I take advantage of another day of a passing deep low over the north of Scotland to write a new post. Will the weather become more settled in July?
After this low, another front will be coming on Tuesday. On Monday we will probably sail to Loch Aline on the Morvern Peninsula, anchor and wait.
Right now we have finally reached North West Scotland. First we had to negotiate another two tidal gates, the notorious Mull of Kintyre and the Sound of Luing, both needing very accurate timings because of extremely strong tides and currents. The infamous Gulf of Corryvreckan is just about mile to port when you are approaching the sound of Luing from the south.
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| Mull of Kintyre in good weather |
We left Loch Ryan on the Mull of Galloway after two days at anchor. The day was sunny with little wind. Why is it that there is either too much or too little wind? We thought at first that we would stop in Campbelltown to wait for the best timing to go around the Mull of Kintyre, but because we were doing slow progress we arrived near the headland just at the right time to go straight away.
The pilot books tell you that if you go very close to the shore (about 200m) with the right timing you should avoid the worst of the overfalls and eddies if the wind is over the tide. The wind was weak, but it was still against the tide which resulted of us having strong wind (23kn) right ‘on the nose’ right off the headland. A few miles later the wind was gone, back to being almost nothing again.
An hour or so later the visibility became very poor. When we arrived on the small island of Gigha, thick fog and drizzle meant that the visibility was down to around 50m. In the past it would have been rather more unnerving, but with our modern electronic aids to navigation you can follow your route looking on your plotter and see all the approaching vessels (AIS) on the screen.
We only spent one night on Gigha although it is supposed to be very beautiful, but it was still very foggy and drizzly in the morning. We decided to press on towards Ardfern in Loch Craignish. It is a very popular yachting centre in one of the most beautiful lochs.
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| Our first walk for weeks! Very green, very wet... |
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| Mooo... |
Our next (and last) tidal gate was to pass in the Sound of Jura towards the Sound of Luing. The islands in this area are very close to each other and all the enormous tidal flow has to go through them. Consequently the currents are very strong between the islands. Corryvreckan, the most notorious gulf in Scotland is just a mile or so abeam when you sail through the Sound of Luing.
When we left Ardfern it was still foggy and there was no wind. We could see the islands of Jura, Scabra, Lunga and Luing with all the offlying rocks and islets. It was so interesting to see all the landmarks, feel the awesome currents and eddies as the visibility improved slightly and we reached the lighthouse on Fladda, which marks the end of the sound.
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| The lighthouse on Fladda |
Now we are tucked away on Kerrera island, just opposite Oban. It is a very friendly marina with a good restaurant. The wind is howling (32kn in the marina, F7) and we are very happy not to be sailing out there.
