It’s now 3 months since we completed our voyage so my apologies for the delay in producing these facts and figures. You may find them interesting so here we go:-

Start date – 17.04.19

End date – 26.07.19

Total time under way 361 hours and 41 minutes

Total distance logged – 1756.65nm. This is distance through the water and does not allow for tides and the like.

Total engine hours – 233 hours 30 minutes including motor sailing.

Total hours under sail – 128 hours 11 minutes not including motor sailing. The swell on the West Coast of Ireland forced us to motor sail on occasions when, in flatter water we would have easily sailed.

Nights moored to a pontoon – 44. All at a cost apart from 5 at Portrush which were discounted as we were storm bound and 4 at Ardfern waiting for a new windlass to be delivered.

Nights on a mooring – 17. Most moorings were free.

Nights at anchor – 35. Apart from Falmouth Haven anchorages all were free.

Storm bound (included in the numbers above) – 19.

Nights at sea – 4. We aimed to make as much of the trip as possible day sails, albeit sometimes long day sails!

We have done little sailing in Lacerta since we got back. We lifted out in August to have the bottom copper coated – no more antifouling in the depths of winter! Completion of this has been held up by the wet weather we have been experiencing and some problems with the rudder. Having had problems with oil leaks and loss of power in the engine we took the big decision to replace our old Volvo engine with a new Beta 30. We are currently awaiting delivery which should be in the next two weeks. We will then relaunch and stay in the water over the winter and maybe get some winter sailing in.

Next year we are planning to head South for some sun!

Thanks for following us on this trip.

We marked our return to Falmouth with Cornish pasties and almond croissants and wearing shorts rather than fleeces in the warm sunshine.  We got all the washing done, or rather Debbie got the washing done, and had dinner at the Chain Locker, mussels for David and halloumi salad for Debbie, both excellent.  We had a 10.00 start on Wednesday morning to catch the tide for a short, 20 mile sail to Fowey.  

The wind was a pleasant south westerly, allowing us to sail from Black Rock at the mouth of Falmouth harbour until we took the sails down in Fowey harbour, trickier than we thought due to the amount of traffic in the harbour.  

The harbour patrol launch found us a berth alongside a pontoon in Pont Pill and we launched the dinghy for the first time in ages to go ashore for ice creams.

Thursday morning the forecast was again south or south west force 3 to 4, which should have given us another reach to Plymouth.  We left Fowey in the company of Roy Beswick in Ellie Too, another Starlight 35, he was heading for the River Yealm.  

The wind was actually more south easterly, making it a beat.  We were pretty evenly matched first of all until Roy did a long tack out to sea and we opted to stay inshore, hoping for a lift along the shore line.  When Roy tacked back on to starboard he was miles in front, which put an end to our impromptu race!  We had to revert to the engine eventually anyway as we had an invite to dinner with our good friend Jenny King that evening.  We worked out that we needed to average 4.5 knots if we were to get to Plymouth in time for a shower before dinner, which we could not achieve if we continued tacking so we furled the genoa and motor sailed, as did most of the other yachts heading east.
Approaching Rame Head we noticed cloud masking the top of the head, it gradually got mistier then very suddenly the visibility dropped to a boat length!  

We were very grateful for our chart plotter and class A AIS ( meaning that our automatic identification system transmitted our position and course as well as receiving information from others).  There was a lot of radio chatter as boats made others aware of their positions.  

We picked up a little flotilla of yachts with non transmitting AIS, following us as they knew that others could pick us up, all a bit scary!  Approaching the breakwater the fog lifted as suddenly as it had come down and we were back in bright sunshine again as if the fog had never happened.

We were moored in the Yacht Haven in time for tea and fruit cake and showers before dinner and also to say hello to Dave Birch, now living on his yacht and working for Princess motor yachts.
Dinner at Jennie’s was a very pleasant affair. Also at dinner were Jennie’s daughter, Christina, and Bones and Ana Black.  After being involved with dinghy sailing for some time we found that we had plenty of friends in common.  Bones and Ana now have a Bowman 57 ketch, in which they have done the ARC a number of times and have just completed the world cruiser rally.  They run the boat as a business, taking paying guests on their journeys.  If we are to do any longer distance sailing we either need a bigger boat or do it on someone else’s boat, so there’s food for thought!  Anyway we got on very well and had a really nice evening.
Our final sail of the trip was 40 miles back to Torquay, leaving at 10.00 on Friday morning meant we should catch a favourable tide all the way back and the forecast SW wind promised a good sail back.  As it turned out the wind was just about strong enough but accompanied by a nasty swell which set us rolling and shook all the wind out of the sails so we had to motor.  This continued until Start Point when the sea flattened out and we could run up the coast to Berry Head with the genoa boomed out on the spinnaker pole.

making a relaxed sail for the last 20 miles, arriving back in our old berth in Torquay Marina at 17.30, half an hour in front of our eta.

We had one last night on board, eating one of our standby meals of filled pasta followed by a drink at the yacht club, by which time Richard and Lucas had appeared and joined us for a drink on board before going to sort the house out.  They had been staying there for a few weekends with friends and needed to do some sorting out of beds etc. before we came home!  They prepared a 3 course dinner on Saturday evening to welcome us back.  A most enjoyable end to the trip!
The final post for this voyage will be a few statistics, which will take a few days to compile.

Dun Laoghaire proved to be a good stopping off point, if a little expensive!

 The marina is huge, something like 800 boats, with plenty of space and good facilities, including an amenities barge, moored towards the outer end of the marina, which had 5 rooms, each with a shower, wash basin and toilet.  

It’s a long way to walk to the shoreside facilities.  Ferries no longer run into the port so there is plenty of space in the outer harbour for cruisers to get sails up, or down, and for sail training, of which there was plenty going on.  

The town is close by with a regular train service into Dublin.  We wished we had time to see a bit more and thought we ought to come back by air and spend a long weekend in Dublin.
The stop off proved to be the right thing to do as the next morning the wind had gone round to the west and the sea was much flatter.  We left at midday at the start of the south going tide in 15 knots of breeze, the engine went off just outside the harbour and stayed off for the next 2.5 hours.  We dropped a reef in the main at one stage in anticipation of stronger wind under an evil looking black cloud but the wind failed to materialise and we shook the reef out again.  

 All the time we had strong tide with us with speed over the ground between 7 and 8 knots.  Before Wicklow Head the wind died for a while and the engine went on for half an hour but then came back with a vengeance, gusting up to 26knots, needing 2 reefs in the main.  By 16.46 the wind eased needing first the reefs out of the main then finally the genoa furled and the engine on for the last hour into Arklow.  By 1800 we were moored alongside a long pontoon on the north side of the river, part of Arklow Marina with shoreside access and power on the pontoon.  

It’s a bit of a walk around the small marina basin to the toilets and showers but at considerably less cost than Howth or Dun Laoghaire, and the second night was at a reduced rate!

We hadn’t intended there to be a second night.  We did a little shopping in Aldi, just down the road, then walked across the river bridge to the main town to find somewhere to eat for our last night in Ireland.  Our intention was to leave on the south going tide on Friday afternoon and sail overnight to Milford Haven.  We awoke on Friday morning, checked the weather forecast and went back to bed!  The Irish Sea shipping forecast was giving SW force 8!  Not what we wanted at all.  Plans were revised to leave at 1300 on Saturday on a westerly weather window and head straight down to Lands End, a 164 mile sail, hopefully getting there before the wind goes round to the south again.

Saturday dawned with the wind as forecast so we left on time to make use of the south going tide and to make the most of the westerly wind.

 The only concerns were that the wind could potentially back to the south west and increase to force 6, neither of which would be very comfortable.  The wind stayed in the west until late afternoon,  dropping occasionally enough to need the engine on.  

The seas at this stage were relatively smooth and the sun was shining although it still felt cold.  In the evening the wind backed to the south west, which was ok at first as we could still hold our course.  Fortified by a Debbie’s sausage and bean casserole we were ok although the thought of a 100 mile beat was daunting, not that we had much option other than bailing out to Milford Haven, which would have added 2 or 3 days to our passage as the wind was due to go to the south.  

As the wind and sea increased things were more uncomfortable.  We put a reef in the main and had various goes at hand steering and motor sailing to keep our heading.  The auto helm was more consistent than we were and the wind generator was keeping the battery topped up.  In the early hours of the morning the wind backed further so we could no longer make Lands End and increased until we had 2 reefs in the main and a roll in the genoa.  We were now heading towards Padstow, which would have been an option but at this stage we wanted to press on to Lands End.

 At midday on Sunday we tacked to port to gain some westing and held that course for 3 hours before tacking back to starboard with the wind still consistently blowing 20-23 knots.  We were sustained by protein shakes and previously made sandwiches as it was far too uncomfortable to prepare any food.
At this stage we were beginning to doubt whether we would make Lands End that night.  We were now heading towards St Ives.  We’d now left it too late to bear off for Padstow and make it in time to get into the harbour.  There was an anchorage shown at the western end of St Ives Bay but it didn’t look very sheltered.  Our only other option was Reeds showed a passage close inshore from St Ives to Lands End which had a favourable current. “ keeping as close inshore as prudent, moving offshore to clear rocks and going inside the Longships”.  

We opted to try this, which would mean motoring to keep close inshore as squalls off the cliffs would make sailing difficult, although we kept the mainsail up with the two reefs.  Debbie was flat out after 3 hours at the helm so David was on deck watching for fishing floats and following the coastline round so there were no log entries for this bit.

We managed dinner, another helping of sausage casserole, although David lost some of his as a squall blew a mouthful off the spoon and coated his life jacket and coat!  The strategy worked as we had about a knot of favourable current, although as we approached Cape Cornwall and went inshore of the Longships it got quite rough and very dark.  

We were relying on the chart plotter to confirm we were on track.  South of Lands End it was still very rough as we tried to find the Runnel Stone South cardinal mark when we could bear off and sail again.
We were both pretty tired at this stage, just gone midnight, and slowly motor sailed towards Newlyn where we eventually anchored off the harbour and hit the sack at 0130. A long 187 mile sail!
Next morning we didn’t wake until 0930 but wanted to make Falmouth. To stand any chance of getting around the Lizard we needed to leave straight away, abandoning our usual wake up and breakfast routine.  We upped anchor and motored towards Lands End, touch and go whether we would get there before the end of slack water.  

In the end we missed it and had an hour with the tide against us.  Just east of the Lizard our inward track crossed our outward track.  

From here on we were retracing our steps.  We made Falmouth in bright sunshine and no wind, filled up with diesel and were moored at the Yacht Haven by 1730, ready to sort the washing out!

Our passage south has been a mixture of wet, windless weather and lots of motoring.  We left Oban on Tuesday 9th July in pouring rain and a strong wind from the south.  It was very tempting to hang on another day but we needed to start heading homewards.  The only thing in our favour was a fair tide, taking us up to 10 knots over the ground in the Sound of Luing.  

We had intended to go straight from Oban to Gigha but after 4 hours in the pouring rain we gave up and bailed out to Crinan, anchoring off the Crinan boatyard moorings.  

The wind died (but not the rain) and we had a quiet night.
The passage next day to Gigha was pretty boring, never enough wind to sail (what there was was on the nose anyway), rain and drizzle and mist.  

After 5 hours motoring we picked up a mooring in Ardnaminish Bay.  

Again we had a fair tide virtually all the way.  We have a problem with boat speed under power, maybe barnacles on the prop or something similar, as we would normally cruise at 5.5 knots at 2000 revs but we are struggling to make 4.1 knots at the moment.  We think that the log is under reading a bit but we have consistently better boat speed when sailing than we do under engine.

On Thursday we set off to cross the North Channel to Glenarm.  No rain this time but what little wind there was at the start faded away completely so the 42 mile passage was under engine again.  

Bright sunshine was nice, no waterproofs for a change but still a little chilly.

 We think we caught a brief sighting of a minke whale but other than guillemots we saw very little wildlife.  

The harbourmaster at Glenarm had a berth for us overnight but as there was a music festival over the weekend the harbour would be full so we knew we had to move on.

Friday’s passage was to Bangor marina, on the south side of Belfast Lough.  After half an hour we were able to sail for a change.  This lasted until we got to Belfast Lough when the wind died and the engine went on for the last hour and a half.

We had briefly been in Bangor before so we knew there were good facilities.  We refuelled on the way in and arranged for a two night stay to do a bit of catching up.  The weather was good for a change and the town was in holiday mode.

 Debbie was entranced by the marina’s flock of guillemots, which were breeding in nesting boxes in the harbour walls and were quite used to being close to people.

 An evening walk to the Royal Ulster Yacht Club in their splendid clubhouse nicely rounded off the day.  On Sunday we didn’t have to leave until 1300 to suit the tide on our passage to Ardglass so we had time for a stroll along the seafront west of the marina, enjoying the sun with the rest of the holiday makers.  

Our passage started off well with enough wind to sail pretty well straight out of the harbour but within an hour the wind had dropped and the engine took us the next 5 hours, arriving in Ardglass at 19.38.

Ardglass was much as we remembered it from our visit in 2015 when we sailed around Britain except that it seemed somehow a little tidier and more organised.  The showers were a big improvement on our last visit.  

The tight entrance channel hadn’t changed though!
Our next passage was 55 miles from Ardglass to Howth, which called for an 0800 start so we were up early.  

Yet again the wind started off calm but by 12.50 there was enough breeze to sail.  At first we could only make 15 degrees low of our straight line course to Howth but the increase in boatspeed was worth it.  The wind eventually backed enough for us to lay our course, which was great.  Off Lambay Island we had to reef for a while when the wind funnelled around the island but it soon dropped off once the island was cleared.  Approaching the north entrance to Howth by Ireland’s Eye Island the wind eased and we dropped sails ready to enter the harbour.  

Howth marina is owned and run by Howth Yacht Club, a very active club.  The entrance channel  is narrow and prone to silting but we didn’t have any trouble.

 We were only planning a one night stay but the water pump started making a strange noise and we found that, yet again, one of the pipe connections had pulled apart.  Another job to do in the morning and a second night at Howth.  

Tuesday was a club racing night and we chatted to Brian and Leo who had been racing a Puppeteer, a 22 foot one design keelboat similar to a Sonata.  

The clubhouse was full, a pleasant evening sat outside on the club terrace.
On Wednesday morning we topped up with fuel and left at 11.00, aiming to make the 39 mile trip to Arklow on the basis that there would be some west in the wind and that the forecast veer would happen by midday.  This proved to be a bit optimistic.  The wind was firmly in the South and we were not prepared for 39 miles of beating or motoring so we abandoned our plan and headed into Dun Laoghaire marina to wait for the change in the wind.  

Even David’s Tilley hat didn’t want to carry on and went over the side, quickly recovered by Debbie’s eagle eye and man overboard drill.  
If the forecast is to be believed tomorrow should be good for a reach down to Arklow and a long passage from Arklow to Milford Haven on Friday.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings!

After we waved goodbye to Robyn our thoughts turned to preparing for heading home.  Monday was set aside for tidying up the ship and getting some washing done.  Debbie spent some time catching up with our home accounts and David swapped around our main halyard and spare genoa halyard as the old main halyard was showing signs of fraying where it goes into the clutch.  The other job which took longer than expected was sorting our toilet pump.  It had stopped working when we were in Puilladobhrain and we had to resort to a bucket for flushing.  Taking the pump off revealed a long strand of weed in the inlet pipe and dismantling the pump showed it to be full of bits of weed.  

Replacing all the old valves and seals was straightforward but refitting it making sure that it was properly seated took several attempts and a lot of time and frustration.  The elbow in the discharge pipe is hard against the moulding behind it which makes alignment difficult.  If only the toilet had been fitted 20mm further forward life would have been so much easier!
We did find a little time for socialising.  Jill Rogers, a fellow Sadler Starlight association member, joined us for a cup of tea from her bright red Sadler 25, Vela.

She was close to us in the marina and was making her way up to Corpach to go into the Caledonian canal.  She is making her way around Britain single handed, a very positive, cheerful lady!  

We also met Jim and Serena, in a Halberg Rassy 385 when they came alongside the fuel berth.  Hearing of our toilet pump problem Jim told me about a neat Jabsco inline filter which he had fitted.  We went aboard to have a look and they came back for tea and fruit cake on Lacerta.  The inline filter is a definite the next time I am at a chandlery, it would have saved me a lot of cursing!  The spacious aft cabin on the Halberg Rassy made us very jealous but I don’t think we can run to one of those just yet.  
We finally managed to visit the farm shop on Kerarra and came away with some very nice pork and apple burgers after meeting two very hairy highland cattle on the track to the farm!

All this made doing the washing a little late so Debbie got a load done then we caught the ferry into Oban for a little last minute shopping and a quick, cheap and cheerful (and excellent value) dinner at Wetherspoons before returning to the marina and hitting the tumble dryers so we had some bedding to sleep under!

Our original plan, when Robyn came aboard, was to offload our big spinnaker into Robyn’s van to make more space.  As we were now in the marina that would have entailed carrying the sail, in the rain, to the ferry and some hanging around at the mainland end while Robyn parked her van and got a lift back to the harbour.  A much better solution was found when the marina agreed to store the spinnaker for a week until we returned.
Going ashore to meet Robyn also allowed us to pay another visit to Aldi to pick up the beers that we couldn’t carry on our previous shopping expedition.  As usual it was raining but not as heavily as last time.  Robyn arrived with a few minutes to spare before the ferry and was soon on board with gear and shopping stowed away.
Robyn wanted to get to the Outer Hebrides but the unsettled, mainly strong, westerly winds made that not possible.  The Monday forecast was NW 4 to 5, occasionally 6.  Even so we decided to aim for Loch Sunart at the northern end of the Sound of Mull with fall back plans for Tobermory or Loch Aline, reasoning that although it would be windy the sea would be relatively moderate.  We were soon well reefed with 2 in the main and 2 in the genoa.  

We had left the spray hood up expecting rain and were glad we did as we were getting a lot of spray over the deck.  Although we were enjoying the sail it was quite “hardcore”.  

We soon agreed that Loch Sunart or Tobermory were too much and stopped off in Loch Aline, anchoring where we had stopped a few days ago, well sheltered and with seals for entertainment. 

The next day was much better, still breezy and bright but nowhere near as strong. We were still beating down the Sound of Mull but with a full genoa and 1 reef in the mainsail.  A good combination and an enjoyable sail, ending up in Loch Drumbuie, a virtually landlocked loch on the south side of Loch Sunart surrounded by hills.  

We were one of 4 yachts in there, each occupying an anchorage on the corners of the loch.  We got a good night’s rest.
Wednesday’s plan was to head to Coll with the hope that from there, if there was a quiet spell in the weather, we could do a temporary stop off at Staffa.  The forecast was good with a westerly wind making the course to Arinagour a one sided beat.  Leaving Loch Drumbuie there wasn’t much wind and it was foggy.  

We motored out of Loch Sunart and carried on motoring along the north of Mull until we could sail on starboard tack and clear all the headlands. With 12 to 15 knots and full sail it turned into a good sail with the visibility improving.  After an hour the wind increased to 18 knots so we dropped a reef in the main.  We had to make a short tack on to port to make Arinagour and by early afternoon we were anchored in the harbour.  

A quick recce ashore for Debbie and David while Robyn stayed on board allowed us to fill the water jerry cans and find the village shops, two of them, neither of which were particularly well stocked.  

We also found the very smart community centre where we could get showers for a pound (although there was only one shower in the gents and one in the ladies).  Our final find was the Coll Hotel, recently extended and looking very smart.  The food menu looked very good and we could shower for free if we ate there.  Sorted!  Back to the boat to fill the water cans again and take the recyclable rubbish ashore before getting smartened up and back ashore for showers and dinner.  Although there was only one shower there was plenty of space and plenty of hot water and time for us all to shower before dinner (not together!).  Luxury!  Dinner was a big success.

The food was excellent and the setting, looking out over the harbour, very relaxing.  I had the best lemon cheesecake I have ever eaten and the girls both had Affogato with a liqueur.  Definitely to be recommended.  We were very mellow (and clean!) heading back to the boat.
The weather next day was still too much for Staffa so we aimed for Iona, a reach for a change, starting off with one reef in the main and full genoa and eventually shaking out the mainsail reef.  Good sailing and visibility but still chilly.  After 4 hours sailing we came into the Sound of Iona intending to anchor in Bull Hole.  

We could see the bottom and attempted to drop on sand clear of weed but each time the anchor dragged and picked up masses of kelp.  

After 4 goes we gave up and headed for Tinkers Hole, a small anchorage in amongst rocks at the south end of Iona Sound. The anchorage, and the way in, were very dramatic and the rocks either side of the anchorage made it very sheltered.  

There was one boat already in there but plenty of space for us to anchor ahead of her.  The anchor held first time!  Another two boats eventually came in and it was full.
We had another two nights before Robyn had to be back in Oban to pick up her van and head to Ullapool to run a week’s sailing course.  With the weather still a mixed bag, we couldn’t be too far away so we opted to complete the circumnavigation of Mull by going into Loch Spelve.  We had been in there before, in the SW corner, but this time we opted for the north end of the loch.  The passage was wet (rain) and misty but we did manage to get the spinnaker up for a while.  

The rain continued into the evening so we ran a Connect 4 championship. Debbie ended up the champion.  
On Saturday morning summer showed its face again.  Blue sky and dry!  We left mid morning to be on the ebb through the entrance narrows then had a gentle 2 hour sail across to Puilladobhrain to show Robyn this splendid little anchorage.  

We were the only boat in there when we arrived.  Going ashore in the warm sunshine we walked across to Clachan Bridge then to the shop in Balvicar for bread and milk, rewarding ourselves with an ice cream for our efforts.  On the way back further reward was required, a beer at the pub by the bridge.

Very pleasant to sit outside enjoying the sun.  

Back to the anchorage loads more boats had arrived and the tide had nearly reached the dinghy.  The spinnaker which we had left along the deck to dry after yesterday’s soaking was able to be put away.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny with the wind in the north.  As Robyn didn’t need to be away until late afternoon we decided to beat, against the tide, up to the north channel into Oban to make the most of the ideal sailing weather.  

Back in Oban marina we caught the 1600 ferry for Robyn to collect her van and help us with a shop visit before departing northwards to Ullapool .  It was nice to have her with us, we don’t get to see her that often these days as she is so busy.  Good to have someone to do most of the steering as well!

So, phase 2 of our journey over, we started to prepare for phase 3.  Going home!

Tuesday morning dawned bright and breezy.  We went ashore at Balvicar boatyard after a slightly wet trip in the dinghy.  

We were due to meet a colleague of Debbie’s.  She had met Sam networking in Devon.  Sam had moved up to Scotland a couple of years ago and, through Twitter, saw that we had been in Ardfern and were now in Balvicar.  Amazingly she had a yoga class in Balvicar that morning so they had arranged to meet at the village shop for a chat.  Chat over, we did a little shopping and made our way back to the boat.  
The wind had increased by this time so we (royal we) had a hard row back to the boat with the admiral complaining about getting splashed!  

We then had time to spare as we were heading north through Cuan Sound and would not have a fair tide until 16.30.  We were aiming for either Easdale, originally the centre of the local slate industry, or Puilladobhrain (pronounced Puldohran).  A well sheltered anchorage in attractive, remote, surroundings.  We were motoring through Cuan Sound as it is quite narrow with rocks to watch out for.  Passing into Easdale Bay the wind was gusting to 25 knots, more than the days forecast.  We should have decided on what sails to use while we were in flat water but as we decided that Easdale Sound would not be good shelter we opted to motor into the wind to get to Puilladobrhain, slow going.  We would probably have been better sailing even though we would have travelled further.  Puilladobrhain turned out to be an excellent anchorage, almost landlocked with tidal islands providing shelter from any swell.  

It is a popular place and there were already a few yachts in there.  We found ourselves a good spot, well into the anchorage and tested our windlass for the first time.  The anchor dug in well and we decided not to rush off the next morning but to stay and walk over to Clachan bridge, ‘The Bridge over the Atlantic’ as it is known.

This turned out to be a good choice as the morning dawned almost calm with blue skies and bright sunshine.  We missed one signpost and got a bit lost on our walk to the bridge and the pub by the bridge was being refurbished and was not doing food.  The walk back was much quicker!  A few yachts had arrived while we were away and during the afternoon more arrived so by early evening there wasn’t much space left.  For the first time this year we have been able to sit out on deck in shorts and polo shirts.  Still not much wind so we got a quiet night.

Moving on we aimed for Port Ramsey on the North end of Lismore Island.  We left with the expectation of a light but sailable breeze.  The sun shone but the wind never materialised, the log records calm for most of the trip.  Once clear of the Lady’s Rock and the traffic route up the Sound of Mull we throttled back to idling speed and trolled along with a mackerel line out.  All very pleasant in the sunshine but up to our usual success rate in terms of catching anything, ie nothing!  By 1400 we were anchored in Port Ramsey for an afternoon’s reading and sunbathing.  A pleasant spot with a couple of seals to entertain us.  No wind in the afternoon or evening so we had to run the engine to top up the batteries and keep the fridge running.

The pattern for the following day, Friday, was much the same.  Planning to go to Loch Aline in the Sound of Mull with a forecast SE 4 to 5 but the reality was calm so we were motoring down Loch Linnhe.  As we approached the Sound of Mull the forecast wind did arrive but with only a couple of miles to go we left the mainsail down and unfurled the genoa, blowing along at a steady 5 knots.  We entered Loch Aline and went alongside the yacht pontoons for a short stay and a walk to the village for a little shopping followed by showers before moving on to anchor at the North West end of the loch with more seals for entertainment.  

The Loch Aline sand mine was very prominent with their clean white silica sand product standing out in the landscape.  In the evening the weather started to show signs of change to cooler and wetter with grey clouds starting to build up.

Saturday was the day for heading into Oban to do a major shop and await Robyn, joining us on Sunday.  The weather was telling us we’d had our spell of summer with mist over the hills and grey skies threatening rain.  The wind was still light and teased us by increasing enough to sail then fading away.  

The plan had been to pick up an Oban sailing club buoy and go alongside the club jetty to pick up Robyn but with strong south westerlies forecast we decided to go into Oban marina on Kerrera island and take their ferry to the town for shopping.  True to form it was raining by the time we caught the ferry although it did ease off for a while.  We raided Aldi, a short walk from the pier and came back well laden.  We had to leave the beer behind!

The sail from Gigha to Ardfern Yacht Centre on Loch Craignish was one of the best we have had.  We hoisted the mainsail while we were on the mooring at Ardminish Bay, sailed off the mooring and, apart from a few minutes when the wind failed us part way through the day, the engine did not go on until we were ready to drop the sails at Ardfern.

We were sailing in flat water with the wind on the beam at 15 knots or thereabouts, the tide was either slack, or in our favour, so it was a quick passage.  

We had a few rain squalls to remind us that we were still in Scotland but other than that it was a good day.  

We were berthed in a good spot in the marina and an engineer was with us fairly quickly to check what he needed in the morning to fit the new windlass.

All was looking good, or so we thought!  Mike, the engineer, arrived at 0800 as promised and started to remove the old windlass.  When he was ready to start on the new one he opened the box and called me over with the dreaded words “it isn’t the same as the old one!”  A check revealed that the supplier had sent a Lewmar Profish windlass rather than a Lewmar Pro 1000.    There was some consternation amongst the Ardfern staff before they checked and confirmed that they had ordered the correct one and it was the suppliers fault.  

Luckily they had someone in Glasgow that day who could collect the correct model but it was still going to be Monday before it could be fitted.  At least the weather was good and the Ardfern staff and facilities were first class so an enforced break wasn’t too much of a hardship.
Friday afternoon was catch up with the washing and visiting the village shop, something that turned into a regular occurrence over the next couple of days!  Willy, one of the Ardfern staff, printed us off some maps of local walks, one of which was a walk between The Galley Of Lorne Inn in Ardfern and the Lord of the Isles pub in Craobh Haven on the other side of the peninsula, a hilly 2.5 miles away.  An indulgent Saturday with lunch in the Lord of the Isles and dinner in The Galley Of Lorne became the plan.  The walk over, on woodland tracks, was very pleasant, even warm!  We did get a bit lost and walked a bit higher than we needed to so were feeling in dire need of sustinence when we arrived.  

A beer (lime and soda for Debbie!) and doorstop sandwich followed by ice cream sorted us out for the walk back in the afternoon which was a little easier than our morning efforts.  

The sun still shone in the afternoon so we gave the fore cabin a good airing.  For the last 2 months it had become the store for walking boots, rucksacks, spare charts and pilot books etc., etc., and was suffering from lack of air circulation.  An hour or so in the fresh air and sun had it sorted out!
Sunday was a bit of a domestic day, some more washing, prolonged by a lad hogging the washing machine, replacing empty gas bottles, topping up the spare diesel cans etc.  G & T’s with Juliet and Brian, berthed next to us, followed by smoked haddock for dinner, finished the day nicely.
On Monday morning Mike arrived, with the new, correct, windlass and had it fitted and working in no time.  We were in no rush because our timing heading north was dictated by getting a fair tide through Dorus Mor, a notorious tidal gate at the end of Loch Craignish, which didn’t happen until the middle of the afternoon.  

We were heading for Balvicar, on Seil Island, which is where 6 of us chartered our first yacht, a Verl 27 back in 1977.  Look where that’s led us!  We hoped for a gentle sail with a favourable tide but the wind faded away and we ended up motoring, picking up a mooring in Balvicar Bay at 18.17, in time for a beer followed by one of Debbie’s sausage and bean casseroles with pasta spirals.  A fine end to the day.

On Saturday, when it came to leave Port Ellen we had the luxury of a number of possible anchorages.  The weather forecast was reasonable with about 15 knots from south or south east so we could go eastwards to Gigha or head north to Craighouse on Jura or go through the Sound of Islay and anchor off another distillery at Bunnahabhain or have a short passage to a remote anchorage inside the Ardmore Islands on the SE tip of Islay.  We chose the remote anchorage as it allowed us plenty of time in the morning for showers and finishing off shopping, also the description of remote and teeming with wildlife appealed after being in harbours for over a week.
Leaving Port Ellen we had to wait and allow a ship delivering barley for Ardbeg distillery to manoeuvre followed by the Hebridean Princess, which looked like a mini cruise ship.

Outside the harbour we were under full sail, rock hopping inside the island of Texa, then outside a series of reefs and rocks before coming inside the Ardmore Islands to go into the anchorage of Plod Sgeirean.  

We dropped the sails and went in under engine and turned on the anchor windlass to prepare to anchor and nothing happened.  Our newly repaired windlass packed up again in only the second time we have anchored since the repair in Killybegs!  

Fortunately the anchorage was quite shallow and the rise and fall of the tide very small so we could lay out the chain and lower it by hand without any difficulty.  The anchorage certainly lived up to its remote title but we obviously missed the teeming wildlife!  

Nevertheless the sun was shining and it was quite dramatic with rocks all around us.  These rocks and the Ardmore Islands sheltered us from any swell so we were still even though there was a good breeze blowing.
We were now faced with some decisions.  First in the morning was to ring KER who repaired the windlass but we were not hopeful of a positive response from them and we were not sure how much faith we would have if the windlass was repaired again.  Second was to contact Ardfern Yacht Centre, about 30 miles north of us, to see if they could get a new windlass for us.  At the same time we had a message from old friends, Julie and Graham Whiting, who were celebrating their ruby wedding anniversary in a cottage on the Mull of Kintyre and wanted to try and meet up with us.  We decided we could go to Ardminish Bay on Gigha as there were visitors moorings so we wouldn’t have to anchor.  We could carry on to Ardfern from there.
Monday’s forecast was S or SE 5 to 6 becoming SW 4 to 5 later.  We were OK with reaching across to Gigha in this much wind.  Getting the anchor up by hand was a bit of a struggle even though we only had 10m out.  The holding was very good with the anchor well dug in.  Eventually it was up and we threaded our way northwards through yet more rocks until we could head east for Gigha.  

We had the choice of close reaching to go south of Gigha or broader reaching to pass north of the island.  We chose the latter as the tide would give us a bit of help and the apparent wind would be slightly less.  We were soon down to a double reefed mainsail and 3 reefs in the genoa with gusts of 26 knots, fast sailing and quite hard work but making good time.  Meanwhile we had made the phone calls to KER, not helpful, and Ardfern Yacht Centre who confirmed they could have a new windlass delivered to them on Wednesday.
As we approached the north end of Gigha the gusts got stronger, approaching 30 knots.  There were black squalls approaching us from the SW and in the Sound of Gigha we had heavy hail squalls with gusts up to 37 knots!  As usual the boat performed beautifully and we actually enjoyed the sail despite the hail and rain.  We were a bit anxious about how we were going to get the sails down in these conditions but luck was on our side and the heavy squalls eased off as we approached Ardminish Bay so with all the reefs in we were under canvassed.  We picked up the nearest buoy to the pontoon so we didn’t have to bother with the engine on the dinghy, tidied up the boat and had a very late lunch we had intended to have on passage.

Going ashore we discovered that the toilets, showers and laundry referred to in the pilot actually burnt down a couple of years ago!  The Boathouse restaurant, near the pontoon had toilets and a single shower available to share between sailors and any campers on their campsite.  A local lady told us where the shop was and the Gigha hotel and the craft shop which we could visit in the morning so we returned to the boat for dinner.

We contacted Julie and Graham to arrange to meet.  They had booked a wildlife trip for Tuesday and were coming across to Gigha on Wednesday so we had Tuesday to ourselves to explore.  We visited the local shop then walked as far as Achamore House and gardens, which we didn’t visit, then returned to the boat for lunch.  

The sun came out after lunch and we braved a trip to the craft shop and Gigha Hotel without waterproofs.  After tea and cakes in the hotel, which we found to be a bit dreary, we came out to find it was raining again so we were back on board with soggy bottoms!
Wednesday morning we got showers, nice and hot despite Debbie pulling the shower rail off the wall! I’m not quite sure what the French couple who showered between the two of us thought about the quality of the facilities!  Julie and Graham arrived on the 11.30 ferry and we were introduced to Truffle and Fudge, their 11 month old Cockapoo puppies and went to the craft shop for coffee, a much nicer place than the hotel, then back to the Boathouse restaurant for a prolonged lunch which we were able to have outside in the sunshine.  

None of us were that keen to visit the house and gardens so we drove to the north end of the island for the views and to give the dogs a run around.  Both went in the water and Fudge blotted his copy book by rolling in something smelly that came from the back end of a cow!!!  

Speaking of cows, they were free to roam in the North of the island and thought nothing about standing in the road to graze the verges, oblivious of us in the car waiting to get past.  

Fudge had a wash in the sea to get the worst off then a further more thorough wash when we were back by the Boathouse.  I suspect a further wash will take place when Julie and Graham are back to their cottage on the mainland.  When they left for the ferry we visited the shop to see if they had any bananas.  They hadn’t so we consoled ourselves with locally made ice creams.  Leaving the shop the sunshine had been replaced by rain.  Ice creams in the rain could only be in Scotland!  Back on board we got the dinghy on board in gaps in the rain ready for the trip to Ardfern in the morning.

On Friday 14th the weather finally changed.  The wind dropped and backed to the south west, allowing us to move on from Portrush to Port Ellen on Islay.
Portrush actually turned out to be a good place to be stuck.  5 nights seemed to go quite quickly as there were a variety of things to do.  Our trip to the Giant’s Causeway was mentioned in our last blog, our neighbours in Graseal, rafted alongside us, took a train to Coleraine to go to the cinema, we walked along the peninsula from Portrush to watch the seas crashing onto the cliffs, proving why we were not going anywhere!  We spent some time in the sociable Portrush Yacht club, making good use of their WiFi.  We visited the Portrush RNLI shop and compared notes with John Martin, chairman of the Portrush lifeboat fundraisers, swapping ideas for ways of fundraising.  We even found a new hot water bottle in an amazing Aladdin’s cave of a hardware store to replace our leaky one.  No more cold toes!  All the while we were helped by Ian, Kenny, Gerry and Aaron, the harbour staff.
By Thursday evening, although the wind was still strong, it was showing signs of easing off so we booked an 0930 slot in the morning for refuelling.  We awoke to wind from the south with little or no swell, the dredging barges were active for the first time in 4 days.

 Another yacht had come in in the night and moored on the fuel pontoon so they had a bit of a rude awakening as we went alongside them and dragged the fuel hose across their deck.  Being Irish they weren’t at all bothered!
We set off under engine and hoisted the mainsail outside the harbour but although the wind was in the right direction there wasn’t enough of it to keep our speed up.  

We had a strong NW going tide across our track which meant that our heading was towards the Mull of Kintyre to make a course over the ground towards Port Ellen.  

We motored for nearly 4 hours until the wind died altogether then backed to the SE and gradually built until we had 20 knots approaching Port Ellen, all in bright sunshine, although it still felt cold.  

Entering Kilnaughton Bay the seas were still quite large so getting the mainsail down was hard work.  

Motoring into Port Ellen the sea went flat but there was still a strong and gusty SE wind.  At first there didn’t seem to be any spare spaces but we found one and found our way in.  Fortunately people had been watching us and saw that coming in was going to be tricky so there were plenty of helpers around to take our lines, much to our relief!  The sun continued to shine for long enough to get the covers on and the boat tidied up before the rain started, sending everyone who had been enjoying the sunshine scurrying for cover.

Port Ellen is run by a charity and is manned by volunteers.  The pontoons were installed in 2007 and extended in 2015.  There is a marina office close to the pontoons with good, clean showers, laundry and WiFi and power on the pontoons. All except the laundry is included in the berthing fee.  Shops and restaurants are close by so this makes an ideal stopping off place and base for seeing some of the island.
As we are now in no rush, we have 3 weeks to get to Oban to pick up Robyn, and the forecast was light winds and rain, we opted to stay another day.  We did a little shopping and visited Islay Fruit Wines, a home based business run by ex headmistress, Helen and husband Kenny.  

After tasting all their offerings (dangerous!) we came away with 2 small bottles of bramble and 2 small bottles of rhubarb wine, very pleasant and in plastic, screw top bottles.  Ideal for the boat.  Although there was light drizzle we decided to walk the 3 mile distillery path to Ardbeg, passing Laphroaig and Lagavulin on the way, for lunch and a distillery tour.  The rain increased en route so we were quite wet when we arrived at Ardbeg.  Lunch was excellent and the tour and tasting fun.  

We decided to catch a bus back in case the rain started again so had a bit of a rush to finish the tasting and buy a bottle before the bus was due.  Just made it thankfully as it was the last bus back!  It’s now raining again and very light winds so we will consult the weather forecast in the morning and decide whether to stay on or move on further north.