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.
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
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.
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.
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”?
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.
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……
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.
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!
