The Crinan Canal - you love them or hate them!

Another sunny morning in Scotland as we set off for the Crinan Canal. 

The Canal entrance was well hidden in the woodland - it all looked a bit unlikely.

The Canal was built between the years of 1793 to 1901.  There are 15 locks and 6 swing bridges - each lock has 4 individual gates and 4 sluices that have to be opened and closed manually apart from the first and last (the sea locks) which are hydraulically operated by Waterways staff. The swing bridges are also opened for you, which leaves a mere 52 individual gates to open and shut along the 9 mile canal.  It rises 20.7 metres above sea level and is currently used by about 3000 boats per year.

The opening of Lock 15 - all a bit dramatic, and make sure you are not too near the front of the lock or you will get wet!

We go up in the first lock.

Starboard!!!



We continue on our way past one of the swing bridges - all very peaceful and 'Olde Worlde'

We are getting in the swing of it now - tie up alongside a little pontoon, Sprigs opens the gates, Steph drives in, Sprigs closes the gates, Steph drives out and waits on the next little pontoon for Sprigs to catch up.  Total gate tally:  Sprigs 50, Steph 2.







Going Up



Closing the Gate



The Sea Locks are only operated between 0900 and 1700, which doesn't quite give enough time to get the whole way through the canal - well, I suppose we could have done if there had been more people opening the gates, or Sprigs had worked a little bit harder!

So - we are held captive just past Lock 5, where there also happens to be a rather nice pub.  We checked it out, and had a very pleasant evening.  Back to the boat - we have now met the Scottish Midge.  Lots of them.

Another exciting day on the water.

The end is in sight!  Only one more to go ...

Escaped at last, sailing down Loch Fyne.

East Loch Tarbert is our chosen destination for the night. A natural harbour, small fishing fleet, a traditional old high street, a pontoon berth, no locks and of course a13th century castle on the hill.  The scaffolding did rather detract, but the feral black sheep were rather fine.

So - we can only conclude that Canals are like Marmite, you love them or hate them.  Suffice it to say we are both glad that we did not opt to do the Caledonian!

Next stop...Ardrossan where we have some visitors to entertain.

Craobh - Pronounced 'Cruve', so why not spell it that way!

Having been evicted from our pontoon in Oban we had to raft up for the night - all seemed ok until the water taxi arrived on its last trip of the day - the boys were in a rush - the wake was significant, there was an almighty crash, our stanchions and guard rails thoroughly enmeshed with our neighbour's.  Fortunately the damage was limited to two slightly bent stanchions (one each) and a detached guard rail (split pin broken only).  Ropes were trebled in all directions, and no further damage occured despite the water taxi's best efforts in the morning.

We had thought that was the end of the Oban Story, but then we saw the alternative way to get on a mooring buoy:




I suppose it wasn't quite a RNLI situation


After that entertainment we left Oban for Craobh, approximately 20 miles south.  Initially we motored as the start of the  Kerrera Sound is only 0.3 nm wide .  The Buoyage was also totally incomprehensible, with a random use of red and green buoys that seemed in no way to reflect the deep water channel! 

There are some phenominal tidal rips as the sound widens - rather un-nerving to be doing 11kts SOG past whirlpools with the occasional rock just showing! 

Once things had calmed down, we dropped the main and concentrated on finding Craobh - its not easy to spot the gap in the rocks.

We were told that Craobh Marina had been built just over 20 years ago and at the time there had been grand plans for golf courses (looked a bit hilly to me), sports centres, affordable housing etc, etc.  The first bankrupcy followed, debts written off and owner number two took over - grand plans, holiday village constructed in the Tobermory style, and another bankrupcy.  It is now in the hands of owner number three, lets hope it will be third time lucky!
 

The holiday homes did look rather like a film set / Stepford Wives, but you could not fault the marina facilities or setting:




The View South towards Shuna and Luing Islands



Craobh Marina from above, showing how the little islands have been joined together with breakwaters to create a perfect shelter.

One last view of Craobh - the Marina breakwaters and narrow entrance.

We left Croabh for Ardfern, which would have been a 3 mile walk over the hill, but nearly 20 miles by boat.  On the way we saw a yacht with lots of sails a couple of miles away - the race began, we caught up and admired 112 feet of yacht and 7 sails in action.

Target achieved, we turned back towards our destination, Ardfern. 

Another beautiful setting hidden away amongst the islands - pontoons,moorings and very well stocked chandlery plus a real village complete with shop and post office. 

So - more lovely weather, more lovely sailing, more lovely scenery, no midges as yet ...  just in case we were giving the impression all was perfect, we saw this:

The Fiat Doblo on water!!!

Tomorrow - we've not been in a canal, so we're giving a short one a go, the Crinan Canal to the Firth of Clyde instead of sailing round the Mull of Kintyre.

Round Ardnamurchan Point: The Wild West

We had spend a total of 5 nights on swinging moorings, and were running out of water on board.  Worse, it was a bit too windy to get Zilla ashore in the dinghy without getting totally soaked so we picked our way out through the rocks that guard Arisaig under engine in a good 20kts and a spring tide and headed South.

Once in open water, we hoisted the sails and headed for Ardnamurchan point, the most Western point of the UK mainland.  Rounding this point entitles the boat to sport a bunch of heather on the pulpit (normally for boats heading North to show they are not hostile!)- not practical on our boat as it would be removed by the jib on the next tack but nice to know we could if we wanted to.

Ardnamurchan point in 25kts of wind against tide was rather interesting: the sea was still fairly flat, but the wave pattern was decidedly confused and it was hard work keeping the boat sailing.  We saw several boats furl their sails and motor but we are now even more resolute in the plan to sail, not motor, around the UK.

We had clearly been too smug about the weather in Knoydart - we were about to be put back in our place: A huge squall greeted our arrival in Tobermory.  We struggled to see the pontoons through the driving rain!  Anyway, all ended well - we found the last space on the pontoon, put up our boom tent (to keep the rain out of the boat) and plugged in the dehumidifier.

Tobermory is the setting for a Children's TV programme and you can see why:  even in the rain it looked very picture-postcard.  The seafront buildings are all painted in different bright colours, and it forms a small but perfect natural harbour.

From our point of view, the town had a Whisky Distillery within 100 metres of our pontoon - a small sample was purchased, and also had a chandlery and co-op nearby. We chatted to a passing fisherman, and he gave us about 5kg of prawns that didn't make the Restaurant Grade - dinner sorted, for several days! The shower block had been recently refurbished - the place was perfect:  Sprigs was ready to settle down for weeks.

I prized him out of Tobermory after two nights and we set off down the fairly narrow Sound of Mull towards Oban Marina on Kerrera Island.

It rained!

We had not realised that it could rain so hard outside of a Monsoon. Fortunately it didn't last more than an hour, we now fully understand why there are so many streams and bogs here.

We arrived at Kerrera Island, Oban Marina at about 1600 to find no room at the inn!  Back on the swinging mooring, dinghy pumped up.  Then noticed someone leaving - made a mad dash for the pontoon and secured a place.  It turned out that our visit coincided with the Malt Tour, and there were 35 boats of visiting Whisky Drinkers in the Marina.

View of the Lynn of Lorne, looking North East from Kerrera Island.

We went for a walk along a well marked Scottish Path to check out the view towards Mull

Mull can be seen across the Firth of Lorne, and a fish farm is visible in the foreground.

We needed to visit another Distillery - there is a free water taxi from Oban Marina to Oban town on the mainland so off we went.

We also walked up to McCaig's Tower on the hill above the town.  In 1895 John Stuart McCaig observed that there were several unemployed stone masons on the island so decided to employ them to build him a folly.  He continued employing them on various projects until his death in 1902 at which point his surviving family allegedly decided he had spent enough on good deeds, and it was time to keep the money in the family.

We took the water taxi back to the Marina to find that the organiser of the Malts Tour wanted our spot on the Pontoon, so we were evicted.  What it must be to wield such power.

Next stop:  Craobh Haven (pronounced 'Cruve', we're told)



Oban



Mallaig - who stole the pontoons?

There were lots more Corbetts and Munro's to climb at Knoydart, but we needed a rest after all that walking so set off for Mallaig, approximately 10nm south.  Mallaig was once the largest Herring port in Europe, but now advertises new yacht facilities with pontoons for 45 boats, due to open in May 2011.  We also needed a washing machine, so it sounded like the perfect choice for our next destination.

We arrived and searched for a pontoon - the only sign of recent development was a large pile of boulders in the bay.  There were several new moorings available so we picked one up and considered our options.  Mallaig was still clearly a very busy fishing port,  and as it was a Sunday (no fishing) all the boats were in the harbour.  We did learn that the dredging of the new facility had been more complex / expensive than anticipated so works were suspended for now.  We also learnt that Mallaig has a Steam Train that was used in various Harry Potter films and apparently this is enough to draw thousands of Japanese tourists to the area.  We decided that it was not enough to get us to pump up a dinghy so Zilla was going to have to wait a little longer for her next walk.

A further 11nm down the coast we decided to rise to the challenge of finding Arisaig.  We wove our way along a 3 mile route between rocks, watching the depth and chartplotter VERY carefully.

Not too sure who this sign was intended for, but we took it to be a port channel marker.

Arisaig was beautiful - no pontoons, but definately worth pumping up the dinghy!

Another 360 degree sunset.

Followed by a pretty good sunrise.

Fortunately there was a new yacht facility on shore, complete with washing machine and showers.  Laundry done, we went on a walk to check out the rocks we had passed on the way in.

Eigg can be seen in the distance.  Fortunately the walk was fairly flat (not feeling like going up hill just yet) but we can only assume that the Highland and Island word for 'Path' is the same word as 'Bog'.  No sooner are you sure you have found the path, when it becomes a stream leading to a bog. 

We came across an Oyster Farm, we were already covered in mud by then, so a little more wasn't going to matter!

Very small oysters are put in the net bags, because they get regularly shaken around by the tide they don't get a chance to attach themselves to the bags and grow on peacefully for two or three years years before they are harvested.



We did put it back, I promise!

We now have clean clothes, but no water on the boat so it's time to find a pontoon. 

Next stop:  Tobermory, Isle of Mull

Knoydart - There's a mountain to be climbed

The Sun and Wind Gods were still in our favour as we set off from Gairloch towards the Kyle of Lochalsh

We've not quite got used to sailing towards mountain ranges, but we're working on it!

It was time to sail under another bridge, this time the Skye Bridge, next to yet another example of the Stevenson Dynasty of Lighthouse Construction.

The actual span of the bridge is surprisingly small - when Bonny Prince Charlie went Over the Seas to Skye after his defeat at Culloden, he didn't have to go very far!!

We decided to double check the distance on foot, a walk up Fox Hill on Skye called - we didn't see any foxes, but it was a nice walk!

Our next stop was to be Knoydart - we had heard that people travel there from as far afield as Bexhill to go walking there, or maybe just to sit in the Remotest Pub on Mainland Britain, but whatever the reason it was good enough for us!

This time we decided to motor - the mountains were really very close as we went through the Kyle Rhea between Skye and mainland Scotland.  The scenery is truly spectacular, and we were accompanied on our trip by several seals and porpoises.  There were also huge numbers of jelly fish in the water - presumably soon to be dinner!

The wind picked up, so rather than taking a direct route to Knoydart we detoured into Loch Hourn - this was not in our passage plan, and caused consternation for our Three Wise Men - Tony Sprigings in Sussex, Dave Woolfenden in Somerset and the Night Watchman Barclay Ross in Australia:  These three are all Master Mariners, and we rest easy knowing they are watching our every tack.  We logged a late notification of Change of Passage Plan, and normal services were resumed.

Knoydart - a stretch of a few miles of single track road links these houses, there are 100 inhabitants, and the road can only be accessed by boat.  Consequently the pub, The Old Forge has earned the reputation of being the Remotest Pub in Mainland Britain.

We noticed a small hill behind the pub - we had heard that it had defeated the Bexhill Boys so decided to give it a go ourselves. 

Personally I would have called it a mountain, but up here it is known as a Corbett. 

 

Zilla considers a short cut on the way back down

The local guide told us it was too hot to climb a Munro, and the view from Sgurr Choire Choinnichean was truly fantastic. If you look closely, Etoile can be seen near the jetty, and Rhum, Eigg and Muck can be seen in the distance. After our exertions, we felt we had earned a meal in the pub - the Seafood Platter is a must for anyone visiting Knoydart.


Next Stop - Mallaig.  Apparently a brand new facility with pontoons for 45 yachts has just opened there.