Since Mark and Jon have joined us things have taken a turn for the better so his blog should be a little more upbeat than the last couple of attempts.
We had a lovely sail out of Dunstaffnage Marina to a small, almost land-locked loch, about 12 miles away, where we anchored for lunch and had the days token rain whilst there, returning in a bit of grey mizzle at about 7pm in time to meet Terry for a drink and food. It was great for me to let Jon skipper for the day and not have to worry about where we were going, what time was high tide, is it deep enough and the myriad other minutiae associated with sailing. I managed to relax enough to fall asleep on the foredeck on the way back, but awoke stiff and freezing cold!
Terry drove us into Oban for food and a few beers in the evening - fish and chips on the seafront with the tourists and clocked up another couple of pubs. Before we went out I had spoken to John Scott, a fellow GK29 owner, who lives in Tarbert, Loch Fyne, who reminded me that we would be coming past the notorious Gulf of Corryvreckan the next day and that I should do some homework beforehand. That was the end of my day of not skippering. Once again the almanac said that we shouldn't go there and painted a picture of death and doom if we did. We only needed to skirt past the really dangerous bit, where there is a whirlpool called "The Hag" and very strong tides, and it just required a bit of calculation and planning. I came up with the answer of 8. That's AM start to get to the relevent bit with the tide behind us and the later whirlpooly bit at slack water. Perhaps I should have said 0700 as we had the wind on the nose as we left the marina (so what's new?) and we didn't make very good speed for the first few miles, arriving at the important bit just as the tide had turned. We just about made progress through the tide. It's like going up a down escalator. We were sailing at about 5.5 knots through the water but only making just 2 over the ground. This was only for a short while and soon we were entering the Crinan Canal sea lock for the next part of the journey through the Scottish mountains.
The nice folk at Crinan gave us a 50% discount once again and we spent a couple of hours gently motoring through some beautiful countryside, swing bridges, locks and views, all in beautiful sunshine. One thing of note was the strange man standing in the canal up to his thighs in the water, holding a sponge and shouting strange slogans at the boats as they went by. His house was a brightly painted shed from which he appeared to be selling paintings. Bizzare.
We stopped for the night at the highest point of the canal just before a staircase of locks going back down to the sea. A good pub and restaurant there, where Mark B stood us a really nice meal which he did very gracefully after our constant mickey taking about him not reading the e mails I sent out to everyone saying bring towel, sleeping bag and pillow which he failed to do. He thought he was going to be staying in a hotel. Ha! After supper it started raining and continued to do so all night and we awoke to a very soggy dawn. We can still say that it has rained on us every day so far.
On down the canal to the sea at Ardrishaig on Lock Fyne and then the most perfect sail down to Tarbert. It was what I have been craving for a month - beam reach in 10 to 15 knots of wind, flat sea, sunshine and no shallows. Fantastic. As we arrived in the harbour mouth at Tarbert we were met by a dolphin and John Scott who had aranged a berth for us. He told us to go towards the harbour office and we'd see the reserved signs put out for our arrival. How cool. Handbrake turn into the space and we had arrived. Dave the barman is off for a few days but has left Pete with the keys so a couple of beers and lunch in the sun.
I should perhaps explain about Dave. He is the guy who runs the bar on board. It can be found on one of the lower decks next to the sauna and gym. His second wife Irene had to go into hospital the other day and unfortunately passed away after complications following an emergency hysterectomy. Dave has cashed the insurance and used it to go on holiday with Beryl the busty barmaid with whom he has been having a bit of a romp recently. You might think that all this is the result of crazed minds caused by me and Pete being away at sea for too long but I can assure you it's all true! Watch this space for the next instalment of "The Gamaldanskers" Doo Doo Doo Doo Doobidy Doo (Eastenders style drums)
So a gentle afternoon off, before tomorrows 42 mile run to Girvan. John Scott has invited us all to his place this evening for beer and food and a bit of a party. Should be fun.
Big love to Sal at home who is being a star and coping royally with all the building stuff that is going on in my absence and being pregnant as well. Well done my love. You are the best!
Rick has made an online photo album which you can see at http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/6111524?c_album=6111524&page=1
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1 comment:
Gosh I forgot about that strange chap in the Crinan Canal who lived in the shed by the water. He seemed friendly enough but his conversation with us was beyond our understanding!
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