only no lockeepers appeared. There is a shortage of lockeepers apparently, so those that there are have to travel from lock to lock. I hope they get some more before it gets busy in the summer.
Around 11.00am 2 keepers arrived at the bottom of the flight escorting 2 commercial boats and a yacht up the locks. A quick chat with them reveals that they will reach the top around 12.00 noon and then have an hours lunch break before getting yachts at the top, down the flight. It’s a bit of a marathon, 8 locks in one go, which takes about two hours, then there’s a bit of canal to go down, a double lock from which we watched “the hogwarts express” stream by, then finally the Sea Lock.
At 5.00pm we sailed out into Corpach Bay and the head of Loch Linnhe, we are in salt water once again, now on the West coast of Scotland. We sailed as far as Corran Narrows where we anchored in a bay at “An Camas Aisieg” (however you pronounce that)! A beautiful spot with waterfalls cascading down the mountainside and sheep roaming along the shoreline.
We woke this morning to a grey and cold day. We got up early to catch the early lock down & our up with the lark tactics paid off, as we slipped past the boats we had travelled with the day before, and off into Loch Locky. What would on a sunny day have been stunning views, was subdued by mist and low cloud.
The wind, although not too strong was on the nose as usual.
Salmon farmingLoch oichLoch Oich
At Gairlochy lock there was a bit of a wait before we were allowed into the lock, then a bit longer wait for another yacht to catch up and get into the lock. Then a third wait of about 15 mins while the swing bridge laboured it’s way open. Something is seriously wrong with the bridge it would seem.
Then with lightening winds and the sun trying to brighten things up, we motored up the last few miles of canal to Banavie. This is at the top of Neptunes staircase, a series of 8 locks which we will go down hopefully Tuesday morning.
There was a delay going up the Lock flight this morning due to a double load of boats coming down.
The form is, everyone gets told where in the lock you will be, everyone goes in ties up, then the gates close and the lock starts filling. Well, We’re still moving into the lock and the gates start closing, the boat in front is not far enough forward to give me room, Mr lockeepers doing his jeeves impression “A little reverse sir” Can he not see the lock gate trying to swipe the dinghy off the back?
Anyway I gave the hire boat in front a gentle nudge, (no damage although a bit embarrassing), but the gate missed the dinghy which was more important.
The next stage is everyone manually pulls the boats through to the next lock, which works quite well until the lead boat gets his fenders caught in the ladder and everything grinds to a halt. Nobody’s fault, just a bit embarrasing for whoever it happens to.
3rd 4th +5th locks by then were much quicker as everyone was in the groove by then.
Our convoy of five boats soon dropped to four as one stopped for a break at the top of the flight, and the rest of us continued on to the next lock about a mile away.
The whole of the Caledonian works on the same radio Channel, 74. This works quite well for the lockeepers, who can hear what boats are where and when to expect them. Most of the time! Unfortunately half of the boats haven’t got any local knowledge, radio training, or awareness of where they are. But who can blame them, there’s far to many lochs and locks. For example on our journey today was from Fort Augustus throgh kytra lock, cullochy lock, Loch Oich, through laggan lock, into Ceann Loch then Loch lochy and on to gairlochy top lock then Gairloch swing bridge. If that’s not bad enough when two boats approaching the same lock from different directions both call up a different lock, it’s just total confusion.
Loch OichCanalweirHotel viewberthrainbows end
Anyhow, having traversed Cullochy lock and swing bridge we were now at our highest level above the sea in loch Oich. 106 ft. or 32 metres. About halfway along Loch Oich is Invergarry castle and Invergarry castle hotel, It has a landing pontoon which we decided was the best place to stop for the night.
We walked to the hotel through lovely forest paths and had a cream tea in style in the hotel lounge watching deer running on the hillside on the opposite side of the Loch
We’d anchored overnight in Urquhart Bay, and as a belt and braces measure, I downloaded an anchor watch app to my phone and tablet. I was pretty sure we weren’t going to drag but there were some big winds forecast overnight.
Thankfully no alarms went off, we didn’t move and we both slept soundly. In the morning we reviewed the weather and decided to leave early for Fort Augustus about 12 miles South West of us. That decision turned out to be a bit of a mistake! As we came out of the lee of Urquhart Point, there was an 18 knot wind on the nose and a small choppy sea, The speed went down to 5 knots increasing our passage time to about 2 and a half hours, more or less what we expected, so no problem. Well five hours later we arrived at our destination having experienced steadily increasing winds, a nasty 40 knots for most of the last hour. Out to sea such winds would have kicked up very big waves, fortunately in the confines of the loch just a moderate choppy sea. Oh and did I say it was raining for much of the time, so visibility wasn’t great either.
Ten miles to goNearly thereRainLooking BackFort AugustusFort Augustus Lock flight.
On the bright side, we’d still arrived in time for lunch.
We also have an explanation for the depth soundings. Our depth gauge for some reason starts again at 200 meters, so if it’s 207 meters deep It will say 7 meters. Bit odd but there it is, not the thermocline, not Nessie, just odd electronics.
Last night I had gone to bed early, as I had not slept well the previous night and was dog tired. I went out like a light, only to be woken by Louise telling me there was a lifeboat alongside. WHAT! Blurry eyed I poked my head up through the hatch, were we drifting, sinking, in a dangerous place? Evening gents said I, anything wrong? To 4 blokes in yellow drysuits and crash helmets. No one replied, just admiring your boat. Oh right O, I’ll go back to bed then, I said, to muttered apologies for the disturbance.
The day broke sunny and calm, but with a forecast of showers later in the day. We had booked tickets to go to Urquhart Castle at 9-30. As we were arriving by dinghy, we were met by one of the castle stewards. As we chatted, we asked about the depths we’d experienced the day before and he said there were no under water undulations and couldn’t explain it.
We spent about 2 hours touring the castle and had a cake and coffee before heading back to the dinghy, where we were met by another steward who asked about our “unexplained anomaly” clearly our story had got about the staff. This chap seemed to know his Nessie stuff and suggested we should go to the Loch Ness exhibition centre to talk to Adrian Shine, (probably the worlds authority on Nessie). This seemed a bit extreme but having come all this way it did seem a good idea to at least visit the Exhibition which we did. A very good and thought provoking place, most of which debunks the idea of a real Nessie, and reveals the deliberate hoaxes, and explains at least some of the misinterpreted photo’s that have appeared over the years. Adrian had gone home, so we didn’t manage to talk to him.
We found out that other boats have had similar experiences and although there is nothing proven it could be an effect caused by the thermocline (a layer in the water that separate warm and cold water) deceiving the depth sounder. We’ll stick with Nessie, it’s more fun.
We started the day with a delay. Having been to fill up on fuel first thing, we went to the transit pontoon to await the opening of the swing bridge and our first locking of the day. Only when we called in, they were ushering several boats through the sea lock behind us, one of which was joining us going through the Muirtown flight.
There was a delay of about an hour, so we didn’t get started till about 10:30. With just two boats going through it was a fairly quick job and we were soon off down the canal at the statutory 4 knots, where I got a cracking photo of a heron on the bank as we went past.
A couple more swing bridges and a final lock before the canal gives way to Loch Dochfour. This is less than a mile long and goes narrow and shallow before opening out into… Loch Ness and what a sight that is! Long and straight bounded on each side by forests and mountains.
We could have sailed but we just wanted to soak up the scenery and so motored.
We happened to be monitoring the the depth as this is the deepest water Watanga has sailed in. At 182m the depth gauge sudden started flashing and showed rapidly shallowing water, within seconds it was at just 4.9 metres!
We quickly turned toward the centre of the Loch, even though we were a quarter mile from the bank. I checked the charts, it should be around 18O metres, a flat muddy bottom, 1000 ‘s of years of sediment. The gauge settled again at 182 metres so we resumed our course. Almost immediately the bottom apparently reared up again, this time to about 7metres. Was the depth guage on the blink or was it Nessie? After about 5 minutes everything settled again and we continued on to Urquhart bay where we anchored in the shadow of Urquhart castle to spend the night.
Our shortest journey yet, a little hop around a large sandbank and into the Sea Lock at Clacknaharry, a quick chat with the Lockeeper and we decide to stay for our “free” night in Seaport Marina. We left Inverness at 08:45 and by 10.00 our journey was over, 1.5 miles.
We decided we’d go to Muirtown locks to watch a couple of yachts go up the lock flight just to familiarise ourselves with the techniques they were using to handle the boats in the locks.
Inverness castle3 spires over the river NessSandbank to avoid before entering Clacknaharry lockClacknaharry lockGoing into Seaport marinaLooking back from Seaport marina
The Lockeeper was very chatty and offered all sorts of advice, the most important of which was stay well clear of hire boats.
We walked into town (Inverness) & Louise had some retail therapy, gifts & self treats being purchased. We lunched out and then went in search of Inverness Castle, unfortunately that was closed. The clouds had become darker so we headed back to the boat, arriving just as it started to rain.
We had sailed for 5 days in a row, so decided to take a rest day on Monday. Just a leisurely day with lunch out and a walk on the beach & do a few jobs on the boat including topping up on fuel and water.
Unfortunately Monday night was a bit disturbed as the constant East wind had built up a swell that permeated it’s way into the marina. This meant the boat was lurching around snatching at the mooring lines, with lots of creaking and bumping noises and we had only a few hours sleep.
Still it wasn’t an early start on Tuesday and we eventually set off about 930, our destination Inverness. The swell was about 2 metres which made the boat roll uncomfortably but a steady F4 easterly wind pushed us along, with a tickle of help from the engine to get us to Chanonry Narrows by about 1530 just after the flood tide starts.
Now Chanonry Narrows is the only place in Britain you are virtually guaranteed to see dolphins and we were all psyched up to see them. Loads of people on the shoreline with big telephoto lenses…..NO DOLPHINS, gutted.
Well with only a hour left to run we took pictures of the countryside instead, berthing in Inverness Marina at 1630.
4 Kidneys and a Wonky Leg 