Inveraray

Something that you may be unaware of is that Ann likes buses. Give her a bus timetable and she will be quiet for hours. The buses through Tarbert go all of the way to Glasgow – but only three times each day. The midday one was chosen to take us as far as Inveraray at the head of Loch Fyne. This gave us chance to visit Inveraray jail, which is now a

museum. This was very well done and it showed how awful jails were 200 years ago. The day improved when we visited Inveraray Castle, which is owned by the Duke of Argyle – who is head of the Clan Campbell. The day improved even more when, after deciding we needed a meal before the 19:50 bus back, I managed to locate the Loch Fyne Hotel. This is owned by the sister company to the Loch Fyne oyster bar chain of restaurants. A fish slate, followed by Venison and sticky toffee pudding – washed down by an Australian Shiraz. An excellent way to finish a wet, but enjoyable, day.

Loch Goil

The weather had moderated a bit that morning so we decided to start the exploration of the local Lochs. We left Holy Loch and turned north up Loch Long and then north west into Loch Goil – passing two porpoise as we did so. Shortly after entering the Loch we saw Carrick Castle on the southern shore. I took
Jomima closer to the bank but the castle looked very dark and forbidding so we headed up to the town of Lochgoilhead. On the way up the loch we had to move over towards the west bank to avoid one of the many navy vessels in this area. It is amazing how deep many of the lochs are. At times I was only 50 metres from the bank and there was 50 metres of water under Jomima. No wonder I was advised

to add another 30 metres of anchor chain to my puny 30 metres of chain.

At the top of the loch we tied up to a buoy for lunch and enjoyed the fantastic views of the surrounding mountains. Ann was impressed enough to take out her art equipment and start to draw and paint the surroundings. After lunch we returned slowly to the marina at Holy Loch to await the arrival of fellow travellers, Julie and Derek. They arrived in their Warrior sailing boat at about 6:00 pm in time for a quick dinner with us prior to a visit to the local pub to watch Manchester United win the European Cup.