Gigha!

After much pondering of tidal flows and possible winds we left Glenarm this morning at 6am and said
goodbye to Ireland. In fact the journey was simpler than we had expected. The wind was light,the tides were well behaved and we motored all the way. We left 1hr before high tide and arrived at the Scottish island of Gigha at 2.45 having had a fair tide virtually all the time. We picked up a buoy and rowed ashore to explore.

We felt quite pleased with ourselves as, although there are many difficulties ahead, reaching Scotland is clearly a significant step. Bonita's track on the map of the UK is beginning to look respectable. The Scottish islands certainly offer dramatic scenery and we were specially glad we'd decided to come to Gigha which is a charming unspoilt almost subtropical island.

Interestingly the island was bought from its previous owners by a cooperative of residents about 10 years ago and seems to be running successfully. They have tourism and the community earns money from wind generators which sell electricity to the grid. This seems to be an effective formula for local acceptance of wind generators, something which is not always easy.

Ended up in The Boathouse,a new restaurant by the anchorage - very good, with every table full.

The support piers for Gigha's jetty are showing their age...