Tarbert and Caladh revisited

Portavadie turned out to be a disappointing, soulless place. Perhaps in a few years time, when there is more around it, it will be more interesting to visit. Anyway, despite the poor weather forecast of strong winds and rain we decided to make the short trip across Loch Fyne to Tarbert. If we were going to be stuck in one place for a couple of days we would at least be somewhere with some character and places to visit ashore.

Before we left Portavadie we met Hugh and Nicola Kilpatrick, who were moored next to us in their beautiful Nicholson 43, "Sarah". Sarah is based at Ardfern and Hugh and Nicola had cruised the Hebrides extensively. They were in Portavadie with friends while their children were attending a dinghy sailing course around the corner on the West Kyle. Hugh very kindly emailed us some detailed notes on some good, and a few not so good, places to visit or avoid when we move to the Hebrides in late June. We also met Helen and Russell Tribe in Io, their Westerly Oceanlord, they have kept Io on the West Coast of Scotland for several years despite living on the South Coast of England. Amongst other things they warned us of the horrendous price of diesel at Portavadie before we headed for the fuel berth!

The short trip across Loch Fyne was unpleasant, continuous driving rain and strong winds, David was forced to do navigation duties under the spray hood while Debbie got on with steering the ship out in the elements. You have to make these sacrifices sometimes! Even in the rain Tarbert felt welcoming. On the way across we passed a fishing vessel and were trying to figure out what lights she was displaying. Remembering the aide memoire, "white over red, pilots abed, red over white, frying tonight" created a longing for a fish and chip supper, which the Ca'dora Cafe on the harbour front ably supplied.

Crossing Loch Fyne, the navigators view!

On Thursday morning "Sarah" joined us in Tarbert, Hugh and Nicola having dropped off their friends in Portavadie. After afternoon walks to Tarbert Castle and the surrounding countryside we visited each other's ships, "Lacerta" for afternoon tea then "Sarah" for a nightcap, a very pleasant way to spend a few hours avoiding rain squalls.

"Sarah" in Tarbert harbour

Hugh and Nicola gave us a copy of a marked up map of the Hebrides showing all their family's favourite places with comments about each one, a really nice thing to do.

View from Tarbert Castle

Rainbow over Tarbert

Our plan for the next couple of weeks, before we leave the boat at Inverkip, is to cruise the Clyde and adjoining lochs so we headed Eastwards after filling up with diesel at the fish quay and saving a whopping £29 over the price we would have paid at Portavadie, with the added advantage that, with trawlers filling up regularly the fuel was fresh in the tank. As the forecast for the next few days was for continuing strong winds with potential for gales on Sunday night and Monday we headed via the Kyles of Bute to keep in sheltered waters. In the West Kyle we came up with "Sarah", anchored while Hugh and Nicola watched their children dinghy sailing. We tacked across to wave goodbye. What should have been a smart tack next to "Sarah" was somewhat spoiled by the starboard flag halliard breaking in the middle of the tack so smartly trimming the Genoa turned into a scramble to stop us losing our Royal Torbay and Cruising Association burgees over the side!

Re-rigging the flag halliards in Caladh harbour.

Further up the West Kyle the wind, yet again, got up to 30 knots +! 2 reefs in the main and a reefed genoa and we still had to dump the main sheet in the gusts. At the Northern end of Bute we dropped the sails and motored around all the likely anchorages but they were all subject to very strong gusts so opted for a second visit to Caladh harbour. Even in this very sheltered spot we were being blown around by the wind continually changing direction but at least strength is much less and the water flat.

 

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A distillery and the length of Loch Fyne

I apologise in advance for the length of this blog and the lack of recent communication. We have been remote from Internet access for a while. Something which may get worse as we head farther North.
After a very quiet night in Caladh harbour we decided to return to Arran, the NW side this time and visit the distillery at Lochranza. Lochranza, according to the pilot book, also has visitor moorings and a pontoon with water for short stays and dinghy access. Filling the water tank is a constant problem away from marinas.
We enjoyed a good sail, reaching down West Kyle and hardening up to a close reach across Bute Sound to Lochranza, about 15 knots all the way which suits Lacerta perfectly. Our only interruption was the Navy informing us that they were about to carry out an underwater explosive exercise in Ettrick Bay, to leeward of our track. We saw the warship and heard the crump of the explosive but no ill effects!

En route to the distillery, despite the navy!

Arriving in Lochranza on Wednesday evening we set up for coming alongside the pontoon only to discover that it was damaged and out of action. Plan B was onto a mooring and ashore in the dinghy with the jerry cans. We found a tap by the ferry terminal but it was too far to carry more than one load. Minimal washing for a while longer! After checking at local hotels and guest houses Debbie eventually found that we could get showers the next evening at the youth hostel for £2 each.
The distillery visit was excellent. Arran distillery is relatively young, opening in 1995, and has an excellent visitor centre and cafe, where we lunched before an informative and entertaining tour. The spirit safe remained firmly under lock and key but we did sample a dram of 14 year old malt and a glass of Arran Gold whisky liqueur. Guess what we came out of the shop with!

Spirit safe safe from me!

We managed a short walk before our youth hostel showers then back on board for dinner. We contemplated staying another day for some more walking but with forecast rain we opted to sail up Loch Fyne instead. Debbie has been reading Libby Purves story of her family's Round Britain cruise with two small children, "One Summers Grace", and was getting nervous of using the locks in the Crinan Canal following the exploits in the book so we decided to head for Loch Gilp to anchor in Ardrishaig harbour to check it out ready for our trip along the canal in June.

Although wet at times we left Lochranza in a 12 to 15 knot Westerly breeze which held until we entered Loch Fyne then became very variable in strength and direction. Off Tarbert the breeze steadied and strengthened enough for us to put in one reef as we threaded our way around the Scottish Series racing fleets. Further North the breeze faded for a while then returned from the NW and strengthened with 30 knot gusts giving us a hard beat, well reefed, up to Ardrishaig.

Scottish Series racing

After a quiet night in the harbour we headed ashore. Debbie was reassured by the canal staff that all the locks were now manned and a short handed passage through would be straightforward, we'll see!

Dougie Campbell at the Ardrishaig Boat Club allowed us to bring the dinghy on to the club slipway and to use their tap for topping up our water tank so all in all a successful visit.

As the next day's forecast was for more strong winds and rain we opted for a short sail up to Loch Gair, a small, very sheltered, loch on the West side of Loch Fyne. Leaving Ardrishaig in the afternoon the wind was now (temporarily) from the South. We were anchored in Loch Gair with the
boat tidied away before the wind veered to the west and the rain started. Nice to be down below in the dry before the weather turned wet, for a change. Fortunately we had buoyed the anchor as the wind shifted and blew up in the night and our anchor dragged onto an adjacent (empty) mooring. We had dropped on a patch of kelp, which appeared to be holding us initially. With the anchor buoy we extracted ourselves without disturbing the mooring and re anchored on firm mud, well dug in this time, at least it didn't disturb our sleep.

Scotch mist at Loch Gair (otherwise known as rain).

With rain most of Sunday we opted to stay put. Loch Gair is very attractive. We managed a walk ashore to find that the post office, noted in the pilot book, had closed 10 years ago! The hotel looked very run down and was locked up so back on board for dinner.

Ashore at Loch Gair

Our Monday plan was to head up to Inverary, at the head of Loch Fyne, for lunch, looking for likely overnight anchorages on the way. As it turned out we had a brisk sail in bright sunshine with the usual gusts down the hills and anchored, as recommended in the pilot book, North of the pier at the mouth of the river in a quiet spot, so we decided to stay put and go ashore. Loaded with the obligatory jerrycans we headed for the pier and landed, only to find that the shore end of the pier had been barriered off. The pier had been condemned as unsafe! Back to the dinghy we eventually got ashore via the beach and a very dodgy (much more unsafe than the pier) ladder against the harbour wall.

The museum schooner moored alongside the pier was closed and up for sale (half price special offer, £89,500!), alongside her was the Clyde puffer "Vital Spark", subject of the TV series with her skipper, Para Handy. She looked in need of a little TLC.

Would you buy her?

Inverary is described in the pilot book as an 18th century planned town and west coast tourist attraction. We bought ice creams and wandered around the town and wondered, along with the bank holiday tourists, what to do in an 18th century planned town on a bright, chilly, bank holiday Monday. The answer for us was simple, back on board for a drink and dinner!

Inverary.

 

As we hadn't been in a marina since Troon we sailed on Tuesday to Portavadie marina for showers, shore power, water from a hose, laundry, diesel, Camping Gaz and wifi to update the blog! We have most of it but wifi doesn't work on the boat so I am forced to sit in the bar typing while Debbie deals with the washing! Portavadie is a strange place. Built in an old oil rig construction site it is very modern and twee but, with nothing else around it except a ferry terminal to Tarbert, lacking in character. We haven't planned tomorrow yet, we'll see what the weather brings.

 

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Hill walking on Arran and revisiting Bute

At the end of the last blog we were moored in Brodick Bay on Saturday morning and were unable to get ashore because the wind was too strong to get the engine on the dinghy and motor ashore. The wind and driving rain kept us on the boat for the rest of the day. By the end of the afternoon another five yachts had joined us to shelter from the weather, the last one towed in by the Lifeboat! We caught up with a lot of little jobs which had been hanging around for a while. With the use of a 240 volt inverter we even watched a film, "The Theory of Everything"' on the laptop. Very good!

Brought in by the Lifeboat. We had our RNLI flag up!

Sunday was a little better, still windy and wet in the morning but improving in the afternoon so we got ashore to do some shopping, a large Co-op close to the slipway, and visited the tourist information office to plan our Monday.

Monday was a great day, Caledonian MacBrayne had a left luggage room at the ferry office which meant that we could swap sailing kit for walking kit and head for the hills! Fortified with an early lunch at the Fiddlers Music Bar and Bistro on the seafront (more of which later), we decided we would walk up Glen Cloy and maybe take a Forestry Commission track towards Lamlash before heading back to Brodick. Navigating by a Tourist Information map rather than a proper OS map meant that we got more than we bargained for! First we turned off the main road one turning too early and walked about half a mile before finding that we were at a dead end, then the Forestry Commission track climbed out of the Glen Cloy valley and over into the next one. Considerably more up than we had bargained for! Once committed we had to push on as we had a dinner booking at the Fiddlers Bistro with live music. We made it in time to get our kit from CalMac and return to the boat for a quick wash and change before heading ashore again for our dinner booking.

Rest stop on Glen Cloy walk

Forestry Commision trail.

 

Holy Island from the top of the Forestry Commission trail.

The Fiddlers was the highlight of the day. An excellent dinner and a great live music set. Acoustic guitar and fiddle from 8 until 10 with a great selection of some old folk tunes, Scottish ballads and more recent songs, finishing with a glass of 14 year old Arran malt and the whole room joining in the chorus of The bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond, great stuff! The entire restaurant decor had a music theme, even down to the loo's! Making our way back to the boat in the rain didn't feel so bad after such a good evening.

Music themed throughout!

Brodick had proved to be an excellent stopping place with the wind in the West and South West, flat water, only disturbed by the wash from the CalMac ferries, and a good dinghy landing, a concrete slipway with a small beach alongside protected by a stone breakwater where we could leave the dinghy. This morning the wind had veered around to the North West with a small swell entering the dinghy beach, not quite so comfortable. Nevertheless we had to head ashore for a visit to the Chocolate Shop, which Debbie only managed a fleeting visit to yesterday!

Back on board we prepared to leave and head back to Bute to shelter from a forecast NW 5-7 which was due overnight. Leaving Brodick Bay we had 15 knots with big shifty gusts but as we cleared the lee of Arran we were heading into a solid 30+ knots of wind with 3 reefs in the mainsail and a partially furled genoa. We said that we weren't going to do any more beating our brains out to windward so we opted to bear away and head for the East side of Bute, a longer trip but easier across the open area of Bute Sound and then more sheltered in the lee of Bute. We still had some hard sailing to windward with strong gusts but in flatter water. We motored up the last stretch of the East Kyle to anchor in Caladh Harbour, a tiny enclosed harbour not far from the Burnt Isles where we had anchored just over a week ago. The harbour is very sheltered and so small that if another boat joined us it would be full! The weather is predicted to become a bit more settled from tomorrow so hopefully we can get some good sailing in.

Peaceful in Caladh harbour.

 

 

 

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To Holy Island and Arran

One of the nice things about being in one area for a little while is that you can take your time, not being under pressure to get anywhere, so we spent yesterday morning in Troon, finishing off the washing and stocking up. We walked into the town and visited a nice butcher who vacuum packed portions of meat for us followed by Morrisons where we stocked up with essentials like beer and wine, and the gin was on special offer. We needed a taxi to carry it all back to the boat!

After lunch, with a strong Easterly wind whistling through the rigging in the marina, we left for the 15 mile trip to Lamlash Harbour on Arran. Sailing almost due West we opted for a quiet sail with just the Genoa unfurled as we weren't in a rush to get there. Pleasant sailing in bright sunshine although still a bit chilly.

Approaching the entrance to Lamlash Harbour.

We anchored at 17.20 in the lee of Holy Island, close to the jetty and house which is run as an Interfaith Centre by a Buddhist group who own the island. After a g & t in the sunshine in the cockpit and a dinner of Scottish pie we settled down to some reading - no phone or internet signal here!

The Interfaith Centre

A quiet anchorage

Sunset over Lamlash

After a quiet night we awoke to a South Westerly breeze kicking up a bit of a chop, got the dinghy blown up and went ashore for a walk. The Buddhists welcome walkers provide you respect their beliefs and do not intrude on any of their retreat areas. As the breeze was picking up we opted for the low level walk along the West coast of the island rather than along the high ridge down the island centre, seeing, amongst other things, the wild Eriskay ponies and wild goats as well as the cave where St. Molaise, who lived on the island in the 7th century as a hermit, made his home. St Molaise, son of the Irish king of Ulster and a Scottish princess was said to perform miracles from an early age and opted for the simple life of a hermit rather than the more comfortable life which he could have led.

St Molaise cave, pretty basic!

Goats!

Pillar rock light, on the South East side of Holy Island, the end of our walk.

Returning to the boat the wind was now quite strong and rain had started. We got quite wet returning on board. The anchorage was not very comfortable in a strong South Westerly, even though the anchor was holding well. We waited for the rain to ease off before moving round the corner to Brodick, much better shelter from winds from that direction. We eventually gave up waiting and, after a forecast which gave winds between South and West for at least the next two days, upped anchor in the rain to blow around the corner to pick up a substantial visitors mooring in Brodick Bay. We intend to stay here for a few days and hopefully do some walking on Arran, not least because the moorings are free!

The Holy Island anchorage with the wind in the SW, but before the rain and strong winds set in.

We had a quiet night last night in Brodick but it's now too windy to get ashore. Rain has just started, hopefully that heralds the wind strength dropping!

 

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Heading South for the sun!

For a cruise heading clockwise around the UK heading South looks like an odd thing to do but that's exactly what we have been doing for the last couple of days.

We had a quiet night at anchor at the Burnt Isles. Even though the wind was howling the water was totally flat and allowed us a good nights sleep. On Tuesday morning we set sail, heading SE down the East Kyle for a short, 6 mile sail to Port Bannatyne. We passed our friends from the Corribee/ Shrimper flotilla who were ashore taking a morning constitutional and headed off down the Kyle with a small amount of genoa unrolled and no mainsail. The wind was gusting from 12 knots up to 30 so we were making over 6 knots. The weather following us looked very grey and threatening.

30 knot squall.

Threatening weather behind

By lunchtime we were tied up in Port Bannatyne marina, a small, well sheltered marina with good, if basic, facilities and very friendly staff. Even though their toilets and showers were portakabin based they were better than many of the more permanent facilities we have used so far on the trip.

Port Bannatyne Marina

We were visited in the afternoon by the Beardsmore girls, including Jean, who, at 85 managed climbing onto the boat and the steps down into the cabin very well. A couple of hours in the warmth of the cabin with tea and cake went down well while the cold wind howled outside.

Tea and cake with the Beardsmores.

In the evening we opted for dinner out. The Port Inn proved to be a good choice for a beer (or cider in Debbie's case) and dinner, although we passed on the puddings after our afternoon cake eating! We had an interesting discussion with landlord, Dave, on the sources of his many varieties of single malts and how many of the distilleries we can get to by boat.

This morning the weather had quietened down so we part gently sailed and part motored past Great and Little Cumbrae. Off the South coast of Little Cumbrae we were close inshore and in 100m deep water! No wonder the navy likes playing with submarines up here!

100m deep close inshore - submarine country!

Out into the wider Firth of Clyde the wind swung round to the West and allowed us to use the spinnaker for the first time this trip. We had an hour's pleasant spinnaker reaching before the wind deserted us and the engine went on again for the rest of the trip to Troon.

The spinnaker stops cluttering up the fore cabin!

We were heading South to Troon because we had arranged for Debbie's FLP May delivery to be delivered there along with some spare mainsail sliders from Westaway Sails as we broke one on the sail from Liverpool to Douglas. When we ordered them we had to estimate where we would be. We underestimated how far we would get and had to backtrack. As we will be in this part of the country for a month before returning home by train for a week backtracking wasn't really a problem and Troon Yacht Haven is very sheltered with excellent facilities. We are due to feel the effects of another depression tomorrow so will probably have a short sail across to Lamlash Harbour on Arran, a downwind sail if the forecast Easterlies arrive.

 

 

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Tarbert in the rain, Burnt Isles in the sun

Yesterday was not a day to be outside, let alone sailing! The rain in Tarbert never stopped, or if it did, not for long enough to notice. This, coupled with fierce blasts of wind down the harbour, put us off the thought of going for the walk we had originally planned so Debbie did some catching up with her Forever customers and David did some planning on possible ports of refuge when we were ready to move on.

At least we were warm and dry with a heater for when the cabin got chilly. We felt sorry for 4 guys who were single handed sailing in 3 Cornish Shrimpers and a Corribee. They were on an annual weeks cruise around the Clyde area and were originally moored in the bay adjacent the marina. They eventually succumbed to the temptation of pontoon berths and hot showers! Even so there is not much space to do things in a small boat with only sitting headroom when you can't use the cockpit, especially if you are 6' 7" tall! They joined us in Lacerta's cabin for tea and biscuits and a chat and were good company.

Half of the flotilla. 6'7" Tim in the foreground.

The forecast for today was still for strong winds, Force 5 to 7 from the South or South West but rain showers rather than continuous rain. The forecast going forward continued the strong wind theme with gales in the Irish Sea, Malin and Hebrides. We opted for the relatively short passage, down Loch Fyne, up the West Kyle to the Burnt Isles to anchor in the sinister sounding Wreck Bay. If you look on a map the Burnt Isles are right at the Northern tip of the Isle of Bute. It will then become obvious why we chose the spot! Our new colleagues in the Corribee/Shrimper flotilla were also heading in the same direction.

We opted for a reefed genoa and no mainsail for the trip, the Shrimpers and Corribee went for double reefed mains and full jibs. We were making 6 or 7 knots reasonably comfortably, even with 30 knots in the rain squalls. The small boats were having a harder time of it. By 13.30 we were anchored in Wreck Bay in flat water, still affected by strong gusts over the hills. We had tidied the boat up, had lunch and went ashore in the dinghy for a walk by the time the Corribee appeared around the corner, followed a little later by the Shrimpers. We pulled alongside the Corribee to get an email address so that we could send on photographs that we had taken of the little fleet during the day to discover that the owner, Sam, was Sam Llewellyn, the author of sailing based novels, most of which are in David's bookcase! His Corribee is his "minimum boat".

Hard work in a Shrimper,

Quieter waters in the West Kyle

While we were in the dinghy we decided to explore around the Burnt Isles and were rewarded with a baby seal, loads of Eider Ducks and Oystercatchers.

Baby seal.

Eiders on patrol

Oystercatcher in flight

The Corribee/Shrimper flotilla decided to move further on into the East Kyle so we now have the bay, which looks very isolated, all to ourselves. Oddly enough we have the best phone and internet signal we have had for ages!

We have the bay to ourselves.

Tomorrow we have an even shorter, 6 mile, trip down the East Kyle to Port Bannatyne where we are meeting Jill Manchester and Candy Vowles ( both ex Beardsmore) and their mother and sisters. Jill and Candy are friends from schools sailing days and are having a girls week holiday in Dunoon. Amazing to meet up so far away from home!

 

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Sheltered waters in Loch Fyne

We are now moored in East Loch Tarbert, last visited for the Scottish Series races in Sir Jasper III some eight years ago, things have changed quite a bit since then, more pontoons and better facilities.

We left Bangor in NI at 10.00 on Friday morning. We would have liked to have stayed there longer as we didn't get chance to see any of the town and the marina had excellent facilities, good showers, on site laundry etc. But, as in all things, you get what you pay for, it wasn't the cheapest place we have stayed at. In any case we needed to take advantage of the forecast East or South East wind.

As it turned out the wind was easterly so we could sail as soon as we left the marina. We had 12 to 14 knots of wind on the beam for the next 4 hours and with the tide on our lee bow we quickly crossed to the Scottish side of the North Channel. One thing we were lacking was sunshine, it was a distinctly grey day, eventually turning to rain. Another thing we could have done with less of is commercial shipping. With ferries between Belfast and Cairnryan or Glasgow and tankers and cargo ships heading up and down the North Channel or to and from Glasgow and Belfast they seemed to be coming at us from all angles! At least they were all obeying the collision regs. We did not have to alter course for anything, even a large tanker avoided us, although a passing distance of 300m looked very close, closer than we would have liked. It seemed that with our AIS transmitter ships were able to identify us and our course from some way away and were making small alterations of course to avoid us.

Shipping in the North Channel.

This tanker got a bit close for comfort!

Eventually the wind deserted us as the rain came and we had to revert to the engine. At least with the engine on we could use the autopilot all the time without worrying about draining the batteries. Steering under engine is very boring! As the sea was flat and we weren't heeling at all Debbie kept out of the rain by preparing dinner!

The skipper has a well earned rest!

At 19.00 we were rounding Davaar Island, at the entrance to Campbletown Loch and were anchored East of the commercial Harbour by 19.30. We were well fed and nicely settled down with a wee dram to celebrate our arrival in Scotland when the wind picked up from the NE and blew us around so that, at low water, about 21.45, we just touched the bottom. We could have waited for the tide to lift us off and would have left the next morning before the next low water but we were concerned that if the ferry went out its wash would have us banging on the bottom so, at 22.00, it was back into wet weather gear to up anchor and move, in the dark and rain, a bit further away from the Harbour and in slightly deeper water. All accomplished and back down below in the warm by 22.50.

Our second anchorage in Campbeltown Loch!

This morning we awoke to bright sunshine and a westerly breeze in the loch and were underway, under sail by 10.15. The wind lasted for half an hour! As we passed out of Campbletown Loch and into Kilbrannan Sound the wind died completely so we furled the Genoa and motored North up the Sound. After an hour and a half, off Carradale Bay, a 10 knot NW breeze sprang up so we were able to sail again. The breeze gradually settled and increased a little so we had a brilliant sail, in bright sunshine and blue skies withe fantastic backdrop of the hills on Arran and the Mull of Kintyre. This was what we had come to the Western Isles for!

Arran hIlls.

The Mull of Kintyre.

 

The weather held, allowing us to sail right up to the entrance to East Loch Tarbert and we were tied up to a finger pontoon by 16.35, time enough for us to get the sail covers on and have a cold beer sat in the cockpit in the sunshine. All good things come to an end though. By the time we had had a walk around the Harbour grey clouds were building up and by the time we were back on the boat it was raining.

Peacefully moored in Tarbert Harbour.

Another depression will be affecting us by tomorrow so our plan is to stay put for a day then move into the Kyles of Bute where there are plenty of places we can anchor sheltered from the weather.

 

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