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| -- June 25th to July 1st, 2024 -- |
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Argyll ?? No, this is not a reference to a project management methodology involving sprints and scrum masters – we are luckily still out of our offices! This is a region, historically linked to the Gaelic kingdoms of Ireland, which spans from South of Skye to the Mull of Kintyre, and our playground for this chapter. Here mountains are lower and everything revolves around one industry, one passion, one raison-d’etre: whisky! Other things don’t change however – like the weather (cold, windy and wet).
More pictures of awe-inspiring landscapes and a short drone movie on our page
Pictures.
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150 miles sailed
1140 miles since the start
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25th June: Kyle of Lochalsh – Eigg (31 M)
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Today we sail between the isle of Skye and the Scottish “mainland” (which is also an island, just bigger…). This narrow straight is called Kyle Rhea. It works like a funnel for the sea, ebb and flow generating strong currents. It acts as a funnel for boats too as a consequence, dozens of them appear from nowhere at the time of the tide to rush into the passage with us (but not completely like us… we are the only one with sails up…)
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Saltimbanque is only in 3rd position, but he is sailing at least !
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Tiny village on the lee shore of the isle of Skye
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The trip is wonderful, under the sun even! On starboard the tall isle of Skye and little houses scattered on the shore, on portside the sprawling Scottish Highlands. The wind is affected by this relief (a lot of local gusts), and we are constantly alternating between beating, motoring and asymmetrical spinnaker!
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Once passed Sleat point in the South East of Skye, the wind settles in the North West and we glide with the wind abeam, enjoyable conditions! We have a look around on this new archipelago: in front of us the islands of Rum, Eigg and Canna make up a nice cocktail ;o) ! We are surprised by the number of boats. They are everywhere! Clearly a majority of sailing boats: almost no fishing vessel, no cargo, a few ferries, and dozens of sails! Back to civilisation it seems … (and our shudder at the thought of the “crowd” confirms that we are lost to the Med and its millions of cruisers!)
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Guillemots flying along the isle of Eigg
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At last, we are getting wind conditions compatible with a wild anchorage, our best stop over in Scotland!
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Tonight, no strong wind warning, we can anchor! Reaching the isle of Eigg, we drop anchor in a beautiful round bay, together with three other boats. The sun even makes an appearance during two full hours, offering us one of the best evenings of the trip. The landscape is perfect, transparent water, white sand, seals all around, and playing in the current at a short distance, large dolphins which we watch through binoculars. We even have a drink in the cockpit! Wonderful evening, the gift of a rare summer night :o)
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26th June : Eigg – Tobermory (24 M)
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Summer has gone… a force 8 gale is forecast for tomorrow, we need to shelter in a harbour. Leaving in the beautiful early morning light, we motor a while waiting for the wind to wake up. As time passes, the sea is covered with other sails, all heading towards the safety of Tobermory… we pass by the beautiful Ardnamurchan point, the westernmost point of Scottish mainland, and we quickly trim the sails to the southeasterly that just picked up.
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The light on such sunny early mornings makes magnificent landscapes...
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Ardnamurchan point, we are now definitely on the South side of Scotland
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A few more tacks are needed to reach Tobermory, but the sea is flat between the islands and this is not too difficult. Between tacks, dozens of boats motoring against the wind pass us by and head for the harbour! We hope they will leave a space for cute little Saltimbanque…
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Saltimbanque racing towards Tobermory, just behind the one other boat tacking as well.
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There’s a lot of activity in the harbour, all berths seem occupied … unless? Is this a space here all the way inside the harbour with the small motor boats? Laure jumps on the pontoons with a probe lead and confirm that there is enough water, and Saltimbanque comes in and moors at what may be the best sheltered berth in the harbour! There is a justice for small sailing vessels in the end!
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27th June: Tobermory (ashore)
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We have hardly put a foot ashore, and it becomes clear that we are now in whisky country!
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Force 8 gale outside, flat calm at the pontoon! (We will only experience strong gusts when the wind will veer to the West-North-West). With the wind came the rain, tons of it, which limits our explorations to the nearby streets. Temperature has dropped again under the 13 degrees (too bad for our oil olive…)
That’s alright, Tobermory is not a big city. The marina however is large and well-developed, with a large harbour office, chandlery, a lot of showers, we haven’t seen such a large marina since Kristiansand! On the place next to the harbour, a big whisky distillery, the first we encounter on our journey. The visits are unfortunately all booked and we can only chat with the agent in the shop and learn more about their specific scotch.
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The main street is, as often in these coastal villages, one row of houses facing the sea. Here they have been painted in the sixties and seventies in bright colours! They harbour mostly (almost exclusively) shops for tourists, souvenirs and craft. Very touristic here! We recommend the fish-and-chips truck on the quey however. Well, “fish”-and-chips… there’s so much seafood to choose from in the region, and we choose a “scallops” and chips, not bad at all!
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The charming village of Tobermory and its colourful houses trying hard to cheer up the somewhat grey atmosphere...
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Hand-made chart of all the wrecks around the isle of Mull, including a gallion from the spanish "invicible armada"in the 18th century.
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We end with a visit to the small museum maintained by a group of volunteers (mostly pensioners), and like in Westray we are impressed. The history of the island of Mull is told on hand-written carton boards, completed with crafty illustration and pasted drawings. Everything is very neatly done, and the content is very interesting. Mull has been occupied since the stone age, and round houses and fortifications are plentiful here too. In addition to the typical brochs (like in Shetland), there are “duns” (simple round forts), and a lot of other kind of forts and castles. Several stone circles and raised stones remind us that this is a Celtic land. They also have a piece on the history of the Stevenson family: founded by Thomas Smith and step-son Robert Stevenson, the dynasty counts eight engineers over three generations, responsible between them for building more than 120 lighthouses between ~1800 and ~1880, all around Scotland. We have seen already a lot of them, starting with Bressay and Sumburgh in Shetland – and they often have a family resemblance :o) The most famous is of course the last of the line, Robert Louis, the engineer-turned-poet who didn’t build lighthouses but got very inspired by them (and islands in general)…
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28th June: Tobermory – Oban (24M)
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There is still a strong westerly this morning, 20 kts gusting to 30 according to the forecast. But this is wind in the back and the sea is flat on our way to Oban, this should be fine.
We are not the only one to think that way, and when the tide turns the pontoons get very busy. As soon as we leave the sheltered bay, we only have to unfurl a little piece of our genoa and get pushed through the “sound of Mull”, between Mull and the mainland. Of course this looks a little like sheep ahead for the barn, all the boats following each other, but this is easy navigation!
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With an excuse to Camille’s sister, we don’t stop in Loch Aline, and prefer to continue on our quick ride with the wind and the tide. Exiting the sound of Mull at Duart point, admiring the nice castle standing there, and a few miles further we enter Oban bay – or rather the Kerrera sound, where we will pick up a mooring. 24 miles in 4 hours, that was quick!
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Duart castle, not in ruins for once!
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We leave Saltimbanque on a mooring buoy while we go explore the big city of Oban
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Kerrera marina is supposed to offer a free ferry to Oban on the other side of the bay. Bad surprise, it is not free (information in the “Welcome Anchorages” and in the Reeds, even 2024 editions, are often outdated)… good surprise, the kind ferryman comes to pick us up at the mooring directly when we wave to him! (The official way is to book and pay on an app, at least 25 min in advance…)
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Finally we land in Oban! This small city is a pure creation of tourism! There was nothing here until the 1800s. It all started in 1794 with… a distillery of course. The city grew around it, then the growth was fuelled by the proximity to Glasgow, especially after the railway was built. The whole city is dedicated to tourism, as a gateway to the Hebrides and hub for rail and ferries. The buildings, built with no other limit than the fantasy of rich merchants and industrials in the late 1800s-early 1900s, are all more creative than one other and the facades are full of funny details. Overlooking the city, a copy of amphitheatre was commissioned in the late 1800s by a philanthropic patron to employ unoccupied stonemasons and offer a nice view point on the bay (all the nicer as we can spot little Saltimbanque dancing on his mooring over there :o) )
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Oban in a nutshell: a harour, a distillery, a "folie" looking like the Colosseum, and somewhat fantaisist houses.
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The surroundings of Oban seen from the heights around the city. Can you spot Saltimbanque?
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29th June: Oban – Craighouse (48M)
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After two days of strong wind, we should now get two days on quieter westerlies before the next low. The objective is south, always south… we want to pass the “Sound of Luing” and its famous currents which can reach 7-8 knots. It sounds impressive, but it is actually just a matter of calculations to be at the right place at the right time.
For us, the calculation means departing at 7am to sail the first 15 miles against a weaker current, and then enjoy most of the favourable tide where the currents are stronger. The wind is more South-West than West unfortunately, and we need to tack more than expected, but we still end up roughly on time at the start of Luing and together with all the sailboats which have been brutally motoring their way out of Oban.
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Passing by the Luing lighthouse, again a Stevenson's masterpiece!
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The rather long island of Jura with its typical 3 tops, the Paps of Jura
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It’s a reasonably dry day today, and a nice 4-5 wind almost abeam on a flat sea. We pass a little distance from the famous Corryvreckan channel, from for its maelstrom and waves which can reach 8 meters (we have not gone closer to check). Then we continue our way along the looooooong island of Jura.
The coast is becoming lower as we are leaving the Highlands well behind… there are still three summits on Jura (the Paps of Jura), which we catch a glimpse of, one after the other, between the clouds.
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The closer to the island we get, the stronger the downhill gusts and we are relieved to find a mooring available in Craighouse bay, at the southern end of Jura. This time we were a little ahead of the group and the anchorage fills up as boats arrive one after the other with the last of the tide.
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Saltimbanque on a mooring buoy in Craighouse, nice but rather exposed to catabatic winds...
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Craighouse and the inevitable distillery, which likely employs the vast majority of the 188 inhabitants of this large island...
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Craighouse is the most populous village on the island, thanks to… its distillery of course! Otherwise there isn’t much: a small hotel where we could pay the mooring fee, a shop and a café both closed, and free wifi which proves very useful to get the weather forecast – there seems to be no 4g on the island! Jura is also close to a tidal antiresonance point: there are strong tidal streams, but almost no tide range (just like around the isle of Wight).
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30th June: Craighouse – Kilnaughton (22M)
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It’s the tidal stream which dictates journey planning around here. No point leaving before 12.30 today, which leaves us some time to walk on the island. Just to stretch the legs really, a proper exploration would require a full day hike.
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Craighouse bay, Jura
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Leaving with the tide, the course is set for the next island: Islay. This is a pleasant trip, still on flat water as the islands are sheltering from the Atlantic swell. We are a little surprised to find currents against us as we arrive to Islay, but we find the solution and draw closer to the shore, tacking between the rocks, and we end up reaching the anchorage before bigger boats which left Craighouse with us – hehe!
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Anchorage by a white sandy beach with good holding!
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Tonight there are a few quieter hours before the low arrives tomorrow, we will drop the anchor in Kilnaughton bay. Beautiful sand beach, some limited sunshine and 11 degrees in the water, this is a nice Scottish anchorage!
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1st July: Kilnaughton – Port Ellen (1M)
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The wind picked up during the night, and the swell built as it veered a little to the South. First thing today is to move to Port-Ellen on the other side of the bay. The harbour is nice, situated in a round bay surrounded by white houses. Most berths are free, we wonder where the other boats went after Tobermory…
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Port-Ellen, particularly charming we thought!
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First stop, Laphroaig distillery
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Islay is Whisky Island, there are at least 9 distilleries on the island! This time we were more organized and booked a visit to the Lagavulin Distillery. It is one of the three distilleries along the 6km long “3 distilleries path” from Port Ellen. We walk there, stopping first at Laphroaig distillery (it’s on the way!).
There we get 3 whisky drams, for the price of a coffee in Norway! The whisky in Islay is known to be peaty, and we drink it with a little water to get the flavours out. On every table a glass and a water pipette stand ready for the tasting: some will drink neat or with a few drop, some add up to a third in volume… it is actually the process for the “blenders” in charge of balancing each batch and make the whiskies: they dilute it progressively, drop after drop to get the full aroma and flavour out of it.
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Second stop (and last, don’t worry), Lagavulin. The setting is beautiful, next to a rocky bay guarded by the ruins of a 14th century castle. A lively young local woman welcomes us and delivers so many anecdotes, technical explanations and tasting advice with a delightful Scottish accent. Whisky (from “uisge” = water in old Gaelic) appears like the other “aqua-vitae” in the Middle Ages, first used in medicine. Long controlled by monasteries, its appeal grow with innovations making its taste less rough. In the 17th and 18th century the Scottish crown charges a large levy on distillation, driving the whole industry underground (and often practiced by night, hence the name “moonshine”). Farmers would have a network of spies, and get ready to hide their portable stills upon notice of the tax collector arrival. Usual hiding places were coffins and altars in churches… Several ended up getting caught however, and some accepted to legalize their operations (rather than going to prison). This is the case in Lagavulin, officially created in 1816, and maybe in Tobermory and most others founded in the same period. In 1820 the levies are removed and more reasonable taxes will launch the full development of the industry.
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Second stop, Lagavulin. It's worth the hour walk already just for the surroundings...
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There are few trees on Islay, peat is thus used as fuel to dry the germinated barley, which gives this typical smoky taste to the whisky.
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To make whisky you need germinated barley, peat to dry it so it becomes malt, and water to dilute and distil it all. We can see grain vessels arriving to Port Ellen, and small tankers leaving full of spirits. According to our calculations and the stats from the visit, 1.9 kg of grain is used for 1 L of whisky… another way of looking at things is that whisky is, by weight, the by-product of the process to mash and strip from sugar the grain then fed to cattle! The art of whisky-making is also mostly down to maturing in casks, different kinds of casks for different lengths of time… but experts can talk about it way better than we do!
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It was our last day in Scotland, a new force 8 gale is forecast in two days, and we just have time to reach Northern Ireland where we will be better sheltered. A little frustrated with the weather depriving us from the anchorages we had dreamt of… we will have to come back another time, and hope for better conditions then!
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A last ruined castle to finish with, former residency of the "lord of the isles". Farewell Scotland, we'll have to come back!
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