Crinan Basin

High winds and intermittent rain prevented us from heading to Oban today so we hope that the weather will improve tomorrow. We are now entering the Western Isles and telephone reception is notoriously patchy, so please do not expect daily updates to the blog.

Crinan Canal

Today we were very pleased that we had paid £50 for a pilot. His job is to assist you through the locks and he was well worth every penny. He and his young mate arrived at 0830 this morning and they had already set up the first three locks so that we were able to pass through them quite quickly. The two boats were an extremely close fit. They would only go into the locks if the boats overlapped and almost touched each other. Care when opening the sluice gates was then necessary to prevent any damage to the boats. The locks were very old and water often poured over the tops of the gates, which made for an interesting photograph.

By lunchtime, we had reached Crinan and we were able to moor together in the canal basin. In Crinan Harbour, they had a meeting of wooden boats – some of which were out racing when we arrived. In the evening, they all assembled and we were able to admire the high quality varnishing that must have taken many, many loving hours to complete. As part of their entertainment a whisky tasting had been arranged for the evening and I am sure you will not be surprised to learn that Ann and I were able to arrange to join in. This consisted of the chance to try four different Bruichladdich, Islay whiskies supplied free of charge by an excellent host who explained the history of this Victorian distillery how it was rescued in December 2000.

Tarbert and the Start of the Crinan Canal

The wind has at last dropped and we have been able to start our journey to the Western Isles of Scotland. We have been fortunate in being able to join Morrison and Margaret, who also have a Broom 38, for this journey. Their house overlooks the Clyde and they are very familiar with the area so we will be able to benefit from their many years of knowledge.

The first step was to head for the Crinan Canal, via Tarbert to refuel. The Crinan is a short cut between the Sound of Jura and Loch Fyne and saves coastal shipping a 100 mile journey around the sometimes dangerous long finger of the Kintyre Peninsular. The canal is 9 miles long and has 15 locks. Today we entered from Loch Fyne and reached Cairnbaan, where the two boats moored together. As you will see from the photograph, Ann managed to get back to her normally relaxed locking procedure very quickly.

Back to Scotland

The start of the second part of our Scottish cruise this year was unfortunately delayed by two days of high winds. We drove back to Inverkip on Monday and had planned to set off on Tuesday. However, two days of high winds and heavy rain meant that I had no excuse and had to tackle one of the indoor jobs: repairing the heads. For those of you not familiar with boating terms, the heads are the toilets. We had a leaking pipe and this turned out to be a split in the 4 metre long by 1.5 inch diameter plastic pipe. I appreciate that I have mixed metric and imperial dimensions here but that is how you have to buy it.

No photographs, but I can report that after a three hour struggle we now have a new pipe and normal operation has been resumed.

Returning Home

Unfortunately, following the death of my father's lady friend, we have been forced to return home for a period. Hopefully, we will be back on board Jomima in July 2008 to continue our journey around the west coast of Scotland.

Rothesay, Isle of Bute

Fortunately, we had been warned that the harbour at Rothesay was being rebuilt and with noisy pumps etc it was advisable not to stay there for the night. So, after arriving fairly early, we had a quick look at the town. After lunch we caught a bus to Mount Stuart. This proved to be an astounding Victorian Gothic Mansion. The variety of marble and the detailed carvings must have taken hundreds of man years to achieve – all of which was paid for by the docks at Cardiff! The original wealth was created by a marriage of a man with ideas and a lady who owned a bit of land in south Wales. The result was a vast fortune created by some coal and by building the docks at Cardiff. There is a web site which is worth a visit:

http://www.mountstuart.com/

The Stuarts of Bute have been around the island for 700 years. Some readers may remember Johnny Dumphries, the racing driver with John Player Special Lotus. He is also known as: John Colum Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute – the present owner of Mount Stuart. I was fortunate to have been a host at a customer event, at a track near the Lotus headquarters in Norfolk, many years ago. He appeared at the event and drove willing volunteers (me included) around the track in a four seater Lotus sports car. The most memorable thing was that you could tell precisely where he was on the track by the sound of the squealing tyres which continued for the full circuit of the the windy track. Looking at oncoming cabages, while the car was travelling sideways, is also a memory that has lingered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Crichton-Stuart,_7th_Marquess_of_Bute

A memorable visit and well worth the bus ride.

Millport, Great Cumbrae Island

After the adventures of the previous night, we left Lamlash at 7:00 am and arrived at Millport on the Islands of Cumbrae by 9:00 am. As expected, this is a well sheltered mooring which we had chosen with a view to catching up on our lost sleep.

The weather in the morning was excellent and, being a Sunday, by the standards of the Clyde, it became very busy. Many Glaswegians arrived by ferry, hired bikes, and cycled around the Island. With three bike hire shops this is obviously a popular form of entertainment on the island. We lowered our well travelled dingy and collected the Sunday Times. The rest of the day we relaxed, read, and watched the many boats coming and going with people enjoying the fine weather. However, they departed quickly that afternoon when the rain clouds appeared.