Corpach and environs

One of our first jobs before exploring the area was an annoying one. The bimini cover was taken off as some more sporty winds were forecast. Yes, little changes it seems. The south was cooking hot, we were cooler (great) but way soggier (less great). We got all brave and took the local (once an hour) bus into the delights of Fort William. Not for the scenic splendour of the place, mainly as they have a huge Lidl and Morrisons where we can get a bit more than the recent run of Co-op stores offered. Scurvy hadn't set in though.

It rained pretty hard during the morning and the town was a bit empty, understandably. Unfortunately, the best rated spot for coffee was full so we dragged ourselves up the hill to the climbing centre which offers some good coffee, just very very slowly.  That was OK though, we had no desire to rush out into the rain. A walk along the waterfront (liner free this time) then some supermarket shopping followed before the little bus back.

With the promise of a nicer day ahead, the folding bikes were prepared, charged up and we then enjoyed a good towpath ride, alongside the Caledonian canal to the swing bridge at Gairlochy:

At the swingbridge, we watched a couple of boats leave the lock and head through the open bridge:

The hire boat in front was very well fendered indeed but still looked very battered as it went past. One was heading the other way:

Fewer fenders, equally battered. The "Le Boat" cruisers really looked tired, we know that the facilities they have at the base at Laggan are limited but all the same, it seems that maintenance for the hulls and superstructures is minimal to non-existent. 

We then made a tactical error. The crew saw on the website that the Old Pines hotel and restaurant offered drinks and cakes all day. So, we did the couple of miles inland on a nice B road to find that it was locked up and no signs of life. Then a rather gormless girl opened the locked entrance door, went to check and said there was no catering on offer but kindly allowed the crew to use the loo. Very much small hotel in the middle of nowhere in Scotland behaviour! So, disgruntled, we headed back to the towpath and enjoyed the lovely ride back towards Corpach.

There is a good cycle route from there into Fort William so we took that and hit the out of town retail centre for a few more foody bits. All in all a good day on the bikes. 

Naturally the weather gods wanted to change things around and dished up this lovely forecast for us:

with a relatively calm wind strength expected of "light winds or gentle breeze":

However, look at the bottom of the image and it shows 33mph gusts. Er, Mr Met Office how on earth does that work? 

In reality it was more than 33mph for the full day, not just in gusts. Pretty horrible with some heavy showers too and the wind picked up some nice waves across the loch. The visitor berth bit is on the outside of the breakwater and the harbour folks had to close off the spaces that were broadside on to the waves as unsafe. We had the waves on our stern so plenty of slapping noises as they hit under the bathing platform and washed up onto the breakwater pontoon itself.  All the fenders were deployed and one got picked up by the waves and deposited onto the pontoon during the night. Luckily, no damage done, the rest did their job. We had a nice messy weedy hull to clean off the next day where the waves had splashed all sorts over us and the pontoon:

Not a good day, especially as the buses back from Oban were messed up and stopping short of Corpach. We had a nice walk instead.

Things calmed down nicely again though and we enjoyed a last cycle trip, up the Glen Nevis, admiring the Nevis range of mountains and the lovely scenery in general:

That made things seem way better.

Maintenance News:

As it was a year old the genset had a new raw water impeller as a treat. The old one was generally OK, one blade was starting to die though as you can see:

Luckily no big bits had been shed for the captain to fish out of the cooler.  We also replaced a duck bill valve in the vented loop for the master cabin heads. So nice fishing it out knowing what had been trundling through there. Also because reaching it, hidden behind the freezer on the staircase down to the cabins, means getting through a small vent and reaching at full stretch trying not to drop any parts into the big void underneath. No pressure at all. 

 

Tobermory to Corpach

This is how the rear cockpit camera saw Tobermory at 6am, it reverts to black and white in low light conditions:

It was way better at focussing then we were. Funny how you always sleep badly when you know that the alarm is set, even if it is for a relatively benign 5:30 am. At least it wasn't raining when we headed off. That was to come. Our timing was dictated by the Corran narrows - more about them later.  

We headed down a grey and deserted Sound of Mull (bar the ferry from Loch Aline), gave the windscreen wipers a raison d'etre from time to time and then hung a left heading up Loch Linnhe. On the mainland side you get to see the sea terminal area that is part of the largest granite quarry in Europe. No roads to it, so all the many millions of tons of material leave by sea each year. Staff arrive the same way. For more info, see this weblink Glensanda super quarry .

Sure enough there was a cargo ship on the dock:

and a pilot boat was heading over to it. Something went very wrong though - the AIS position of the boat was shown as on the island of Lismore and doing 20 knots:

Quite impressive really. Normally AIS targets on land are aircraft of some type, this was a first. After a couple of minutes, the AIS position moved, correctly, to the north of Lismore Island and all was well. Perhaps an issue with their AIS or GPS kit? Maybe we should blame the Russians for interfering with the satellites? It was a first and a reminder that you cannot totally rely on all the electronic aids being spot on. 

The pilot boat was the second boat / ship that we saw. We ended up seeing 5 in total, including one that was anchored. We almost saw as many dolphins. Rather nice really.

Here is the track, and you can see the Corran narrows pretty clearly:

- the pinch point 2/3 of the way up Loch Linnhe where our route has a little kink in it. The tide runs strongly through there. It is around 180 metres wide and has to drain / fill the large expanse of water above it as the tides change. That induces a flow of 4 to 5 knots  at peak. We didn't want to be pushing into that so we'd headed off earlyish to arrive an hour or so after high water. Approaching the narrows, it was pretty threatening. Nice and grey, hints of rain but dramatic in a strange way:

A bit black and white, like the 6am image.

The narrows have the regulation lighthouse guarding them:

and of course the ferry had to head off just as we approached, it was 5 minutes late too:

Because of the layout of the old slipways, the ferry has this odd looking ramp at one end that sits at a whacky angle to the rest of the ship:

They are improving the ferry slipways with some serious work at the moment to make things better and give the ferry more shelter too. The local folks say that they should really be replacing the ferry which has a habit of breaking down regularly. Not run by Calmac this one, but by the Highland Council. The backup ferry is another elderly craft still in service - now 51 years old!

As we approached Fort William, we recognised that our liner curse had followed us - or to be more precise beaten us to it. Artenia was anchored off the town:

with tenders ferrying passengers ashore in the mixed weather.  Fort William is, in our opinion a sad place at the best of times but in drizzle / rain and heavily overcast skies it just looks drab and depressed. We hope the passengers all went off on the Harry Potter steam train or coach trips. 

The new marina place in Corpach (opened in 2023) was a nice surprise. Good facilities, great views from it and ultra friendly and helpful staff. We tied up, walked to the office and found Brian and Duncan on duty. A long chat with them ensued (Brian is a Nordhavn dreamer we discovered) including some time with another berth holder who was celebrating the sale of his boat. Then we tested out the on-site cafe place, a very good light lunch there, very good indeed. The only downside was when the Loch Linnhe trip boat returned and dropped off the rather elderly passengers. The cast of Ben Hur tried to get inside and order a drink. The place is pretty small, many of them were not. 

The views from our spot are good and you have the railway line running right past. We get to see the Harry Potter steam train to Mallaig and the less lovely Scotrail diesel railcar pottering by:

It is officially called the Jacobite train, but most folks know it from the Harry Potter films as the Hogwarts Express.  The locos sound good!

We also get to see the cargo ships heading to the timber wharf nearby - there is a big sawmill on site:

All in all, a good place to be so far.

Maintenance News:

Not a lot really. The wing engine had some exercise, both it and the main ran happily. To save buying lots of extra electrical power here (you get £5 worth a night), we ran the little Webasto boiler to make hot water for showers, the first time in ages. It fired up and did what it is supposed to.