Category Archives: 2020

This morning the skies were blue with a hint of sunshine. We left the anchorage after breakfast and went alongside at Campbeltown marina for a couple of hours to shop and refill our water tanks, then started our passage around the Mull of Kintyre to Port Ellen. We had our passage and timings planned, butContinue reading “Saturday 8th August 2020 – Campbeltown to Port Ellen (Islay) – 46 nm – 6hrs”

‘We’ve cling ons on the starboard bow……’ One very small starfish was hanging on for dear life to the anchor and its friend to the chain. Both safely returned to the water we left Burnt Island and headed off, in the rain, for Newton (Loch Ranza) north of Arran. While slowly drifting past a forestryContinue reading “Friday 7th August 2020 – Burnt Island (Bute) to S.Newton (Loch Ranza) 15 nm – 3hrs to Campbeltown (Kintyre) 21 nm – 3hrs”

What a great start to the day, it was actually dry with even an occasional blue hue in the sky. Visibility was enough to enjoy the magnificent mountains lining our passage from Helensburgh to Burnt Island (Bute). With very little wind we slowly sailed, sometimes forwards, and took in the stunning scenery. Upon arrival atContinue reading “Thursday 6th August 2020 – Rhu (Helensburgh) to Burnt Island (Bute) – 21nm – 4hr”

It was blowing an hooley last night and a few houses in Rhu have flooded, but the good news is our parcel arrived so we can move on tomorrow. There was a brief interlude from the rain so we made a dash to the bus stop and travelled as far as it would take us,Continue reading “Wednesday 5th August 2020 – Alongside at Rhu Marina, Helensburgh”

It rained all night, it rained all day. The rain ran like rivers along the deck and were above window level as we sat in the salon of Talavera. It rained so hard we could hardly hear each other speak so Tim sat with his headphones on recording his podcast and Row sat with herContinue reading “Tuesday 4th August 2020 – Alongside at Rhu Marina, Helensburgh”

Another day of passing pine forrest covered mountains with the occasional small town along the way, very pretty indeed. We again spotted the same submarine as yesterday, this time with escort. We watched it glide past us on its way to Faslane, we were safely alongside in the marina at Helensburgh. The marina has justContinue reading “Monday 3rd August 2020 – Kames Bay (Bute) to Helensburgh – 18nm – 3hrs”

Woke to a perfect wind direction, 13W, sailed off the anchor this morning and headed to the island of Bute. Being in the Firth of Clyde we had joked about seeing a submarine, low and behold we saw one on the horizon. It didn’t show up on AIS or radar and totally camouflaged grey againstContinue reading “Sunday 2nd August 2020 – Lamlash to Kames Bay (Bute) – 29nm – 5 hrs”

Last night we watched a carrier dock with a cargo of wind turbine blades, doesn’t sound terribly exciting but the size and shaping of each blade up close was incredible. We took another stroll around town and had an OK Indian meal at the Taj Mahal on the sea front; we timed it right beingContinue reading “Saturday 1st August 2020 – Campbeltown to Lamlash (Arran) – 30nm – 7 hrs.”

Last night two other boats joined us in the anchorage but it was too choppy to take the dinghy over and splice the mainbrace with them. This morning there was a temporary break through the cloud and in one direction there was a definite glimmer of sunshine. The hills look much more inviting now thatContinue reading “Friday 31st July 2020 – Campbeltown at anchor”

Re-fuelled at 0730 then sailed away from Bangor on calm seas with the sun trying to break through the clouds, no rain at that time. From the little we saw of Bangor, the third largest City in Northern Ireland and its largest Marina, the seafront was clean, unspoilt and popular with holiday makers. The FerrisContinue reading “Wednesday 29th July 2020 – Bangor (NI) to Campbeltown (Kintyre, Scotland) – 49nm 9hrs”