Portavadie, road trips and more social time

We mentioned that going to Tarbert allowed us to see the friends who reside in Portavadie. Well, we duly took the ferry over to see them:

The regular little car ferry, the Isle of Cumbrae, had been taken away to fill yet another gap in Calmac's flaky service to another island. So, the poor locals had no car ferry, just a passenger service operated at high speed by a Redbay RIB. Oh yes we thought, that will be a fun ride. Extra bonus, that was for free. It also meant that we didn't have the irritation of the antique car ferry starting up her engines a good 30 minutes before heading off each morning, berthed near us in the harbour. Noisy and a guaranteed early wake-up call. Typically the car ferry returned the night before we wanted to use the service.

After a slow trip on the 50 year old ferry, we met Sheila and Niall, together with Penny the dog. They took us on a road trip to Otter Ferry initially, where we walked to Ballimore House - they offer B and B if you are interested:

Quite a place and a most pleasant walk around their grounds. We did not abuse the Scottish "right to roam" laws though and kept well clear of the house itself. Otter Ferry itself was a place full of memories. Our last visit was in 2013 when we anchored inside the sand bar and had dinner in the pub there so we would use the WiFi to book some flights south. How the world has changed - a great phone signal there now and, if you want to give the nice Mr Elon Musk lots of money, satellite internet via Starlink too. 

After a lovely overnight ashore at Sheila and Niall's house, enjoying their excellent hospitality, we had a short car trip (mainly single track roads of course) and then walked to Kilbride bay where Penny the dog had a great time:

We recognise that ball in the mouth expression so well - very Izzy like. We had a good time too, here are the more photogenic humans:

The captain took one for the team - taking the picture and escaping being in it and spoiling the view, which was rather special too:

Arran in the distance, a little cloud hanging over the hilly bits, just perfect. Afterwards we visited the community run cafe in Tighnabruaich. The village seemed way more alive than when we visited in 2013 and anchored off the Royal hotel. More little shop units were open, the main street was busier too. 

We enjoyed a great time (as always) with Sheila and Niall.   Penny as well. It was a bit sad to leave them and get the ferry over to Tarbert again. However, this was tempered as Iolair was still around and the yottie folks had arrived on their posh Malo too. A rather civilised dinner in the yacht cockpit was enjoyed, even if Robert looks a tad grumpy in this picture (you should see the other one we took!!)

Catching up with the delightful Deborah and Robert, saying bye to the Iolair crew over a coffee, raiding the local Coop and generally chilling was rather good. Barney the dog was reported as trying to return to our boat, not his own after walks as he wanted the "fun boat" - where he gets to destroy toys. We kindly gave Sarah one so Barney could leave their saloon as a murder scene too:

Sorry Sarah....

Here is how another Nordhavn 47 looks as they headed off:

You can see that Neil takes his "checking the area for other traffic" responsibility most seriously. Plenty of waving too from the Skipper and Sarah (but not Barney bin Laden) as they departed:

The weather was no way as bad as they had forecast  - naturally. It got a bit unpleasant towards the weekend but the original forecast was way off yet again. Never mind, it made us spend a week in Tarbert and we had lots of quality time with some lovely people. All good.

Maintenance news:

The lucky genset had a brief run, the aircon compressor had one too, being used to put some load on the genset. Then the genset was treated to fresh oil and a filter swap. Dead simple as jobs go but satisfying and needed