The big ferry

What do you do when you have a world girdling capable trawler yacht, plenty of diesel on board, a huge anchor and miles of anchor chain? Well, you decide to take the Calmac ferry to Brodick (Isle of Arran) as plan B. Here are the crew and Linda conspiratorially enjoying the sun on board:

They were probably plotting trouble for Andrew and the captain. We loved Arran, especially as it was sunny (despite the attire you see in the picture above). Approaching the island,  here is the "hilly" northern bit where Goatfell, the highest point, is located:

and the town of Brodick:

A walk up to the castle and excellent coffee / cake at the Little Rock cafe were enjoyed too. Here are some impressions:

Continuing the "boat restoration opportunity" theme from earlier posts, Andrew found the ideal winter project. Well, an engine and bearers anyway:

On the way back, a pod of dolphins were fishing in the bay near to the ferry before departure. A great farewell treat after a great day on the island.

Upon return we moved the boat to her new berth, which involved an interesting bit of reversing down between two pontoons and then into an alongside space between two other boats with little clearance.  As we had a meerkat like audience on neighbouring boats, we just had to do it without touching the thrusters. One lady yottie even complimented us afterwards. A first; we must be getting the hang of this boat handling stuff at last.