Scottish weather - ups and (mainly) downs

On Wednesday the weather eased off and allowed us to sail from Port Bannatyne, heading up the Clyde to Holy Loch. Apart from a brief squall at the start we had a good sailing breeze all the way into Holy Loch with bright sunshine and white clouds for a change. Nice sailing if a little chilly still, just over 16 miles so an easy trip.

Leaving Port Bannatyne.

Heading North up the Clyde.

There are a number of anchorages shown in the pilot book in Holy Loch. It took us a little while motoring around to decide which would suit us best, eventually settling on a spot inside the moorings East of the marina and close to White Farlane Point. The wind dropped and with the sun out it was pleasant enough for a drink in the cockpit. Not for long though as we discovered that one of the clamps supporting a side stay to our wind generator mast had broken so we had to devise a temporary fixing and ring the manufacturer to arrange for a new clamp to be sent to us. We are getting used to arranging for parcels to be delivered to us around the country!

Sunset on Holy Loch.

 

The local sailing club were out for their Wednesday evening racing making a nice backdrop before the wind faded altogether at sunset allowing us to have a very quiet night. In the morning there was still no wind but there was rain! Debbie rowed ashore to post some letters before we set off in the drizzle for Loch Long and Loch Goil. As we entered Loch Long the rain stopped and a gentle breeze sprang up from the North, on the nose but it was nice to sail for a while, following a minesweeper, patrolling at the end of the loch while a nuclear submarine came out of Gareloch. After an hour the wind dropped and the rain started in earnest so we motored past the Coulport Navy jetty and submarine repair shed with attendant MOD police patrol launch keeping an eye on us, a boring job but at least they were dry inside the wheelhouse of the launch while one of us was out in the wet.

Delivering the post!

 

Entering Loch Goil the scenery would have been spectacular if it hadn't been for the low cloud and the rain. We gave up our original plan of anchoring at Carrick Castle on the West shore of the loch as pointless in the rain and continued up to the head of the loch, picking up a visitors mooring close to the landing jetty so we didn't need to put the outboard on the dinghy to get ashore.

Mist and low cloud over Loch Goil.

The rain eased off in the evening and the loch was like a mirror, making for some nice photographs and allowing us a pleasant walk around the head of the loch. If we hadn't already got dinner on board sorted we would have been tempted to visit one of the local hotels, as it was we decided that if the weather stayed fine in the morning we would stay another night and do some more walking.

On a mooring Lochgoilhead

Reflections.

 

10pm at Lochgoilhead

It was not to be! Rain started in the night and by the time we got up it was raining heavily and the wind had picked up. We reverted to the original plan of heading to James Watt Dock marina at Greenock, the wind was now from the South, on the nose again so no sailing, just motoring. It was a thoroughly miserable trip with low cloud on the surrounding hills and the rain reducing the visibility by the time we got to the end of Loch Long enough to warrant us having navigation lights on together with the radar, as well as the AIS. We headed across the main shipping lanes to Gourock then reported in to Clydeport Control before joining the dredged channel and mooring at the marina in the early afternoon. The weather then relented and the sun came out for a while, while we prepared for the next gale, which was forecast to come in overnight and continue through Saturday.

Keeping an eye on the radar in poor visibility.

James Watt Dock has a lot of history, being completed in 1886 to serve the sugar industry which saw the formation of Tate and Lyle in 1921. The huge Titan crane at the dockside was erected in 1917 and the sugar warehouse along the South side of the dock forms a prominent landmark. Tate and Lyle closed their Greenock operation in 1997 and the marina has been gradually developed since 2010. The marina staff are very helpful and the facilities good with future plans to restore the sugar warehouse and create a much bigger marina in the adjacent Grand Harbour.

James Watt Dock Marina, the Titan crane and sugar warehouse.

The weather has lived up to the forecast today, rain, mainly heavy, all day with associated strong winds, the gusts creating quite a bit of movement of the boats, even in the shelter of the marina. Greenock in the rain is not a pleasant place to be, though I doubt it would be much better in the sunshine! Grey buildings with most buildings of any architectural merit seeming to be hidden behind 1960's municipal monstrosities. Walking into the town from the marina demonstrates that more thought has been given to keeping the traffic moving than to making the pedestrians life anything like pleasant. The marina is a good place to shelter from the weather, pick up crew or leave the boat for a while with a local train service into Glasgow, other than that there is not much reason to come here.

The forecast is for much better weather for the next few days. Other than needing to be in Inverkip next Thursday ready for leaving the boat while we travel home for a week we don't have a grand plan, we'll see what the weather is doing in the morning.

 

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