Kerrera to Loch Aline

After two very windy days, we woke up to a calmer but still grey outlook. It was a slow, late start and we discovered that the shorepower had popped. Checked the breakers on the shore supply - all were fine. Not a problem, we can happily run off the new battery setup for several days despite using an electric kettle, the microwave , fridge / freezer etc.

Later we found that the entire island was dead:

Might be a fairly regular thing for them? It wasn't an issue for us as we slowly prepared the boat for a short trip to Loch Aline, another favourite spot. The usual tidal annoyance was even more important today. The Loch Aline entrance has charted depths as low as 2 metres (plus the tidal height of course). To get a sensible (1 metre clearance in this case) we didn't want to go in at low water. Low water was pretty much the time we would arrive if we left Kerrera at midday and cruised at our normal speed, typical. We had to leave around then anyway, berthing typically runs from 12 am to 12am  and we didn't want to cause the lovely Kerrera folks an issue with an incoming boat.

So, we headed off and had a very slow trip on purpose. No pictures for you as it was grey, gloomy and there were a couple of big showers that killed visibility and even made us fire up the radar. Yup, that bad.  Passing the little island of Lismore, this is how the lighthouse at the end of it appeared:

Not exactly clear was it?

We arrived at Loch Aline a bit too early despite the slow trip. It must be the little bit of exercise that we gave the wing engine that pushed us along too fast! Hardly..... The CalMac ferry that goes across to Mull from Loch Aline has a nice long lunch break and then heads over at 14:15. So, we stooged around waiting for it to depart as the channel is very narrow and it was going to be very shallow so we needed it to be clear. You can see the little loop past the entrance on our track:

We crept in once the ferry had departed (late of course) and had a minimum of 0.9 metres under the keel. Watching the depth sounder plummet from 110 metres just off the entrance to 0.9 is certainly character forming. We popped onto a nice big hammerhead, chatted to some yottie folks who came out to help us and then retreated inside to avoid the persistent drizzle. Not one of the nicest day trips we've had. Calm, nice area but rubbish weather.

The harbour folks here are just lovely, nice local community run facility and they seem to add new things and ideas each year. They so deserve to do well.

The forecast for the two following days was not great. We were in for a very windy spell:

Please can you explain how the met office forecast shows light winds as a summary then 40 plus mph wind gusts??? The inshore waters forecast was way more realistic:

In preparation,  we took off the bimini cover to save it getting a flogging and to reduce the noises it and the supporting bars make. Amazingly, this was the first time since leaving Penarth we'd had to hide it away.

Before the wind picked up, we went for a wander into the village and down to the entrance of the loch. The Sound of Mull was looking mean and moody:

whereas the crew just looked ready for both sun and rain - very much a Scottish summer thing:

In the village we inspected the rather good range of products on sale in the local shop and then went big. The Whitehouse restaurant (NB it is a Trump free zone) had a very good reputation, expensive evening meals and we'd been told that it was worth a visit by several folks. Realistically, it has to be good to survive in the middle of nowhere and to attract enough folks from far and wide. Bear in mind that the drive from the Village to the nearest town with large supermarkets and a sensible population takes an hour and that includes a ferry crossing:

An hour underway and then you get to the rather sad Fort William too - not one of the best towns in the Highlands really. 

Back to the White House restaurant topic. We'd booked but there was no need. We were the only lunch time diners. Food? It was superb. Look at weblink for an idea of the menu etc. Happy to report that the duck was sublime and the souffle for dessert was on a par with the main course. We also managed to get back to the boat (20 mins or so walk) before the wind and rain kicked off too. Happy folks despite the weather.

These intrepid rowers arrived in the pouring rain just as the wind picked up too and left in nicer conditions the next morning:

We did wonder where they slept and if they'd had a shower / wash. Fortunately they were far enough away and downwind of us so we could not tell.

The following day we waited for the rain to stop and the wind to calm down a bit before walking into the village again, then back the other way to the head of the loch. You could tell that it has rained a teeny bit by the waterfall running down the hills to the loch:

and again by this video of water flowing under the little bridge that leads to the Ardtornish estate:

The estate has opened up a café there which we felt obliged to test out after the walk (around 50 mins from the Harbour office area). Very glad we did, another good stop off spot. Loch Aline is turning into a foodie kind of place for us, must be time to move on before we need new larger clothes. The only disturbance was this coaster who pitched up at slack water early one morning with lots of noise being transmitted through our hull:

He had swung round to face the entrance and then berthed on the sand mine quay. Lots of prop and thruster noise to wake us up. Annoyingly, the following morning we had the same noise, just a bit later as the ship swung around again to face into the loch. No idea why as nothing had been loaded during the day. Neither movement was a good time to have an alarm call.