Day 30

Last year On the first blog I wrote a fair bit on Oban on Day 14  and 29 here… https://ascotsmananenglishmanandanirishman.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2021-06-16T14:53:00%2B01:00&max-results=7&reverse-paginate=true

The sunset last night did not disappoint and it stayed light until well past 10.30.

We have spent today yet again replenishing the supplies onboard.  We are struggling to get a Calor Gas replacement bottle and this may require some changes to the supply if Tobermory and Stornaway are as bereft as Oban.

One of the reasons for having a few days here is to change crew.  The last Scotsman onboard (Jim) is about to leave the boat and travel back South.

Joining the boat is Chris Paine (Nick’s better half) and they plus Paul (The Irishman) will be going up ultimately to Stornaway over the next 4 weeks.  On the return trip Chris will leave the boat again in Oban and Jim will rejoin the crew around the 7th of July.

You know your in Oban when you see this

Oban didn’t disappoint

Day 29

 After a very calm night in Crinan we moved from the Visitor’s Buoy to a very small pontoon very close to the rock face of the bay for fuel.  Not for the faint hearted as the wind was blowing us off the pontoon and straight at the rocks.  However we made it without too much drama and filled up with diesel from the pump.

We set off for Oban from the fuel jetty at 9.45am and headed through the Dorus Mor, a vicious tidal race if you get it wrong, but a great shortcut if you get it right.  We did!  Got it right that is……on through the Sound of Luing and into the harbour via the Kerrera Sound.

We Picked up another dolphin escort, first one in a while.  Lunch onboard today was “baked” potato and bolognaise a Paul sauce.  This year Paul has surpassed himself with really fantastic meals.  Not easy to do on a boat galley.

We arrived in to Oban at 14.20pm having covered 21 miles.  Mostly motoring but managed a decent sail towards the end of the leg.

Lunch for three

Arriving in Oban

Day 28

We left Port Ellen at 10am for Crinan, some 40 miles North.  In reality we travelled 38 miles through the water, reflecting the positive tidal flow for almost our entire passage.

Yesterday a square rigger called The Flying Dutchman arrived with a load of Americans on board.

We arrived into Crinan Boatyard at 17.45pm and tied up to a mooring buoy for the night.  On this leg we passed through the 1000 mile barrier, from leaving Lymington.

Crinan Boatyard is beside the entrance lock to the Crinan Canal.  It has a small diesel pontoon that we want to use in the morning to fill up before the boat goes further North as there are only a few fuelling points with pumps as you travel up towards Stornaway.

Port Ellen

The Flying Dutchman arrives

Leaving Port Ellen on a transit 

Day 27

We departed on time at 3am in the dark.  It was however worth it, to catch the tide to get round Malin Head and across to Islay.  Getting it wrong can add 4 hours to the journey, or getting it right can take 4 off!

As it happens we got it very right, the boat literally flew along for the first two thirds of the journey topping 10 knots and averaging between 7 and 8 knots.

The last third was a bit slower as the tide turned but we arrived in Port Ellen on Islay at 12.30pm having travelled 46 miles.  

Port Ellen is a very attractive small town and we are delighted to have arrived in time to go exploring.

The Skerries goodbye Ireland

Islay on the horizon

Day 26

Today is our preparation day to make the jump over to Scotland in the wee hours of tomorrow morning.  Paul went off for his run this morning around Rathmullan.  Nick did the navigation and weather calls to double check we are ok to go.  Jim had a lazy day watching box sets on his iPad after updating this blog.

On his run Paul came across a sign for a Mass Rock, explanation link here….https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_rock

We left Rathmullan at 5 pm this evening and motor sailed the 10 miles up to a bay at the head of the Lough called Portsalon in Ballymastocker Bay.  This positions us to set off around 3am into a favourable tide to help us get over to Port Ellen on Jura hopefully by early afternoon tomorrow.

The Mass Rock

Day 25

As we are still stuck with the weather, being waves off Malin of 4 - 5 meters and Force 6 winds.  We decided to catch the bus to the town of Letterkenny that is positioned at the beginning of the Lough.

Letterkenny is a bustling market town and the main centre in Donegal, they have a big Tesco so we revitaled the boat at a reasonable price.

We also discovered a museum in the Town the Donegal County Museam that was very interesting.  In addition to the normal exhibits of Donegal’s history.  We fell lucky that they had a special exhibition for this week only addressing the Anglo Irish treaty of 1921.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_Treaty

Included in the exhibition are original papers from the London meetings with hand written notes from Michael Collins.  Also an amusing expenses claim as he left for London.

Paul and Nick on the Main Street Letterkenny

Famine Pot

Treaty notes

Expense claim

Day 24

Having had a very close look at the weather forecast, our options of ports and our timetable to get to Oban.  It looks like we are stuck here until Saturday, today being Wednesday.  Our problem is getting round Malin Head safely to get to Northern Ireland doesn’t look possible before then.

Malin Head is notoriously difficult and dangerous in bad weather, so we have decided to go straight for Port Ellen on Islay.  Missing out NI on this part of the trip.

We are discovering Rathmullan today, we have managed to rent a house to have showers and Paul has gone off for a run and a swim in the harbour!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lough_Swilly

Day 23

We set off from Arranmore Island at 7.00am and set off for Lough Swilley.  Again the wind was set fair and we managed to sail the whole way.  A combination of a fast Broad Reach and a Downwind leg East to the mouth of the lough.  

We sailed past Tory Island, unusual in that it had up until recently a king in place.  Interview with hi here….https://youtu.be/P6hsLrdPhhM

We also sailed past the Seven Sisters that had been shrouded in cloud until we got level with them.

Lough Swilley is huge, the mouth being 5 miles wide and our destination some 12 miles into the Lough at Rathmullan, a very pretty village.  The pontoon unfortunately doesn’t have any facilities on it, so as we haven’t had a proper shower for sometime and our devices are all pretty much discharged.  We came up with a cunning plan to see if we can hire a room in the village for a clean up and recharge.

Unfortunately the weather is closing in again and we may be stuck here for a few days.

Tory Island

The Seven Sisters

Day 22

We left Kilcummin Roads at 7am and sailed for Arranmore Island.  The weather was really good for a change with lighter winds than we have had for some time.  So we managed to get all our sails up fully for what promised to be a great sailing day.  

As it turned out we managed to do the whole trip on a single tack, only changing the tack to bring the sails down to enter what is a tricky approach to the bay and Visitor’s Moorings.  We arrived in the very pretty bay at 4.30pm, having travelled 58 miles, really quick passage with a Beam Reach for most of the day pushing us along at between 6 to 8 knots very consistently.

Kilcummin Roads

Dawros Head

Arranmore Island

Rinrawros Point

Day 21

We managed to escape Blacksod Bay and had a very interesting passage through islands and rocks.  Pilotage is very important on this stretch as there are a number of submerged rocks as well as the ones you can see above water.  

We beat out of the bay very well and made surprisingly good time to our turn North.  The weather was as promised Force 4 - 6, but we managed to sail all the way with for the most part the Fore Sail up only.

The islands though gave us some shelter from the swell which was very noticable once we emerged at the top of the passage before turning East. We travelled 60 miles to Kilcummin Roads we left at 6am and arrived at Kilcummin at 4.30pm we anchored for the night after the realisation that there were no visitor buoys although the Almanac had promised a few!  Tomorrow we strike off for Aranmore Island.

Paul with Turduvillaun Rock in the background

Jim with the Stags in the background. 

Day 20

 Our plan was to leave Blacksod Bay this morning at 7.30am and move to Kilcummin In Donegal Bay.  So when the alarm went off at 6.45am and Nick said, stay in bed, we were a bit surprised.  Overnight the weather forecast had changed for the worse with F7 to Gale Force 8 winds being predicted later today.  So once again we are weather bound in a lovely little bay, however we have no way off as it is too dangerous to blow up the dinghy.  As I write this it is blowing very hard again but we are reasonably sheltered on our buoy.

Our new French friends have also just arrived in the bay having travelled up today from Rossaveal it must have been a really rough passage.

The forecast for tomorrow and for the next few days is good.  So unless it changes again we should be able to leave tomorrow.

Day 19

We finally left Rossaveal at 6.30 am and headed off into the wind and rain.  The first part of this leg took us straight into the wind to get out to sea and turn North.  It was very lumpy and we had to tack out effectively in the wrong direction for a time to get clear of the headland.  The waves once we went out to sea properly were in the region of 3 meters high and the wind stayed in the F4/5 for pretty much the whole day.  

On the approach to our mooring place we passed by the impressive sight of the imposing Achill Island with a cliff face some 664 meters high.

We arrived at Blacksod Bay at around 10.00pm some 83 miles later and just as the light was fading.  We managed to pick up a mooring buoy in the bay and had a remarkably quiet night considering the wind strength.

Achill Island

Achill Island

Our track for the day