Scotland - "Pipedreamer Six"

Here we are again - sorry for the long gap between posts, we have been north of the border and north of the bad weather by all accounts!

We departed for Scotland on Thursday, 28th June, stopping overnight in Orton , near Kendal, with Chris and Mary Jenkin. Chris was vicar of St. John's Newport when we lived on the Isle of Wight. They encouraged us to visit their family island, Macaskin, when sailing in the vicinity of Crinan.

On Friday we travelled on via Glasgow and Loch Lomond to Craobh Haven where there is a marina set in a semi natural harbour between Crinan and Oban. We met up with Andrew Thompson who operates "Seventh Wave", a Halberg Rassy 49, as a Christian charity sailing venture http://www.questforlife.co.uk/. It was good to learn from Andrew's 20 years experience sailing on the west coast of Scotland. We stayed overnight on board sampling the luxury of his terrific yacht.

For our first week chartering on the west coast of Scotland Lois and I were were joined by Chris and Sue Barnes and Rick and Marian Evans. We chartered "Pipedreamer Six", a Dufour 40, from Portway Scotland http://www.portwayyachtcharters.com/, based in Craobh Haven about 20 miles south of Oban.

Our crew were delayed by 24 hours due to the terrorist attack on Glasgow airport. Whilst it was frustrating for them to have to wait in a hotel until the Sunday morning it was a blessing that they were safe as they were only metres away from the incident when it happened.

Once they were safely on board we set sail immediately for Loch Spelve, a very beautiful, secluded anchorage on the island of Mull.

Although it was cloudy, the changing light and mysterious shades as the clouds moved around the mountains all added to a very beautiful spot. The entrance to Loch Spelve is also fascinating as it is narrow and unexpected as you sail along the coast of Mull.

On Monday we contiued our journey from the Firth of Lorne into the Sound of Mull, passing Duart Castle, the home of clan Maclean. The Sound of Mull stretches for some 25 miles between the mainland and the northeast side of the island. It is wide enough for some really good sailing whilst you are surrounded by mountains and beautiful scenery. Some people saw more of the scenery than others!

We spent the next night at Tobermory which is a delightful port where shopping and showers are the main attractions as well as the picturesque setting and visiting dolphins.

We sailed from Tobermory on Tuesday morning and headed north around the Ardnamurchan penninsular to the small isles (Rum, Eigg and Muck). The further north we went the better the weather. We could see fine weather ahead over Skye and out towards the Outer Hebrides and as we looked back the clouds looked very threatening over Mull.

We arrived at Port Mor, on the south side of Muck. I wasn't sure about anchoring there overnight but the girls were keen to get ashore for a walk. So we came up with a great compromise. I ran Lois, Marian and Sue ashore in the the dinghy and left them to walk across the island whilst Chris, Rick and I sailed around the east side to an anchorage on the north shore.

Just before negotiating the rocks to enter the enchorage we spotted a basking shark, and then another so we circled around photographing them. We knew the girls would be upset to have missed this! However they had great fun on their walk and came back on board with lots of stories of their adventure.

The anchorage north of Muck was really special, with wonderful views of Eigg and Rum and we were watched over by the local seals patrolling the bay.

As we sailed away

around the west side of the island, completing our circumnavigation of Muck, we met up with our basking friends again, this time three of them, much to the delight of Lois, Marian and Sue.

We eventually tore ourselves away as we had a lot of sailing ahead of us. Next stop the Treshnish Islands, between Mull and Staffa. The big attraction here, we had been told, was that you could walk amongst the puffins. We were not even sure it would be possible to land as the islands are very exposed to the sea and the approach to the anchorage is very complicated involving picking ones way through lots of rocks with no navigational aids like buoys etc.

Lois did an excellent job piloting us in and we anchored in a little bay by Lunga, the largest island. There was one tourist launch waiting to pick up their charges so we had some lunch at anchor so that we could have the island to ourselves (along with thousands of birds).

The experience of walking on Lunga was way beyond our expectations and not to be missed if you ever go to Mull. Within minutes of climbing from the beach we were surrounded by puffins, razorbills, guillemots and shags. Not to mention Fulmar, Shearwaters and lots of other birds. The puffins are amazing, strutting about and posing for photographs. They are most amusing when flying around and negotiating the flight path back into their borrowed burrows in the grass. Meanwhile rabbits watch bemused wondering how they lost tenure of the holes they had taken the trouble to dig.

A short walk with glorious views brings you to a massive outcrop covered in sea birds. The Guillemots seemed to be the noisiest. However one had the impression that as soon as we dispappeared one of them would tell the rest to shut up as the show was over for the day "let's have some peace and quiet around here!"

After the Treshnish Isles we continued on to Staffa where we saw the famous Fingal's Cave, although the sky was rather dark so it all looked rather mysterious.

That evening we anchored at Bunessan in Loch na Lathaich on Mull 5 miles east of Iona. We decided that we would have a 'non-sailing' day on Thursday and walk to Fionphort and get the ferry to Iona. The weather didn't favour anchoring in the Sound of Iona which is subject to strong tides and exposed to the wind.

We had a great walk, though longer than we imagined so we appreciate the pub stop before the ferry. It was great having plenty of time to explore Iona, the village, museum, beaches and the Abbey. Lois and I enjoyed visiting the same beach we had been to on our honeymoon 26 years ago. We left the Abbey until last which meant that most of the tourists had gone and we could enjoy the peaceful atmosphere with the sound of the Iona community practising their songs for an evening service wafting through the cloisters.

Returning to Mull on the Ferry we didn't relish the 5 mile hike back to the boat so Lois and Sue ran up the slipway at Fionphort to hijack a tourist bus which kindly dropped us neatly outside the Argyll Arms in Bunessan. After an excellent meal we walked along the shores of the Loch to the fishing pier where our dinghy awaited our return to the yacht.

On Friday we had an early start for the long sail back to Craobh. The voyage started as we went through the Sound of Iona with great views of the Abbey as we sailed past. Then we had to negotiate the Torran Rocks followed by a long sail across the Firth of Lorn. We considered the possibility of heading for the gulf of Coryvreckan, then chickened out as it is renowned for tortuous tide rips and whirlpools. The longer route took us up to the northern end of the Garvellochs and then back down the Sound of Luing to Craobh Haven.

Although we were a day late starting out we managed to pack a lot in to our week exploring the Inner Hebrides. The overall impression was that this is a terrific area to cruise and explore with all sorts of possibilities for the future. Pipedreamer is an excellent charter yacht and we had great fun with a terrifc crew .