Crinan

It did blow hard from the east last night- the only direction from which Ardminish Bay on Gigha is not well protected. It certainly wasn't a very restful night but I felt fairly confident in the mooring (rated for yachts up to 15 tons) and I shackled a loop of anchor chain to the buoy rather than relying on a piece of rope. So we spent the night secure if not peaceful. This morning it was sadly still too rough to go ashore in the dinghy, but the wind moderated by midday and so we got going. We had our best sail for many days- a brisk close reach in reasonably protected waters and the boat going at 6-7 knots for much of the time. The scenery is always spectacular, but with so many island peaks in view it can be difficult to sort out which is which.

We are now at Crinan,  not because we want to go down the Crinan canal, but because starting from here we have the best chance of getting the tides right for the difficult waters tomorrow.

Gigha!

As far as is practical I have tried visit new ports on this trip rather than going to places we went to last time round. Gigha, an island north of the Mull of Kintyre however is a bit special and is well worth revisiting. 

John and I left Campbeltown at about midday to get the tide round the Mull. The guidance is that to avoid the worst of the turbulence its best to stay within quarter of a mile of the cliffs, which does provide some spectacular views. Once again we had light winds and motored for much of the time. We picked up a buoy in Ardminish Bay in Gigha about 7pm.

One welcome change since we're last here is that they have installed a very fine new dinghy pontoon - pictured.

The previous one was clearly unsafe and seemed to be held together by rust. The restaurant at the top of they quay seems to be under new ownership but still provides an excellent fish supper. Ron and Mieke on Hilda are here and we were interested to look over the Hilda - a Dutch lifeboat built in steel in 1922 that has been converted into a very comfortable and seaworthy cruising yacht.

Ardminish Bay is the site where Iskra, a gaff cutter owned by the writer Frank Mulville was wrecked. She was on a visitors mooring ( as we are) when a strong onshore wind blew up. She was only attached to the mooring buoy by a single rope which chafed through - not the sort of mistake you might expect from such an experienced seaman. The boat was driven ashore and wrecked. Rather surprisingly Mulville persuaded his insurance company that the boat wasn't a write-off and that they should  pay for the boat to be repaired in the West of Scotland by shipwrights that he bought over from Essex to do the work. All this is told in his book 'Rescue and Repair'. Sadly Mulville died some years ago but I believe that Iskra is still going strong.

Campbeltown

In midsummer with long warm days and (mostly) light winds it is easy to forget how hostile these waters can be. The picture shows a memorial in Portpatrick commemorating the loss of the Princess Victoria off this coast on a stormy January night in 1953. 

The Princess Victoria was a car ferry sailing to Northern Ireland. She set out in a gale and the waves broke open the rear doors to the car deck causing her to take on water and sink. 

There were difficulties in organising the rescue attempts, partly because the rescue ships were unable to find her. Many passengers and crew died in the shipwreck.

Today was much more peaceful and we mostly motored from Portpatrick across the Firth of Clyde to Campbeltown. We had light head winds which later faded away. Head winds have been a feature of this trip so far: we have had head winds or no wind all the way from Lands End to the Clyde. Maybe things might get better soon.

The picture shows the lighthouse at the entrance to Campbeltown Loch. The small marina was quite crowded but eventually we managed to raft up alongside another boat.

Most of the other gaffers that were here have moved on, but Indian Runner is still here and we had a pleasant evening enjoying a drink aboard with Roger and Chris Hardman and their crew. Chris writes a blog of Indian Runners adventures which is always worth reading.

Portpatrick

It turns out that Sir William Hillary, the originator of the lifeboat service, was a Manx resident. Here is a rather weathered statue of him in a park in Douglas. He  is staring thoughtfully out to sea.

We didn't feel the attractions of the TT should keep us in Douglas so John and I decided to move on. When we came to Douglas I hadn't given much thought to the rather complex tides round the Isle of Man. For going up towards the Clyde, it seems its much better to start from Peel on the west side of the island, and for us it worked out better to go round the southern tip of the island before heading north. First though we had to get out of Douglas inner harbour. There wasn't enough space to turn Bonita and so we reversed her rather laboriously out of the inner harbour and under the lifting roadbridge that crosses the harbour entrance. John was fully occupied fending off, and as it was Sunday lunchtime lots of boat owners emerged from their cabins to cheerfully adjust their fenders when they saw us coming.

There wasn't much wind and much of the time the sea was like glass. We motored overnight all the way to The North Channel and ended up in the miniature harbour of Portpatrick. We are now in Scotland!

This minute harbour was apparently originally built as a ferry port serving Northern Ireland, but the ferries left long ago and much of the structure of  the harbour is in very poor condition.  It is now owned by a Community Action Group. We wish them well but there doesnt seem to be much sign of recent improvements.The entrance is very narrow, surrounded on both sides by the remains of the old harbour walls, though the small inner harbour still provides a secure berth but with no frills. 

Douglas

 The trouble with leaving the boat and going home for a few days is that you get involved with all sorts of important things that make it hard to go back. However John and I managed to find a day between strikes when the trains were running and on Thursday made the scenic but rather lengthy journey from London to Pwllheli.

The next morning we extricated Bonita from the marina berth she had been in for the last ten days. I had been worried about the tides inside Bardsey Island on the southern tip of the Lleyn peninsula. All the guidance agrees this can be a very disturbed piece of water, sometimes dangerously so, and is best transited at slack water. There does seem some difference of opinion in the books as to exactly when slack water is, however. We left Pwllheli about 2 1/2 hours before local low water and that seemed to work OK, The picture shows John, with Bardsey island and its turbulent sound safely behind us.

Originally I had planned to go to Holyhead, but  before we got there we found that progress was so depressingly slow against the tide and a head wind that we had a change of plan. We motor-sailed through the night with a light NE wind and by morning were off the Isle of Man. This is the start of TT week on the Isle of Man, and I had heard that all the harbours might be full. As soon as we had radio contact, I called up Douglas harbour, to be told they had several free berths. These berths were all taken during the course of the day, however. We locked into the inner harbour and after a great deal of slow speed manoevering with John busy with fenders and boat hook, we were snugly berthed up.

The TT does dominate the Island at this time. Quite apart from the competitors, there are motorcycles and motorcycle enthusiasts from many countries everywhere. There are people in 'leathers' ( now Kevlar I believe) in all the clubs and bars, which have extended their opening hours. Its clear dry weather so it should be a good year for the TT.