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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