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. 

Lochboisdale to Tobermory

Sunday had a nice forecast for crossing the "Sea of the Hebrides" back to the mainland. There had been a couple of blowy days and this looked like a nice break. A bit overcast but nice enough. The sea in this area can kick up quite quickly, we'd enjoyed two very calm trips through the Minch (another well known rough bit!) and hoped for one more gentle excursion.  The downside? Well, another early departure. Of course. 

There were some short sharp waves, only a metre or so high on the beam and the stabilisers sorted them out. We quickly settled into "gentle cruise" mode enjoying the views of the other islands closer to the mainland as we headed over. Sadly, the camera flattens everything and in reality it was way nicer:

There was very little other traffic so the plotter and PC screen were pretty empty, just like the much needed tea mug:

You can see the route and how it passes other islands from our MarineTraffic track:

although their "no subscription" service which relies on AIS data relayed from ground stations, didn't pick up the start of the trip. The differing ranges that we can pick up other vessels' AIS transmissions is always a surprise. Sometimes the commercial guys, who you would assume have good kit, good aerials and wiring to them, appear when they are much closer than a little yacht who fitted the cheapo device he bought off eBay himself one weekend. 

If we have an internet link we get AIS data fed onto our Time Zero PC software package "live" as well as closer targets we pick up on our own AIS equipment. That can be helpful for example when planning to avoid ferries in pinch points or narrow channels by adjusting speed early.

Approaching Ardnamurchan Point the conditions changed, with a swell from more or less astern, a couple of meters high. Nothing to disturb the trip, just to keep the stabilisers amused. It got a bit murky too so the Ardnamurchan lighthouse picture is suitably gloomy (and a long way off too):

Ardnamurchan is one of those "significant passage places" - used to be viewed as a special spot and you were supposed to put a sprig of heather on the pulpit of the boat as you rounded it. Nowadays folks might recognise it most as a name from the BBC shipping forecast. Times change indeed. Things improved as we headed into the Sound of Mull, following and then overtaking (yes, overtaking!)  a rather yellow French yacht:

Nice rock formations, less appealing yacht. This time we got a better image of the lighthouse just before the entrance to Tobermory harbour:

which opens up to reveal the colourful waterfront to tired crew:

We raided our favourite "stocks everything you might need" hardware store the following day, to discover they had been rewarded:

Yes, of course they had the odd little battery that we needed for the thruster remote controller. In the village one of the "tourist tat" shops (of which there are plenty) had a very inventive window display for the Tunnocks world cup. If you've never had one of their wafer biscuits, then you must live outside the UK or hate chocolate. they are as Scottish as Irn Bru (which is pretty disgusting stuff really). To be honest, we like the wafer biscuits a lot but the mallow teacakes are too sickly and a bit boring. No matter they were both in the final:

and the match statistics suggested a close game:

The display of the pitch, players and spectators was brilliant and must have taken ages, it was worth a video:

We were privileged to be berthed close to this lovely old craft, Kingfisher. A 1935 craft built by the famous Silver yard and in wonderful condition:

The owner came for a chat, told us that she was not a Dunkirk little ship as she was patrolling the Bristol Channel armed with one Lewis gun at the time. A serious deterrent indeed! For more information see National Historic Ships entry  We dread to think how much the annual maintenance bill is for her. Makes buying a temporary microwave oven replacement seem insignificant.

After a showery day, the evening was glorious, just as it had been for the past 4 or 5 days. Not a bad way to end our stay in Tobermory: