Wandering south, well as far as Northern Ireland

The nights started drawing in, the weather looked like it had given up on being summer so we ought to do the migratory thing and head south. We planned to do so but then the captain carelessly and unaided by alcohol, managed to slip down the stairs to the saloon and end up in a heap on the floor. As he hit the deck he watched some toes getting bent up and thought "gosh, that is painful". He was, unfortunately, right:

So, a few days of inactivity followed with the crew having to go shopping alone and actually carry her own money and the items needed. Stress beyond belief for her. After a few days of doing nothing at all, we had a brief visitation from John and Irene and Archie, who enjoyed chewing the resident toys we keep for such events:

Finally, the captain got brave and tested the foot for a short walk - just to pay the marina fees. Then we headed over to Holy Loch - once more amazed that cruise passengers are dumped in Greenock:

Still, compared with the antique liner Black Watch,  Greenock is probably OK really. A few passengers lined the rails watching us. They must have decided that the excursions were too expensive, the torrential rain forecast for the afternoon was too unappealing or they were too scared to venture into Clydeside, even on a coach. Or perhaps they just wanted to stay on board for lunch as it was already paid for?

Holy Loch was as lovely as ever but we resisted the walk into Dunoon (to be more precise, the captain's toes resisted it) so a bus trip was in order instead. A delayed birthday lunch was greatly enjoyed at Livingstones but the long wait at the bus stop for the non appearing bus back was less fun. West Coast Motors haven't got around to investing in signs that tell you if a bus is delayed or cancelled and they don't use their website or any social media for it either. As they only run every hour and we had some shopping, a taxi was needed.

The departure from Holy Loch was in wonderful warm calm conditions. It felt like a very silly move to leave the place:

but as the longer term forecasts were less encouraging, the migration south had to begin. To take advantage of the tides in the North Channel between Scotland and Ireland, either a stupidly early or a mid afternoon departure and overnight trip was needed. We opted for the latter. A lovely sunny flybridge trip followed, listening to the amazing England victory in the Ashes (cricket against Australia for foreign readers!) despite all the odds. That was as cheery as the views out:

As we were passing down the side of Arran, we saw an AIS target that seemed to be well inland and moving at 135 knots:

Realising that it was heading into Prestwick airport and was an aircraft was reassuring.

The route to Bangor is simple enough:

but Marinetraffic didn't show the start of our trip for some unknown reason (we left from Holy Loch, near Greenock on the map). Once we were south of the Isle of Arran it got a bit bumpier, just as the captain was going to get some sleep. So he just had a lay down and got annoyed that he could not fall sleep instead. The further south we got, the calmer it got so the crew was luckier for her off watch period. The night-time office view of the world:

The FLIR (forward looking infra-red camera) image of the waves in the pitch darkness continues to amaze us and we are getting better at spotting the "heat signature" of birds compared to debris or pot markers in the pitch dark. We still err on the side of caution though and go around them if in doubt.

Arriving off Bangor there were a couple of anchored ships lighting the way:

and as expected we arrived just as it became possible to see properly again (around 6am). Onto the huge hammerhead that the marina had told us to use, quick sort out for the boat and bed then beckoned.

The trip took around 14.5 hours running slowly at 1450 to 1475 rpm most of the time. Most economical indeed (around 8 lph consumption). In total with the usual wide open throttle run at the end to clear out the exhaust stack and the cylinders we used about 120 litres of fuel to do the 85 sea miles. Less than £60 for the trip seems OK compared to the cost of a ferry or flight with the amount of hold luggage we would need to take all the stuff we lug around on the Nordhavn!

Nothing to report on the maintenance front - just that the engine room temperatures reached their highest this year (warm outside, little wind and from the wrong direction to aid the fans). It did creep up to the "magical" 30 Farenheit above the external ambient temperature that is aimed for. The forced ventilation is not great and we keep saying that we will add a couple of chunky fans to help move the air around in the engine room. Maybe this winter...

The B and B was open again

Our return to Greenock was not just to enjoy the lovely town (!) but mainly to meet up with Ann and Martin who, for some strange reason, had decided to come boating with us for a while. You've seen them in here before, using the forecabin in Ireland and again last year on the south coast. Some people never learn, despite having more degrees and qualifications than you can count between them.

So, they drove up to Greenock via an overnight stop in Bromsgrove. Yes, all the high spots in one trip. It seemed only fair to let them escape to better areas so we did the round tour of the nice bits. First of all, Bute and another Mount Stuart visit, only this one was better. Not because we were without the other Anne but because we were allowed to wander around the house after the guided tour. The house still impresses:

One had all the mod cons built in - one of the first houses with electric lighting, the first with a heated swimming pool etc. Not to mention a plethora of support staff on call electrically:

The chapel was completed as a tribute to the then deceased Marquis (who was responsible for the amazing and detailed decor of the house).  It has an atmospheric lantern up top that shines red in the sun (yes, we had some!):

and the red light is arranged to shine directly onto the altar at mid-day on mid summer's day:

only we were a little later in the year as you can see.

The grounds are always worth a wander around, but we were a bit tight for time as the buses run rather infrequently. There was time to admire a huge number of butterflies:

Whilst on Bute, we took them around the castle and the high spot - the local Co-op. We are such good tour guides....

Departing Bute and heading around the Kyles we were treated to a sunny calm day with the resulting views from our lunchtime anchorage:

As you can see, it was pretty calm:

0.6 knots wind speed is a tad unusual around here.

The typical flybridge views as we headed Tarbertwards still impress us:

except for one of our visitors who needed a post lunch snooze:

In Campbeltown we had another cinema visit - to see Blinded by the Light. Again, good entertainment even if it felt a lot like Bend it like Beckham in many places..... This film was in the main auditorium so we get to take our own pictures of the "atmospheric" early 1900s design:

We returned to Greenock via Holy Loch and did the obligatory walk to Dunoon on a pleasant day with good views from the top of the town:

Walking back, we found that the Kirn folks have a slightly parochial view of the area:

and a great sense of humour!

Sadly, the visitors had to endure some wet weather but all was not lost. They taught us how to play canasta. The crew might have put them off a bit though with her ripple shuffle:

Apparently this was very hard and not as slick as usual as the cards were not worn in enough. Workmen and tools?

The final day was spent doing a walking tour of Glasgow. Very informative indeed and we went to some areas that we had not seen before. Some nice bits that is, there are plenty of areas we will continue to avoid. The cathedral / High Kirk looked lovely from the Necropolis:

We were shown the amazing murals which are modern depictions of St Mungo (Google his importance to Glasgow and his miracles - you will see them represented in the mural):

This was done entirely from spray cans using a cherry picker for access in around a week by a very talented artist, Smug. For more information on the mural trail have a look at mural website

We finished off their visit with a huge and wonderful curry evening in Gourock at the Taj Mahal restaurant. Go there and sample some amazing flavours. Enough said.

Lochranza to Greenock

The nice weather had to end. Well, it chose to do so in the morning that we were due to leave Lochranza. Luckily the rain stopped before the crew had to slip the line securing us to the mooring buoy.

A grey but calmish trip to Greenock followed to position the boat ready for our next B and B invasion. Upon arrival in our "usual" spot, we found a rather vulgar superyacht also in residence. Apparently it is the smallest superyacht with a helicopter landing pad built in. As you can see, there is not much room for pilot error:

Flying Manta was not a thing of great beauty. Kind of fitted in well with Greenock town. Actually that is unfair, there are some lovely old buildings here.

Lochranza, coastal walks, warm gensets

Another sunny calm day enticed us out to walk part of the Arran coastal trail. It was well worth it. At the end of the loch, there is a little golf course that had attracted more than people who wanted to bother little white balls:

We wonder if they replace their divots and clean up the piles of poo. Graham and Pat (the house in Samos folks) suggested that the golfers were on a stag party. The general levels of humour in this blog are dropping dramatically now.  On the way back you climb up to around 60 metres (OK Anne, nothing at all, we know) and you get some good views of the loch. Play spot the Nordhavn again:

On the way there is a good spot for an ice-cream break, The Whins where Reg an elderly English guy crafts stone figures and sells Arran ice-cream. Which to choose? Simple on a warm day:

You can play spot the fuzzy Nordhavn in this picture.

As we walked back to the dinghy, we saw a dog looking most captain like sitting alone in a canoe next to the little slipway:

He seemed quite patient but made no attempt to get hold of a paddle. Returning to the boat, you can see how calm it was from the surface of the water and the slack lines attaching us to the buoy:

Maintenance news:

The genset seemed to be running a bit warmer than usual when it was busy battery charging / making hot water for the showers / running the washing machine during the morning. So, the strainer was cleaned out (not very grubby, no signs of extruded jellyfish in there either) and a new impeller fitted. The raw water flow seemed fine.

Running it later, the temperature stopped rising and stabilised but at a higher level than before. Looks like the new thermostat that was fitted recently is a little "warmer" than the old one. This winter we will remove and clean out the tubestack in the heat exchanger just in case.

Campbeltown to Lochranza

Having enjoyed some wonderful weather in Campbletown, Roland's brief company, a Redbay RIB trip and a generally good time, we departed on a very very calm day. The original intention to head around the Mull and "vaguely up north" got binned when we saw the unsettled forecasts ahead. Not windy but a bit soggy. We decided that as we had visitors coming we ought to stay a bit closer to some civilisation just in case the deluges got a bit much.

So, we has a gentle flybridge trip up to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran as below:

Sitting up top, admiring the sticky up bits of Arran (which Anne had some mad desire to climb) and the general lack of other boats was good. This poor picture of the flybridge screen shows you the true wind speed of 1.1 knots! Wow:

Lochranza is either an anchor into lots of kelp and poor holding or pick up the one big (80 Ton) buoy that is mainly intended for the use of the "Alba" fleet of sail training yachts. We stalked them on AIS and decided that none were heading to Lochranza and so if the buoy was free we could use it. So it turned out to be, the gods were smiling on us in many ways, The crew executed an excellent rope through buoy thing with plenty of yotties watching and willing a disaster.

To go ashore, we unveiled the "rubber flubber" rollup Avon dinghy with the tiny Tohatsu outboard for the first time in ages and ventured ashore. The ruined castle sits in a suitably commanding position by the water:

with nice views back up the loch:

One old yacht was very poorly named, it looked more like a lack of dignity for her now:

Another renovation opportunity? In contrast to the friendly smiles and greetings from the locals that we passed, this house made things pretty clear:

For the foreign readers, the SNP are the Scottish Nationalist Party who want an independent Scotland. No idea how they would fund themselves but that doesn't seem important in the general rush around the world to having "self government". No desire to bring up the Brexit mess here though...

The evening gave us great views up the loch of the moored boats and the ferry Catriona which goes across to the Kintyre peninsular:

A truly beautiful spot in calm conditions, the boat seemed happy there too:

And we got to enjoy a stunning sunset to enjoy as well:

All in all one of those days that you recall fondly when sitting with the rain hammering down and the wind trying to break your mooring lines. Might be next week?

Campbeltowning around and feeding the tired

The walks around the loch are just lovely, with some great views and always plenty going on - leisure craft, commercial vessels, fishing boats, seals, paddle board types, kyaks etc etc.

Here is the view from the southern side of the bay looking towards Davaar island in the entrance:

As the fishing boats returned, they were pursued by the usual flock of gulls and often a seal too. When they were cleaning the fish and the remains were being pumped overboard, the seals (and gulls) had a great time. This guy was a very successful scrounger:

The downside was that the gulls liked perching on us to spot opportunities. They left us several too. The satellite TV and satellite phone domes are now an interesting colour.

The northern side of the loch has the remains of a shipyard; a rather nice decaying slipway and concrete area where sheds once stood:

Kind of a sign of the commercial decay the area suffered - distilleries closing, the RAF base at Macrahanish (the local airport) going etc. In the port, there is a lot of serious wind farm activity. These were standing on the quayside:

waiting for:

The loading process seemed very slow - the ship was in for around a day and a half. Ken (the Norn Iron man who knows about shipping) said that it would cost around £5K a day for her to sit in port. Cheap wind energy indeed!

You also get to see things like the Viking Gripfisk - a fish carrier that is part of the grim fish farming activity all around the Scottish coast:

As you can see he was pumping what we assume to be sea water (maybe with a few added lice and antibiotics?) directly onto the quay head. A sad industry indeed.

You know how people appear in strange places? Well, we were walking down the pontoon and wondered why the fast RIB ferry the Kintyre Express was not out doing her Ballycastle / Islay run. Then we saw a man opening the engine hatch in overalls and guessed why. Getting closer we both thought "that looks like Roland, the Proteum engineer who does all the Nordhavn work". Our eyesight isn't too far gone, it was indeed Roland. He had a 5am alarm call to go to Southampton airport, fly to Glasgow, collect a hire car and drive around to Campbeltown. That alone takes nearly 3 hours. It was just after lunchtime and he was about to replace some manifolds, thermostat housings, a raw water pump, various hoses etc on the two Marine Diesel engines fitted to the ferry. Poor Roland. The plan to finish everything by midnight so a sea trial could be completed and the boat put into service the next day was wildly optimistic. We did our bit plying him with coffee and dinner / lunch / snacks. Also some tools as he could only bring so much on the plane with him. We are kind of an on site catering wagon and tool store now as well as a mobile B and B.

The captain got a run out on the ferry when the work as finally finished (about 21 hours after the plan despite Roland only getting 3 hours sleep!):

We scared the gulls off if nothing else as you can see! The boat is quite something, a lovely hull but some seriously low rent components used for things like the door hinges etc.  Fast, seaworthy, shame about the fit and finish. The operator reported that she was quoted as a 9 ton boat but when delivered was 12. Quite a difference!

After dinner poor Roland finally escaped at around 11pm to do the 3 hour drive to Glasgow airport and then get up for a 6:30 flight. So glad not to be working anymore. Remembering days like those makes you appreciate the liveaboard lifestyle even more.

Campbeltown is not devoid of culture either. The "Campbeltown Picture house" is a restored 1913 cinema, built in the days when they tried to give you the illusion that you were seated outside. In a Scottish winter we cannot imagine why anyone would want that. We went to see something less cultural - the film Yesterday which was just good fun. Most interesting building:

and quite an interior:

Then we were invaded.... A fleet of Dutch yachts, with one token Belgian in amongst them, arrived as part of a round Britain trip. Lots of friends had seen the impending invaders on AIS and contacted us to say "be afraid" or something similar. They forget that the crew is half Dutch and under stress could use some bad Dutch works loudly if needed. No matter, good boat handling (you could tell they were not French) and 22 large yachts duly tucked into the small pontoon area. Quite a party atmosphere.

We like Campbeltown for what it is, love the friendly harbour folks , the fact there is both a Co-op and a Tesco (spoilt for choice) and the beauty of the loch.