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.