Royal Air Force Yacht Club

Peter and Julia Harvey

Members may be wondering why they have seen so little of me over the summer months.

Those of you, like me, who have the good fortune to be retired, will know that us retirees are no longer restricted to two, or occasionally three weeks, of annual holiday. This year Julia and I made the most of that and spend nearly three months getting to and exploring the West coast of Scotland.

At the end of May there was a break in the weather just long enough for us to get from Falmouth to Dublin, before we found ourselves storm bound in Howth. On the windiest day we recorded wind speeds of over 55knots, but the marina there is very sheltered and the staff very helpful and friendly. A stopping off point I would readily recommend to others. Whilst Dublin isn’t exactly the worst place in the world to get stuck, after eight days we ready to move on.

A rough trip to Bangor was compensated by the fantastic welcome we received from the Royal Ulster Yacht Club, where we had just dropped in by chance (they do prefer some advance notice but it’s an historic club and well worth a visit).

From there we went up the inside of the Mull, via the Crinan canal to Ardfern. The canal was one of many highlights of the trip, and by far the best two days of weather we had all summer. Members who have cruised there before will know we had now reached an area with some strong tides and as a consequence passage planning complicated by tidal gates. But with fewer boats than the Solent on a wild, wet and cold February Thursday! This, together with the superb scenery, wonderful anchorages and choice of finest malts more than compensated for the weather, which was pretty rubbish!

It’s quite hard to pick out highlights from the trip as there are so many to choose from. The profusion of bird life, gannets, guillemots and puffins, together of course with seals and dolphins probably top that list. Though we were disappointed not to see any whales.

My favourite malt was Jura, distilled in Craighouse. Julia has a preference for Ledaig from Tobermory, which is definitely worth a visit with or without the whisky.

We had to return home for a few weeks in early July so didn’t get as far North as we wanted and the continuing unsettled weather also meant we had to leave the Outer Hebrides for another year. Our favourite anchorages were probably Loch Moidart (a tricky entrance but well worth the effort); Loch Drumbuie quite near to Tobermory; Puilladobhrain (once in you are almost landlocked and it’s a short walk to the “Bridge over the Atlantic”). Our most dramatic passage was the one through Cuan Sound where the 7 knots of tide race you through a passage that at times is less than 50 meters wide (“brief but always full of interest” as the pilot book describes it!).

The journey home took in Carlingford Loch in Northern Island, the Isle of Man and Padstow before reaching Falmouth almost exactly three months to the day from when we had left and a total round trip of just under 1500 NM.

For those with the time to make the passage there I would highly recommend it. And to any members thinking of doing so, or are thinking of chartering, and want to borrow some charts or pilot books or hear about the trip in more detail then please grab me when you next see me.

PS: Everybody had warned us of the horrors of the midges in summer. Julia had stocked up on every midge repellent known to man! They must have worked as we saw barely any the entire time! (Or was it that the best repellent of all is wind and rain?)

PPS: For anybody who wants the full details of the trip from Julia’s perspective, she kept a daily blog on www.whinchatter.com