Monday 8th July 2019

A comfortable night with no wind or swell to disturb us. We left the mooring after breakfast at 8.30 a.m. and motored south in sunny skies with a smooth sea.

At 10.15 while the sea was still like glass, we were joined by two dolphins which came and played in the bow wave, turning on their sides to look up at us occasionally. They stayed with us for a quarter of an hour and then were joined by a third, and later by several more.

After this display we passed through several more large pods swimming slowly across our path including several mothers with babies in close attendance. It was the highlight of our trip so far and lasted in total for an hour and ten minutes.

We progressed onwards, passing Lundy in the hazy sunshine but with little else to see until we sighted our objective, Trevose head and the Gulland Rock guarding the entrance to the river Camel and Padstow.

We arrived early for the tidal gate – a literal one in this case, as the gates of Padstow harbour are closed until about an hour and a half before high water – and anchored in Hayle Bay to wait. We progressed up the narrow channel at about 9 o’clock and entered Padstow harbour and moored by ladder number 9 (a tricky approach) against the harbour wall.

Up the ladder

and into the pub opposite for food (kitchen closed at 10 p.m.) and drink.

Tuesday 9th July 2019

We decided to take a day off in Padstow on the following day. No hurry about getting up and breakfasting.

We had a planning session to sort out the next four or five days, then Colin and Christopher took the (free) bus to Tesco’s and bought provisions to last us for several days, as we expect to be away from marinas for a while.

Meanwhile George walked along the coastal path to Saint George’s Cove where there was a nice beach. A quick change under a towel and a swim in the cold but clear blue sea. A sandy George and the two intrepid shoppers met at 2.15 for lunch, then a wander round the town, a visit to the church and a walk along the coast path to the beach again, where the sea was considerably further away than earlier that morning. A while spent looking at the sights then a walk back to the boat.

Our choice of restaurant for the evening turned out not to be inspired. Christopher had chosen the restaurant on the basis that they had Confit of Duck on the menu. We arrived at our booked time of 8 p.m. to be told that there was no duck left. Nor was there any goat’s cheese for his second choice (goat’s cheese salad). An inauspicious start, followed a long pause, and by 8.45 we had still not had any food. When it actually arrived at 9.50, George’s Prawn and Crab Linguine had no vestige of crab in it and was sent back. We were offered free sweet and coffee for our trouble. The cheesecake was edible, but a waffle and ice-cream had a rock hard waffle, which was impossible to cut even with a knife and fork. Our poor waiter was devastated at the standard of food produced by the kitchen and we did not have to pay for the meal. Still that is the only really bad experience we have had in the whole trip so far, so “mustn’t grumble; it’s no use grumbling!” as my grandfather used to say.

A few pictures of our stay in Padstow are below.

And so ended a day of perfect sunshine.

Sunday 7th July 2019

We set off from Arklow at crack of dawn (again!).

Said farewell to Arklow and continued in Ireland’s gloomy weather on our long and mostly uneventful trek across the Irish Sea and St. George’s Channel.

On the way across there were groups of Manx Shearwaters sitting in the water – unusual as we normally only see them in ones and twos flying. There was also a number of mother guillemots with a young one sticking close. We also saw puffins, some of them being clearly young ones without the gaudy beaks, and rather inexperienced flyers!

Otherwise there was little to see and the uneventful section of the voyage went on for 10 hours, during which we lost sight of Ireland with some regret. Despite the weather the people were unfailingly friendly and helpful.

The next excitement was the first view of Wales.

There are many islands off St. David’s Head including Skomer (in the background) and Skokholm which we passed. The tide was very strong during this passage and we recorded a record speed of 11.6 knots.

A more detailed view of the strata on Skokholm shows the beauty of the scenery around here.

Then on past St Ann’s Head at the entrance to Milford Haven,

and on up Milford Sound to Dale Bay, our final resting place after a journey of 13.5 hours. Tired and hungry we ate a chicken curry (George’s cooking), yoghurt then cheese and biscuits, took some photos in the evening light, and so the day ended.

Saturday 6th July 2019

We did not rush about in the morning as the journey to Arklow was only 40 miles and by leaving late we got some considerable tidal assistance.

We refuelled and left at about 12.30. There were many boats exiting the harbour as it was Saturday and clearly Howth was a keen racing club. It was difficult to take pictures from a distance, but this gives an impression of the number of baots involved.

It was a gloomy day with little wind, but we pressed on past Greystones harbour, where another yacht race was in progress.

The greatest excitement was a close encounter with an appropriately named truck ferry.

After Mizen head we sighted the entrance to Arklow harbour. A boat that had been following a similar track, though several miles inshore of us, beat us to the entrance and took what appeared to be the last visitors berth. We went a little further along the pontoon and found a better berth (Ha!) and later that evening were delighted to find that his berth was a) on a nasty metal pontoon, b) further from the shops and facilities and c) that another boat had “rafted” up against him. Ha again!

We shopped in Aldi, a short walk away and went into Arklow town. When we are visiting Woolverstone (in Essex) many green cargo ships belonging to Arklow Shipping pass the marina on the way to Ipswich. We were, therefore, delighted to find the headquarters of Arklow Shipping close to the tiny marina.

We crossed the bridge into Arklow town which yielded an excellent restaurant where food and drink were consumed.

A short walk through the town, where there was a marvellously Irish-named barber.

Back to the boat, and the day was over.

Friday 5th July 2019

The exit from Strangford Lough was every bit a exciting as the entry, but slightly less tide (only 10.3 knots this time).

The next four or five hours seemed to be spent watching the Mountains of Mourne go slowly past in the cloudy weather.

Initially there was little wind and we motored, but later there was an increase in the wind and we raised the sails, but there was a lot of swell and it was pretty uncomfortable. we tacked in towards the coast to seek less choppy water and then tacked back onto our correct course. By this time the wind had shifted and we couldn’t sail, so had to add the motor in order to be able to continue at a reasonable speed. The wind went further and further ahead of us, and we motored on until we came to our waypoint off Rockabill island. This is composed of two islands “The Rock” and “The Bill” which have been portmanteaued (if there is such a word) to form the current name. It is a bird sanctuary and was covered in nesting birds, mainly terns.

On to the entrance to Howth Harbour where we were met with large numbers of boats exiting the harbour for race night.

There was also a “Pirate Night” on at the yacht club with large numbers of dressed up adults and children and the yacht club bar and restaurant seemed full, so we went into the town, were turned away from our first pub, but progressed to the “Abbey Tavern” next to the ruined abbey, where we had (inevitably) some Guinness and an excellent meal while listening through the open window and door to a concert of Irish folk music being played next door.

And so a tired crew retired to bed.

Thursday 4th July 2019

This was a deviation from the original plan, which was to stop at Ardglass, having bypassed Strangford Lough. A chance encounter with an Irish member of another crew in the Caledonian Canal, meant that we had a very strong recommendation not to miss Strangford, which indeed turned out to be spectacular.

We left Bangor Marina before 9 a.m. to ensure that we got the best of the tide round the end of Belfast Lough. As we left a large cruise liner was entering Belfast lough very slowly. There were some strong tides and disturbed water in Donaghadee Sound.

We raised the sails at 10.15 and sailed for about three-quarters of an hour, but a wind shift stopped us sailing. We passed various small coastal towns with used and disused lighthouses before reaching the entrance to Strangford Lough.

The entrance channel is known as “The Narrows” – and it is! As a result the tidal currents are ferocious and it would be almost impossible to enter the Lough against the tide. We were travelling at 5.5 knots through the water, but the GPS was telling us that we were doing 11.2 knots over the land – so 5.7 knots of current. This picture of a fixed post gives some idea of the strength of the tide.

We proceeded up the channel following the marked route on the chart past Strangford, where a ferry transits the narrows to go to Portaferry.

We turned into the main Lough at Portaferry.

Here we got our first view of the Mountains of Mourne which sweep down to the sea (of which more tomorrow!)

We were searching for an anchorage, and saw a number of yacht masts in the distance. We went to investigate and discovered a number of mooring buoys at a place called Killyleagh.

We moored up to one of these after checking that it was unoccupied as many boats seemed to be preparing to go out. The local yacht club had a race night, so there was a lot of activity.

We walked into Killyleagh town (village?) which turned out to be fascinating as the home of one Hans Sloane, sometime president of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society, whose collection formed the basis of the British Museum and after whom Sloane Square (initially known as Hans Town) was named.

He lived in the castle, which remains the oldest continuously occupied castle in Ireland.

He has a statue in his eponymous square in Killyleagh, where there is also a pub called “Smugglers” where we indulged in a couple of pints of Guinness.

We left the pub and Colin cooked a pasta dish on board before we retired for the night.

Wednesday 3rd July 2019

We left Campbeltown very early to catch the tide at 4 a.m. at dawn.

As a result we saw a spectacular sunrise over Arran and Kintyre.

We passed the lighthouse on the Isle of Davaar.

While George was below resting, Christopher and Colin were visited by a Minke whale which was near where gannets were diving for fish. No picture I’m afraid. The whale returned, surfacing within 10m of the boat and breathed out an offensive smell of rotting fish!

Uneventful trip, mostly motoring, but some lovely sights on the way.

We arrived in the very large, well protected marina in Bangor at 11 a.m. and had a rest.

A shopping trip, then Colin found an excellent restaurant called “Underground Dining” with a taster menu as well as normal meals.

Back to the boat and to bed, replete.

Tuesday 2nd July 2019

A morning cleaning the boat and doing two loads of washing in the excellent facilities at Portavadie. The basin was constructed in the 1970s, a huge hole dug in the ground and the spoil deposited to make an artificial hill by the side of the site. The idea was to construct concrete oil platforms here. Only one was ever constructed as the demand was for steel platforms and the site was abandoned and redeveloped as a marina in 2010 by the Bulloch family owners of Glen Scotia distillery (of which more later). We left Portavadie having refuelled, and were able to raise the genoa and sail down the loch in a brisk north-westerly breeze. In fact we were able to sail all day, only motoring at the start and end of the day in the port. We sailed down Loch Fyne into Inchmarnock Water and the north end of the Isle of Arran in the cloud.

Most of the day was spent travelling down the west side of Arran in Kilbrannan Sound. The sun came out and it was an exhilarating day.

The second picture of Arran above shows (in the distance and rather blurred – difficult to take pictures from a moving boat) Blackwaterfoot, where George and Jenny stayed in Duncan’s family house. (Duncan is George’s daughter’s partner.) It is visible from our destination Cambeltown. On to the entry to Cambeltown loch, through stunning views of Arran and of Kintyre.

We arrived at the yacht pontoon in Campbeltown port at about 5 p.m. and moored up. Later, many other boats arrived and were “rafted” two deep, except for us, who were on an end which was rather difficult to access.

We were opposite the Fish Dock

We visited the Ardshiel Hotel, had a beer and a meal and were informed about the whisky which was stacked up in rows behind the bar. They have 500-600 varieties available behind the bar and a list of over 1000 varieties.

After our meal Christopher and George (Colin is not a whisky lover) decided that it would be churlish to leave Scotland without having at least one dram, so we went for the special, which turned out to be Glen Scotia Double Cask, made by the Portavadie developers. Very appropriate!

Shopping at the Coop, back to the boat where we saw two enormous cylinders arrive by lorry to be shipped out we know not where, but possibly a wind farm.

And so ends the Scottish phase of our trip.

Monday 1st July 2019
We left the pontoon at Lochgilphead, and progressed through Oakfield Bridge, also known as the Miller’s bridge after the first bridge keeper, who used to have coal delivered to him in a puffer (steam boat) and sell it to his neighbours.

Colin was on shore duty.

On to lock 4 which was odd, as it had a bridge in the middle of it, so we had to wait to enter until the keeper had permission to close the road. At lock 3 we encountered a large work boat which worked on a fish farm.

After locks 3 and 2 we paused in the pool before the sea lock (lock 1) for breakfast. The very helpful lock-keeper allowed us to finish our breakfast before letting us out of the calm lock into the windy sea. We raised a single reefed sail and ran down Lower Loch fine at a good pace.

After a couple of hours we arrived at our destination, Portavadie a relatively new well-appointed marina in a basin, seemingly hewed out of the rock. It had once been involved in the oil industry.

We did some major washing of clothes, inspected the facilities for eating, drinking and performing other operations which were all excellent. A drink in the bar and a meal, and another day came to a close.

Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th June 2019

We hoped for lovely weather for the journey along this picturesque canal, but got low cloud and rain for the most part. There are 15 locks on the canal and, unlike the Caledonian Canal, you have to do most of the operating yourselves. So for the first set of up locks at Dunardry, George was off the boat and pushing long wooden levers to open the lock gates, working sluices to let water in the locks and generally walking rapidly from place to place in full wet weather gear. Hot inside, but cold outside.

In addition there were midges in biting mood in the locks and beside them. The locks at Crinan differ from the Caledonian locks in that they have pools separating the individual locks, so it is possible for boats to be coming up and down the sequence at the same time, whereas on the Caledonian we went up all the locks together, while the down traffic waited, then they went down while the up traffic waited.

There were some attractive sights on the way.

After the five up locks at Dunardry we went down the four locks at CairnBaan (Christopher on shore duty) and tied up for the day at Lochgilphead (logically, at the head of Loch Gilp) where Colin once ran courses for the local authority.

A recce party established that the place he stayed at has now closed down and that there was a decent Co-op, but little else of interest, so that evening we walked the two miles along the towpath to Ardrishaig, found a pub where they served a very acceptable pint, then a restaurant where we found a nice meal on Sunday evening which was a bonus. We walked back to the boat, along the towpath where Christopher found orchids growing in the verge.

Arriving back at the boat, we retired for the night.

Saturday 29th June 2019

After a little local difficulty with an adverse current, we left Dunstaffnage marina in cloud and mithering rain – a normal Scottish day after the baking sun we had become used to.

We motored on down the Firth of Lorn past the island of Fladda with its light marking a relatively narrow gap that we passed through.

We passed the island of Luing into the Sound of Luing. We were one of a set of six boats taking the same route, some faster some slower, but seemingly all going to the same destination.

One event of note was that we passed a tug progressing very slowly towing what appeared to be a fish farm!

We continued in fog for a while, then through some very disturbed water with whirlpools which we were glad were in a relatively calm sea. The fog cleared and we could see our destination, and a boatyard building with the word CRINAI on it – the final N was partially obscured by a tree. The picture of the boatyard below is not one of ours but shows the roof with the name.

On arrival we were instructed to hang about outside the sea lock with two of the boats of our “convoy” which had arrived before us, before entering the sea lock and tying up in the Crinan Basin.

The sun came out, any wind there had been disappeared and in the calm evening we were able to get some nice pictures.

If you watched the David Dimbleby programme about his travel round Britain by sea, you may remember that he went on the Crinan Canal on the “puffer” steam boat, which was tied up in the basin.

Nice meal in the pub/restaurant in Crinan and the day ended with threatening cloud approaching from the south-west.