Portavadie / Tarbert
Portavadie was a marina stop off recommended by the Crew’s
parents who had visited it for dinner a few years ago. Sure enough, lovely
buildings and facilities that were only about half occupied. Calling ahead to
check on space for berthing wasn’t really needed!
The marina is on the site of a shipyard that was built as
part of a development plan for the area to construct oil rigs. It didn’t get
any orders, never built a single rig and so became derelict and then was converted into a marina.
Madness, just madness. They even built housing for the workers that was not
occupied and now is derelict too.
The marina facilities are excellent:
We took advantage of the nearby Calmac ferry to visit Tarbert. That was actually
cheaper than taking the boat over and berthing there!
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That was a busy sailing, we went back with one car on
board…..
The town is best explained by pictures. So, first of all,
please Amanda, when you open your B&B do not do this to the garden. As Ikea promote; “Say no to Gnomes”
To their strapline, we would add “mock Egyptian pillars, wooden carved owls,
stone figures etc etc etc. A tad overdone for our taste.
Sitting in the harbour was a 98 foot Princess motor yacht.
Spookily it used to live in Swanwick marina on the Hamble river where we had a
berth. As you can see, it looks a bit
out of place amongst the fishing boats and other older craft. It is registered
in the BVIs, must be some tax fun going on with it too. As we walked past, the
crew were leathering off the overnight rain to make her all shiny. We have a
lot to learn – shame it rained again shortly afterwards:
To make a living, the shopkeepers have to sell a wide range
of goods. On the other half of this splendid fascia, it also mentions
confectionery, newspapers, holiday items, etc. Inside, it looked like everything that he could
buy from a wholesaler had been added to the shelves somewhere.
