Day 32

 So today it is time to say goodbye to Scotland.  We left Ghia at 07.50am in a mixture of low cloud and sunny spots.  We had to motor for a short while to get out of the lee of the island.  The weather forecast is NE F4 to F5 occasionally F6, sea state slight to moderate.  Hopefully not too much F6 as everything else sets us up for a great sail to Ballycastle in Northern Ireland.

Ballycastle is a small seaside town with a lot of history in farming markets but it has an interesting approach from the sea.  To get in you have to pass through Rathlin Sound, this means passing between a very significant headland Fairhead some 600ft high and the small island of Rathlin.  For Game of Thrones fans FairHead was used as the basis of Dragonstone cliffs.  In the middle of the channel there is a very big undertow, formed by the Macdonnell race, and if you get the tides or the winds wrong you can’t get through.

https://antrimcoastandglensaonb.ccght.org/fair-head-murlough-bay-torr-head/

In the extreme it can push you a long way back from where you want to go.  In addition to get to this channel, you have to come across a Transport Seperation Scheme area.  This is a deep water safe passage for large vessels.  A bit like a motorway for trucks.  A small vessel like ours is required to enter at right angles to the “motorway” and steer a consistent corse through the water.  That means if a tide is running you enter at one point and come out well up or down the other side.

Nick has therefore had to carefully calculate our entry point and time of entry for tidal strength to allow for our exit point to be close to where we need to be to safely pass through the opening for Balleycastle.

We arrived at 3pm covering 43 miles sailing 6 hours of the journey.

Goodbye Ghia and Scotland

Large arrows show direction of ships. A to B course to steer, C to D actual course over the ground.

Ballycastle

Ballycastle marina

Our track

Day 31 running report

 Paul as usual when we make landfall went off for his run.  This time only 13 miles, but to be fair to Paul that is the whole island of Ghia!

He couldn’t find much off road running but there was almost nothing on the roads or the beaches.  Stunning views across to Jura, Islay and the Mull of Kintyre.

A fantastic finish to find the others with a beer in the sunshine.

Day 31

Today we are leaving Jura behind and travelling down the channel between Jura and Islay getting the tides right meant exceeding 11 knots at times.  Past a number of distilleries famous for their peaty single malts, including Port Askaig the home of Dunlossit Castle.  

https://www.islay.blog/article.php/dunlossit-castle-house-on-the-hill

We are bound for Ghia a very pretty small island with a Michelin recommended restaurant right on the mooring bay.  This will be our last port of call in Scotland as it is a good jump off point for Northern Ireland.

The weather was poor when we set off but improved dramatically as we got to Ghia.  The afternoon was beautiful in the bay, you could almost have been in the Med.

We had a bit of rudder shake on the trip over, we suspected given the amount of seaweed in Jura that some was wrapped around the rudder.  Fortunately Paul had brought his wetsuit and the water temperature had risen to a balmy 10 degrees.  So off he went for a swim.

We inflated the dinghy, to go ashore.  Paul went for his customary run and Nick and Jim went to get some shopping, a look round and a seat by the Boathouse Restaurant.  Unfortunately they were fully booked for the evening so we had to make do with homemade chocolate brownies, ice cream and Skye

Dark beer, whilst we awaited Paul’s return.

Sound of Islay

Taking advantage of the fast tides in the Sound

 

Port Askaig on Islay

Ghia

Our track

Day 30

 We left Oban fully fuelled overnight with Pizza Crunch at 7.00am on a beautiful still morning, only issue no wind to sail.  Bound for a picturesque anchorage on the West coast of the island of Jura.  Nothing there other than interesting navigation using old style navigation transit stones and wonderful scenery.  Also raised beaches, an interesting Geography Higher/A Level question.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_beach

We arrived at 3.20pm after 42 miles, motored most of the way as the wind was against us.

We attempted to anchor initially up in the smaller bay using the transits and plotter, but could not find a suitable place to rely upon the anchor.  So we went back out to a bigger bay that already had a yacht at anchor.  Our first attempt failed to find a hold and when we brought the anchor up we had hooked the largest amount of Kelp any of us have ever seen.  Our new neighbour, who had been watching us closely remarked upon the size of our harvest!

After cleaning the seaweed off on attempt 2, The Scotsman aimed the anchor for a Sandy bit of ground and fortunately found it, so our anchor dug in and we were set for the night.

Goodbye Oban

The Paps of Jura

Raised beaches on the coast of Jura

Our track

Day 29

After waiting for an hour and a half for fuel.  We set off for Oban to replenish our supplies, shower and clean up after being stuck onboard for a few days.

The weather was very good with sunshine and light winds.  After the last few days this was welcome relief.

This evening I treated the Englishman and the Irishman to another Scottish delicacy, Pizza Crunch.  Deep fried battered pizza without chips this time.  Too much Glasgow Salad isn’t too good for you.  Despite their hesitance, they both enjoyed it and cleared their plates!

Beautiful morning

Sound of Mull

Ben Nevis is up there somewhere.

Nick and Paul pass Duart Castle

As Gordon would say “What better than a Pizza Crunch from Nories”?

Now you see it!

Now you don’t

Our track

Day 28

We calculate that as we tied up at Tobermory last night we had completed exactly 1000 nautical miles since leaving Lymington.  How spooky is that?

Not much to report about today, we were stuck on a mooring buoy in Tobermory for the day.  The weather remained very lumpy and it was just as well we have our sea legs, as the motion was continuous from 8pm on Day 27 until 7pm today.  Around 10 pm things really quietened down and we had a stunning sunset.

Red sky at night fisherman’s delight

Day 27

As planned we left Plockton at 6am and set off for Mallaig.  The weather was meant to be okay earlier but set to deteriorate around 4 pm.  It was a very gloomy morning with low clouds mist and showers.  The wind and tide behaved at first but was pretty poor by the time we got to Loch Alsh just South past the Skye bridge.

There is a race that can reach 8 knots at Kyle Rhea, when we got there the tide was running at 4 knots in our favour.

We reached Mallaig around 1 pm to discover as predicted that the marina was full, so onto Tobermory!  This was a bit of a slog, the weather was as forecast and by 4 pm it was pretty foul.  We ran under jib and the engine, sometimes not making much progress.  

Unfortunately we heard from the radio a serious Mayday call from a fishing boat and as we approached Tobermory, the Lifeboat sped past us on the way out to them.

We arrived around 8 pm and grabbed a mooring buoy as it was and is too rough and as I write this, in the harbour, to get to a pontoon safely.  84 miles today over 14 hours but tied up safe even if it stays bumpy and noisy we will sleep soundly tonight!

Skye bridge in the gloom

Getting closer

3.3 knots of tide.  Speed through the water, second from left 3.72, speed over ground lower right hand 7.0 

knots.

Our track from Plockton to Tobermory, you can see when we ran into the weather and put the engine on……   

Day 26

We have had a long day’s sail, 9 hours beating against the wind to Plockton. 52 miles.

We are on a mooring buoy overnight and are leaving around 6am for Mallaig.  The weather is meant to be very poor from 1pm tomorrow.  We should reach Mallaig around then.

Our problem is we don’t know if Mallaig has room for us.  They are full tonight and they don’t know if anyone will leave.  We won’t know until around 10 am tomorrow if we have a phone signal to ring them.  That’s probably 50/50!

So plan B will be to continue through the weather back to Tobermory.  We need to find shelter for late Thursday and Friday’s predicted wind.  Tobermory is the next nearest suitable point but will take a while to get there.

Our track beating up wind to Plockton

Plockton harbour

A bit clearer first thing 6am

Day 25. Running report

 This afternoon Paul took the opportunity to go of for another of his short runs.  Only 18 miles cross country this time!

He came across an American war grave, from the Second World War.  A Liberator B24 bomber that crashed in 1945 killing everyone on board who were sadly on transit back to the US.  Surprising that so much of the wreck has been left undisturbed for all this time. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-33147614.amp

Nick dropped. him off and picked him up by dinghy, the pick up of course being from the pub!