Kilmelford to Ardfern

Oh boy, was it dreich on Monday. Couldn't see the hills around the loch, could just hear the nice sound of the rain gurgling down the deck drains - kind of comforting though, like the noise the dry exhaust makes when we are underway. Probably the kind of background noise that would help children sleep. Perhaps we could record it and make some money from the wealthy yummy mummy brigade. Anne - how much would you have paid for a digital sleeping draught for your kids? (I deliberately haven't asked Claire as she is a financial controller and we all know how careful with cash they are).

After a day hunkered down, the wind finally dropped and we decided to start the trek south again. Between Loch Melfort and "the south" is a tidal gate at the Dorus Mor, near the entrance to Loch Craignish. For the non boaters, a tidal gate means an area where you have to pass at specific tide states otherwise it can be very bumpy and/or you you have a big stream against you. As it is spring tides this week, proper timing is even more important as everything is amplified. So, we headed off just after lunchtime for a 15:30 arrival in the narrows, when the tide is as "slack" as possible. It was strange saying bye to the Kilmelford team who had been so helpful after our 2 rather lengthy stays there. A stopping off point for next summer!

After days of grot, the sun was kind to us and the trip was lovely albeit still blowy. View down the sound of Jura:

We arrived at the Dorus Mor at more or less the right time. A few whirlpools were visible but because of the timing, it was calm despite the brisk wind and spring tides:

Feeling brave this time, here is a picture of Princess Anne's yacht on the mooring just outside Ardfern Yacht Centre. We feel brave as the USA monitoring services are probably very busy with Syria and will not be alerting MI5 to security breaches in the UK right now. If we are wrong, please start a "Free the Nordhavn two" campaign asap:

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As you can see, not that opulent. If she pops down tomorrow, we might offer her the use of our rather nice shower.

The evening view down the Loch was lovely, as was the rather large Indian meal we managed to consume sitting in the pilothouse and watching the world do nothing in particular. Oh yes.....