What's happened in 2023

August and September 2023

We had a selection of folks visiting the boat. We had hot weather with bikini's and a trip to Oban transit pontoon to watch the rugby. Meg brought her man up for approval... he passed! Sarah and the sausages visited, and the real good news is that the Boathouse Kingairloch has re-instated their moorings!

So that's Shard all tucked up for the winter

Video of the highlights here

Meanwhile off to New Zealand for about 6 weeks!

Thursday 27th to 30th Sunday July 2023
We left Arinagour as soon as we could it was still somewhat bumpy. One we got to the entrance of the loch the swell died away. Our visibility was "poor" We chased the ferry out at around 10:00. Good sailing weather. Arrived at Tobermory around 16:00 and went straight ashore with the dogs. We walked to the waterfall in aros bay. The forecast for Saturday was poor so we stopped atotla of 3 nights in Tobermory at £17 a night. The facilities are good showers shops etc. and we finished off with dinner at the Western Isles hotel. This was not as "posh" as we expected but, the restaurant was dog friendly. We were greeted and seated by Maria a cheery (not) waitress. Food and cocktails were good. Oysters, langoustine, scallops, venison steaks, a burger, sticky toffee pud, ginger and chocolate tart. A bottle of white and two glasses of red £260 for the three of us. On the Sunday we headed off down to Linnhe chased down the Sound of Mull by the Flying Dutchman in full sail. We passed Stranger who was heading North in the sound, and telo in the Lynn of Morven. Got onto our mooring at 16:00, after a walk the girls headed down the road and Tom went to the co-op for "supplies.

Video here

An epic trip with a great crew... what's next ladies?

Wednesday 26th July 2023
Off to Coll. Good sailing today with a fair wind from SE. We sailed past Staffa which was hoaching with folk off the tour boats walking round to the entrance to Fingals cave. The sea was too high for us to attempt an anchor and a visit and it was busy. Got to Arinagour with little drama, but the moorings were not at all sheltered with the wind from the SE. There was one other boat mooring there, a bunch of Germans. Getting ashore was OK in the dinghy with our reliable electric outboard. The community centre has showers £1 for 3 mins (first shower in a week!). The shop was strangely stocked with little in the way of what we needed and it was expensive too. The village was nice. The hotel was lovely and the food excellent. It was VERY bumpy overnight Iona "slept" in the port berth in the saloon, she should have used the lee sheets as it was rough.

Tuesday 25th July 2023
Well for some reason best known to ourselves there were no photos taken on the passage to Ulva Ferry. The weather was overcast but dry, and with the wind in the SE we set off for the pontoons at Ulva Ferry. We got there about 2 hours after high water its a bit shallow in places and there is a tricky current through the pontoon. We hovered while "the crew" attended to the fenders and warps and it was in my mind that we might be best to go astern using the current to draw us in but a "helpful" person appeared on the pontoon to take our lines. We went in frontwards but Shard is not much good in reverse to we hit the pontoon quite hard with the bow, removing some gel-coat in the process. Note to self... next time go in a high water while its slack. We paid our £24 only to find out the "facilities" wont be finished until October. So no showers and a portacabin loo. The man in charge was friendly and welcoming, but the hammerhead is very busy with tour boats. There are good walks ahore on the Ulva side, less so on the Mull side. There is a wee cafe on the Ulva side but it was busy and closed early.

Monday 24th July 2023
Off we set for Bunessan, its only a 3 mile walk across the land but, its a bit longer by sea. The Sound of Iona is shallower than I'd like however, its deep enough if we use the tide. We passed the island and decided not to stop it looked quite busy in terms of where we could anchor and that. The wind freshened and the sea became "moderate" as we came out of the lee of the Island of Iona. We were joined by a group of dolphins who had great fun surfing in our bow wave. It was tricky to get any video as the boat was moving about so much. We lost the cafetiere as a big wave bounced it right out the sink just as lunch was being served. The girls went ashore to the village of Bunessan with the dogs to what might be the tiniest SPAR in the world. We did our evening walk on Eilean Ban on the shell beach.

A wee video of the highlights here.

Well... this will be the third attempt at circumnavigating the Island of Mull.

Thursday July 20th 2023
Iona, Gillian and Riley arrived at Linnhe at 14:30 and met in passing Lucy, Andrew and Helene. One group off as another arrives. Anyway safely installed on board the "A team" headed off to the Old Inn for a steak table booked for 18:30. Dougal and Riley got scraps and a bone each.

Friday July 21st 2023
Filled up with diesel and water and departed Linnhe bound for Loch Spelve. Weather Fair but not much wind, motored down to Port Appin borrowing a mooring from the hotel to do a wee shop in the Appin Stores. (whisky, poo bags, lighter fluid and anti-histamine tablets) and Magnums all round it was warm.

Picked up the wee yellow buoy in the top left corner of the loch. Walked the dogs of course and had chicken curry for tea.

Saturday July 22nd 2023
Iona took us out of the loch entrance and clipped the waypoint by 2m. The wind was NE so under sail for the first bit, then motor sailing then under engine eventually reaching Traigh Gheal. One other yacht was in so, we anchored in the top right hand corner in 4m with 25m of chain. A lovely spot. The girls took the dogs ashore it had been a long passage for them. Burgers for tea.

Sunday July 23rd 2023
A rest day at Traigh Gheal. The wind has gone NW so we are still sheltered but we moved the boat and re-anchored. A bit of paddle-boarding was done in bright and breezy conditions. We were joined by the yacht "Steady" which had 7 Dutch folk aboard. We let the paddle-boards down and were visited by a helicopter which circled quite low above us. We got a wave (well the girls did!). A 3G phone signal can be found at the western edge of the beach bu, not on the boat. Pasta Bolognaise for tea. A wee video of the highlights here.

Season is now well underway we had a visit from Sarah and from Andrew and Lucy. The weather was mixed but we managed to get around. Lovely dolphins in the Sound of Mull just off Ardtornish Bay.

A wee video of the highlights here.

So we had a few visitors early in the season. Memorable for the overall level of madness were Sarah for her swimming, Iona and Meg for the crabbing. We visited Kerrera , Port Ramsay, Loch Spelve and all the usual local favourites.

A wee video with some highlights here.