New Mañana Today blog

Welcome to all readers of the previous version! As some of you may have noticed, I have been having software difficulties of late, specifically related to uploading photos. Considering that Mañana is just beginning her greatest ever adventure, it was a bad time for her blog to go wrong! So I have launched a new one and hope it will turn out better.

For new readers’ benefit (if any!), Mañana is a Malö 36 sailing yacht, built in Sweden in 1999. She spent her first few years in the Mediterranean, until acquired by us in 2014. We are Alastair and Maria, co-skippers, and Mañana is registered as a British yacht. Here’s a picture of her:

Ramsgate to Portsmouth

As mentioned in the previous post, the weather was forecast to deteriorate and we moved on the 15 miles to Dover. The wind was force 5-6 and dead ahead. We made slow progress and the journey took 6 hrs instead of the 3 it might take in favourable conditions.

The pictures above are of the “White Cliffs” of Dover and a shopping mall in Dover with the castle above. Dover castle is very well preserved and is a fascinating tourist site. The town in contrast was heavily damaged in WW2 and not particularly sympathetically rebuilt. In Dover marina Mañana was berthed on the same pontoon as our previous boat on an earlier occasion.

The next day was Maria’s 60th birthday. She celebrated it by seeing “The Lion King” in the afternoon and going out for dinner in the evening with Edwin.

We were up early again on 15 Aug for the trip to Eastbourne. There was no 7 in the forecast. We made slow progress tacking and took a long time to pass Dungeness power station. We did get gusts into F7 and 2m waves. We were finally locked into Eastbourne marina just after midnight. The weather forecast was poor for the next 4 days, it was very windy but not wet, and we were able to get a decent view of the Eastbourne air show which was on over the weekend.

The long wait for a break in the weather was partly ameliorated by having a hot chocolate and a waffle.

The midnight forecast did not have a 7 in it and we took the 0030hrs lock out of Eastbourne on 20 Aug. We arrived in Portsmouth in the mid-afternoon. Seeing the Spinnaker tower again was like coming home as we sailed out of Portsmouth for many years. Mañana berthed in Haslar marina where Maria said farewell to Edwin, packed a few belongings and went home by train.

On the 23 Aug Alastair and Maria returned to move Mañana up Portsmouth harbour to Port Solent. It was a lovely sunny day and we passed HMS Queen Elizabeth en route.

On arrival at our destination we we directed to berth next to “Lively Lady” famous for its one-stop circumnavigation of the globe, sailed single handedly by Sir Alec Rose in 1968.

You may wonder why Mañana did not return to Weymouth where her Round Britain adventure started. When we bought her in 2014 it was our intention to undertake an Atlantic circuit and sail around Britain, having achieved these we no longer need a blue-water yacht. Mañana will be better off with new owners wishing to voyage long distances across oceans , so she is now for sale. We hope she has many exciting adventures in the future.

Sunderland to Ramsgate

On 7 Aug we left Sunderland marina at the civilised time of 0930hrs. We had a splendid sail in a force 4-5 on a broad reach. Mañana reached 6-7 knots over the ground. We made such good progress by Flamborough Head that we had to heave-to for 3.5 hrs to allow for the tide to rise sufficiently to allow us entry into Grimsby Fish Dock and thence to the marina. We were hove-to between wind farms, gas platforms and moored tankers. It was Maria’s night watch and she saw another meteor.

The picture above is of Edwin, the mate supplied by one of the yacht delivery companies. He is a retired engineer and computer programmer.

Grimsby has very few trawlers now, 8 was the number given to us by the berthing master. Most of the commercial boats are wind farm support vessels. The weather forecast was poor for the next 2 days.

The next day we walked into Grimsby. The town is a run-down, depressing place. The drastic reduction of the fishing fleet has clearly had massive impact. The photo below shows the abandoned fish dock buildings.

We spent 3 full days in Grimsby waiting for the wind to subside. We spent the time doing minor maintenance tasks and cleaning. Finally on Sunday 11 Aug the wind lessened and we set forth again for the long run across the Wash and Thames estuaries to Ramsgate.

We set off cautiously with 3 reefs in for the afternoon, but shook one out by the evening, so we had 2 in overnight. We passed multiple wind farms. Maria saw her third meteor of the trip. This was probably due to the presence of the Perseid meteor shower which results from the Earth passing through the path of comet Swift-Tuttle from July 17 to Aug 24. The wind continued to drop and by 0800hrs Mañana was under full sail. We had to start motoring in the late morning as the wind had dropped to 4 kn.

We made slow progress around the Felixstowe/Harwich area as there is a ship roundabout called Sunk where vessels from the North Sea about to enter Felixstowe/Harwich are very tightly controlled by a Vessel Traffic Service. We finally arrived at Ramsgate at 0300hrs. We got up at 0900hrs and treated ourselves to a full English breakfast at a café on the harbour front.

The two pictures are of the interesting waterfront of Ramsgate which had a wide range of cafes, chandlers and sail lofts.

Ramsgate had previously held a semi-mythical status in Maria’s mind because a previous boat had been berthed in Dover only 15 miles away, but that boat had never ventured to Ramsgate, although going to France and the Netherlands. Mañana’s stay in Ramsgate was only brief because the weather was deteriorating again and a decision was made to press on to Dover as a better place to be storm bound.

Stromness to Sunderland

Maria returned to Mañana on 30 July, having had a 24 hr layover in Inverness due to fog. She spent the next day rearranging the cabins so that her new crew mate, Edwin, would have a space in the aft cabin. Maria met Edwin off the bus at the travel centre and took him to Mañana.

On 1 Aug after giving Edwin a detailed briefing we set forth to cross one of the most dangerous stretches of water around Britain, the Pentland Firth. The first picture is of Cantick Head lighthouse on Hoy. The tide was running fast and our maximum speed over the ground was 10 knots. We had to go west and south, south of Hoy so that we could avoid being swept onto one of the islands in the Firth by the tide. The plan worked well and we arrived without drama in Wick.

In the morning we were refuelled by marina staff via 4 large cans (20l) as the fuel pump was a fast one that did 100l/min. We then set off for an overnight trip to Arbroath. We went past the first of many wind farms that are established in the shallows off the east coast . These are very well lit with red lights at night and are quite pretty.

The picture above is of Arbroath harbour. The harbourmaster was very helpful with advice about shops and pubs etc. The next day was a rest day because Maria particularly wanted to visit the newly opened V and A museum at Dundee. There is a 25 min direct train to Dundee and the next picture is of a mural at the railway station which depicts the Declaration of Arbroath.

In 1320 this declared Scottish independence and Robert the Bruce King of Scotland.

The V and A museum is directly opposite the station in Dundee. It features Scottish designers through the ages and had a special exhibition on video games. Maria was most interested in the fonts, graphics and colours section. The building itself is interesting, light and airy with extensive use of pine slats. The pictures below are of the interior of the museum and the antarctic Royal Research Ship “Discovery.”

The Discovery is one of only two surviving arctic/antarctic specialist exploration ships (the other is the Fram). This ship carried Robert Falcon Scott on his expedition of 1901-04.

Maria did not have time to explore the Discovery museum.

On 5 Aug we departed for Hartlepool overnight. Maria saw her second “shooting star” on her night watch. Mañana was somewhat delayed by having to avoid a cable laying ship and a survey ship. It became evident that we would be late for the locked entry into the harbour so we elected to divert to Sunderland marina. This turned out to be a good choice as it was an easy entrance with no lock. We had a late breakfast of bacon and eggs.

The last picture is of St Peter’s, Monkswearmouth founded in 674AD.

This was the church of the monastery where the Venerable Bede worked.

To Longhope and back

On Monday 15 July we returned to our boat, flying from Bristol to Inverness, then to Kirkwall and completing the journey to Stromness by bus. The picture below shows the aircraft on which we arrived in Kirkwall.

The next morning we prepared for departure and set sail after lunch. On arrival at Longhope we picked up a visitor mooring just outside the harbour. Longhope is the principal village on South Walls, which is itself attached to the larger island of Hoy by a causeway. Longhope Sound was used in wartime as a convoy assembly area.

On Wednesday 17 July we met up with Dick a tuba player we know from our time in Wessex Military Band. We tied our tender to his boat in which he and his collie Katy go fishing. His croft has a fantastic view to Duncansby Head and can see 5 lighthouses at night. After taking us on a short tour of the island and giving us coffee, Dick kindly offered us the loan of his car for a couple of days. That afternoon we made our way to Harkness Battery and Martello Tower. The tower was built during the late Napoleonic era, but to defend against the USA.

It was raining!

The next day we were going to tour the main sights of Hoy. But this was not to be. Just before we were going to go ashore, Alastair’s vision suddenly began to deteriorate ,so we sought medical attention. This involved travelling to Kirkwall (by car, ferry and bus), where a serious eye condition was diagnosed. We decided that Dorchester was a more suitable place to be treated than Inverness. With Dick’s help we moved Mañana back to Stromness, and returned home by ferry and train. Read on to find out how Mañana returned to the south of England.

Exploring Orkney

As planned, we devoted two days to sightseeing Orkney’s ‘Mainland’, which is the principal island of the archipelago. Stromness is on its western side; on Monday 1 July we took a local bus east to Kirkwall, Orkney’s capital. From there we continued south, across one of the Churchill Barriers and onto the small island of Lambholm.

The Barriers were built during the Second World War to block off the eastern entrance to Scapa Flow, an important naval base at the time. It was by this route that a German submarine had sneaked in and sunk the battleship HMS Royal Oak, in October 1939. On the island of Lambholm a POW camp held Italian prisoners, who helped build the Churchill Barriers; they also made a chapel out of two Nissen huts. This was exquisitely furnished and decorated (using scrap materials) and became so famous that it was retained after the war when the rest of the camp was demolished. The Italian Chapel is now a major tourist attraction. We were suitably impressed.

Facilities were a bit limited at the Chapel (no café!) so we returned to Kirkwall. We spent several hours there. The most popular attraction there is St Magnus’s Cathedral, established in the 12th century when Orkney was ruled by Norse earls. It’s a striking building which dominates the skyline in Kirkwall. Next to it are the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace (second picture) and the Earl’s house.

As you can tell, the weather was poor – cold and wet! After the Cathedral (and lunch) we spent some time at the excellent Kirkwall museum.

Tuesday was archeology day for us. We hired a car in Stromness and managed quite a few attractions in one day. The weather was brighter than Monday, albeit with a bitter wind and occasional showers! Our first port of call was the Broch of Gurness; there are several of these ruined structures in Orkney. They date to the Iron Age and are stone towers, thought to have been the domain of leading families and surrounded by small communities.

After a coffee break, we visited the Barony Mill, Orkney’s last remaining water mill, built in the 19th century and specialising in bere barley, a primitive variety grown locally. We had a very interesting tour of all parts and saw the machinery working. We also met Cedric the mill cat (every mill needs one!). We then went on to Skara Brae.

Skara Brae is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being Europe’s best-preserved Neolithic village. It was rediscovered by the local laird in 1850, having been buried in sand. It consists of the remains of eight houses, all alike, in a group; they are thought to be around 5000 years old. Skaill House (the laird’s residence) is included in the admission charge. We spent a considerable time at Skara Brae and had lunch and tea in the excellent visitor centre.

Finally that day we visited two Neolithic stone circles, the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Sennen. This is the former.

After Tuesday we were hoping to move on, but awaited a favourable weather forecast for sailing south across the Pentland Firth, possibly the most dangerous stretch of open water in Britain. It wasn’t looking good so we spent Wednesday still in Stromness. It’s a very small town… the museum was interesting, but this fountain with horses’ hooves was the most picturesque thing I could find on a rainy day!

We needed to go home for a few days, owing to various commitments, and with no improvement in the weather forthcoming we decided to leave Mañana in Stromness until our return. We took the ferry to Scrabster (on the Scottish mainland) early on Thursday 4 July, then continued by train from Thurso to Inverness. Making a virtue out of a necessity, we spent a couple of days reacquainting ourselves with the Highland capital. The afternoon of our arrival we visited Inverness Cathedral and took in a play at the Eden Court theatre. Here you see a general view of the Cathedral’s interior and a picture of its unusual font, the Angel of Baptism. I could do nothing about the radiator behind the font (no access to Photoshop in the field!).

On Friday we visited the Botanical Gardens (regular readers will notice a pattern in the sort of things we go to see!). The gardens are free to enter and feature a tropical house and a fine cactus collection. There’s a very good café too! Here’s Maria with a Mysore Vine.

On Saturday 6 July we flew from Inverness to Bristol, continuing homeward by train. We have several commitments, including playing in three concerts with two bands; we return to Mañana in Stromness on Monday 15 July. That should be the last break in our Round Britain adventure; the next time we return home our boat should be back at her Weymouth base. In the meantime, the East Coast awaits!

Outer Hebrides to Orkney

We left the Isle of Harris early in the morning of Wednesday 26 June 2019. Our route from Tarbert and out into the Minch was by way of the Sound of Scalpay, passing under the bridge that links Scalpay and Harris. Although we know that the aerial on top of the mast is 16.9 metres above the water, and the bridge has a clearance of 19-20 metres, as we approached it didn’t look as if we would make it in one piece!

We got through, though, with (we think) a couple of metres to spare – anyway, the mast is still standing!

The Minch was as benign going east as it had been when we came in, but this time was different in that there was no wind, so we had to motor across. Our mainland landfall was at Ullapool, on the shore of Loch Broom. There we picked up a visitor mooring off the pier (yachts are not allowed alongside berths overnight here).

On Thursday morning we boarded our tender and headed for the village. It was a beautiful sunny day as we left Mañana. We had arranged to go and look at my aunt’s house up on the braes to see what state it’s in (as she is no longer able to live there, and the house is more or less as it was when she had to move to a care home). Her neighbour gave us a lift there and showed us round.

On our return to the village, we had lunch in a local pub and went shopping for victuals. The pub (The Frigate) is on Shore Street, so it’s in this picture. Far right, in front of the bus (marked Café Bar).

After a second night on the mooring, and another run ashore on Friday morning, we set off again. The passage out of Loch Broom and through the Summer Isles is very attractive, especially on a sunny day (the second in a row). The islands are uninhabited and rocky; they’re a popular destination for trip boats from Ullapool.

Heading north up the west coast of the mainland, we were joined for a time by a pod of dolphins. They are playful things, which enjoy ‘bow riding’ in the bow wave made by boats. They’re quite hard to photograph, though, as they move very fast and mostly underwater – judging when one will break the surface isn’t easy. At least with digital photos we don’t have to waste film clicking away! Here’s perhaps my best shot from Friday.

In the evening we tied up at Kinlochbervie. There are pontoons and basic yacht facilities there, but the main feature of the harbour is an enormous market and fish-handling plant. Trawlers from all over Europe come into Kinlochbervie to sell their catches, as this is the northernmost fishing port on the west coast of Scotland. The village is tiny! Yachts call in to await suitable conditions for rounding Cape Wrath.

As with many headlands, you have to get the tide right to get round Cape Wrath safely; certain weather conditions also make it very dangerous. We sailed from Kinlochbervie on Saturday afternoon (29 June) and rounded the cape in good weather. You can’t always get this close to it.

From there we set a course for Orkney. This involved sailing through the night; we saw very little traffic, the most interesting thing being an Estonian Navy minesweeper! The sea was not rough, which was something, but there wasn’t a lot of wind, and what there was tended to be ‘on the nose’. We entered the Sound of Hoy near dawn. We could just make out the famous pillar of the Old Man of Hoy away to starboard, but then we were enveloped in a thick fog. The entry to Stromness Harbour was an extremely tense affair; without modern technology we couldn’t have attempted it. We felt our way in very slowly and found a berth in the marina at around 0430 hrs this morning, Sunday 30 June 2019.

The plan now is to spend a couple of days exploring Orkney’s mainland, before moving on. The moving on bit is, as ever, dependent on the weather. Today has been drizzly and breezy, quite unlike the situation in more southern parts!

Skye, Harris and Lewis

The story continues with Mañana tied to a visitor mooring at Plockton. This is it; our tender is upside down on the foredeck. The plastic luggage label attached to the orange pick-up buoy tells visitors where to pay!

One of those places is the Plockton Hotel, so on Saturday morning (22 June) we went ashore in the dinghy, tied up at the village pier and sought out the hotel. There we had coffee and handed over our £30 for two nights. After that we walked to the station – Plockton is the antepenultimate stop on the Kyle Line – and caught a train to Kyle of Lochalsh.

At Kyle of Lochalsh station we joined a minibus tour to Skye, which crossed the Skye Bridge (see last post) and proceeded in an anti-clockwise direction round the island. Skye is very popular with walkers, cyclists and campers. Nearly all its attractions are geological in nature; for example, there are two well-known mountain ranges, the Black Cuillins (formed of basalt) and the Red Cuillins (granite). The Old Man of Storr is particularly popular (it’s the pinnacle of rock on the right of the photo):

The Kilt Rock has vertical strata, not uncommon where volcanic activity has occurred. Next to it is a waterfall flowing into the sea, which we saw again when sailing past the following day. A real kilt was to be seen on a busking piper!

We had a very short lunch break in Skye’s capital, Portree, before heading for the hills; this interesting landscape is the Quiraing.

After that we went to the so-called Fairy Glen, also quite dramatic, not sure about the fairy in the picture, and on the way back to Kyle we stopped at Kyleakin Harbour, where a good view of the ruined Castle Moyl/Maol can be seen (spellings of its name vary).

In need of some improvement, an estate agent might say! We returned to Kyle of Lochalsh in time to catch the last train to Plockton (which leaves at around 5.30 p.m.).

On Sunday, 23 June, we slipped our mooring early in the morning and headed out of Loch Carron, then north parallel to the coast of Skye. At the northern end of the island we entered the Minch, the channel separating the Outer Hebrides from the rest of Scotland. The Minch is notorious for roughness, but we had a relatively smooth passage (with a good breeze) across to Tarbert, on the Isle of Harris. Harris is famous for its tweed, of which more later; as you may know, Harris and Lewis are really the same island, with Harris being the southern part.

Monday was spent exploring the village, buying food and looking at tweed. Harris Tweed is a cottage industry with a trademark and production method protected by statute. The cloth must be woven by islanders in their homes and its authenticity is guaranteed by the Harris Tweed Authority. Most of it actually comes from Lewis, but that’s permissible. This is a single loom, powered by treadle.

Tarbert is on a narrow isthmus; we were moored in the main harbour on the eastern side, but it’s just a short walk to the western harbour. This has an old pier and a beach mainly used by kayakers.

On Tuesday 25 June we went to Stornoway (the island capital) by bus. There we saw April Evening and her crew, for the third time this summer! We visited an interesting exhibition on the wreck of HMY Iolaire on 1 January 1919, with the loss of over 200 local men who were returning home after surviving World War I. We also toured the Harris Tweed Authority and learnt a lot about the industry. This is a double loom, more commonly used these days than the single kind, but still not electric – it’s pedalled like a bicycle!

Stornoway has some attractive statues; I liked these seals in a flowerbed!

The museum, which is at the Victorian Lews Castle, has some notable exhibits, including some of the famous Lewis Chessmen, which date back to Viking times.

To conclude, some pictures of the rugged landscape of Harris. To my eyes, it looks very like any part of the Scottish Highlands; the Lewis end of the island is flatter. The last photo shows evening in Tarbert Harbour; if you look carefully you can see Mañana (furthest from camera).

Mallaig, Rum and Glenfinnan

Having arrived in Mallaig on Monday evening (17 June) we spent Tuesday in the village, doing useful tasks (like the laundry). Mallaig is the terminus of the West Highland Railway, and twice daily (in the summer) a steam train arrives from Fort William. Here’s the first of the two arrivals on Tuesday, drawn by the sole surviving K1 mogul. For those that don’t know, a mogul (in railway parlance) is an engine with a 2-6-0 wheel arrangement…

We decided we’d like to visit Rum, one of the Small Isles (the others being Eigg and Muck) and that it would be convenient to use the CalMac ferry for this, so on Wednesday we boarded the MV Loch Nevis (in the rain). The crossing took an hour and twenty minutes; when we arrived at the little steamer pier the weather was improving.

We were met by a Ranger, Trudy, who offered to take us on a walking tour. The population of the island is only about 30 people, most of whom have more than one job, in Trudy’s case Ranger and ecologist involved in one of Rum’s research projects (concerning birds). She took us through the woods, pointing out a ruined house and various biological points of interest, out to an otter hide. Rum’s most important research is into red deer, which we only saw from a distance as they are up on high ground in June.

We didn’t see any otters from the hide, but there were seals and a selection of waterfowl. The tour ended at what passes for a village centre, where there’s a little shop and a café in the village hall. After lunch we visited Kinloch Castle, built as an extravagant hunting lodge by a Lancashire industrialist called George Bullough. This was at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. The building has a steel frame and sandstone exterior and causes many headaches for Scottish Natural Heritage, owners of the island.

The Castle has been used as a hostel and restaurant, but at present it is available only for guided tours, one of which we joined. The interior has an amazing collection of furniture and artefacts, more or less as the family left it when they sold up in 1957. The Great Hall is suitably baronial in style; the dining room furniture came from George’s 200-foot steam yacht (which he used to import the oriental vases and other antiques), and there’s a rare (and working) orchestrion, a self-playing instrument not unlike a fairground organ!

Maria wanted to see a Rum Pony, so we set out to find one. You can just make it out in the gap in the trees, above her right shoulder!

On Thursday 20 June we took a trip down the West Highland Railway to Glenfinnan. The station’s Friends run a small museum in the station building and disused signal box, while a café operates in a BR Mark 1 coach, parked on a siding. On arrival we saw the Jacobite again (it crossed with our train in the passing loop) before going for coffee!

From the station there is a nicely maintained footpath to a point from which to observe the famous viaduct, the masterpiece of ‘Concrete Bob’ McAlpine. The area is popular with Harry Potter fans from around the world, as the Hogwarts Express was filmed crossing the viaduct. There’s a good view of the glen from up there too – you can see the monument marking the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army raised his standard at the start of the 1745 uprising.

The path continues down to the monument, where the handy National Trust visitor centre provided us with lunch. We looked at the monument afterwards. Back at the station, two Jacobite trains crossing – the engine you see here is a Black Five 4-6-0, in case you wondered!

On Friday we moved on, having spent four nights moored in Mallaig. We sailed after lunch, northwards through the Sound of Sleat and Kyle Rhea (tidal gate), into Loch Alsh and under the Skye Bridge, which replaced the ferry from Kyle of Lochalsh to Kyleakin on Skye.

When I was much younger, I used to visit Kyle of Lochalsh quite a lot, usually with the Aberdeen University Railway Society; last time I was there they hadn’t even started building the bridge! It’s been open a long time now….

We continued into Loch Carron, where we picked up a mooring at Plockton, a small and attractive village. Mañana is second from the left in the second picture.

Puffins galore

As previously noted, we arrived in Tobermory on Friday afternoon, 14 June 2019. We moored on a pontoon, which was convenient (until recently visiting yachts had to anchor or use swinging moorings). It’s a very short walk along the front to reach the village centre. As the weather had cleared, we took the opportunity to explore. Here’s a view of the pontoons – Mañana is just out of shot to starboard.

We walked right along to the other end of the main street, where the ferry terminal is located, then climbed the hill to the Western Isles Hotel. This was the location of my parents’ honeymoon, as I mentioned, so I was curious to see it. It has a spectacular view across Tobermory harbour and seemed very pleasant; we had a drink in the Conservatory Bar, served by a young lady from Queensland!

The following day we took a tour to Staffa and Lunga, neither of which is a practical proposition for a visit by yacht. The tour vessel proceeded at 18 knots (about three times our usual optimal speed) and reached Staffa in just over an hour. The principal reason that people visit Staffa is to see Fingal’s Cave and the interesting basalt rock formations. Queen Victoria visited, as did a young (and seasick) Felix Mendelssohn, who was inspired to write his Hebrides Overture.

Also on the island we found our first puffins.

After Staffa, our boat continued to Lunga, largest of the Treshnish Islands (I’d never heard of them, I must admit). Like Staffa, Lunga is uninhabited – except by huge numbers of seabirds. There were puffins everywhere; they don’t mind humans, apparently because our presence deters predators which might prey on the puffins’ eggs and young. It was a steep climb to the top of the island.

Besides puffins, we saw huge numbers of razorbills, a related species.

Also cormorants and shags, standing about and nesting.

There were grey seals too – much shyer than the birds, but I managed a picture of one of them, resting in a dinghy! The floating structure behind him/her is a pontoon used by the trip boat to land passengers on the rocky shore (see next picture).

It was certainly quite a day! We remained in Tobermory on Sunday (16 June), where we shopped for food and refilled Mañana’s water tanks. We also visited a small local aquarium, distinctive because it only keeps its exhibits for four weeks before releasing them back into the sea. They are all local species. We wanted to eat out on Sunday night, but were turned away by several restaurants before finally opting for a bar meal! There are lots of tourists in Tobermory….

After three nights on Mull, we sailed on Monday (17 June), rounding Ardnamurchan Point, a tidal gate (yet another one) and the most westerly place on the mainland of Great Britain. We continued north, passing the Small Isles of Muck and Eigg, until Skye lay ahead and Rum to port. Here we turned to starboard and entered Mallaig Harbour, where we tied up in the new marina. Already in residence was April Evening, Mañana’s sister ship that we previously encountered at Cairnbaan on the Crinan Canal.

To finish, one more puffin picture! I took dozens. I looked on the Web for a puffin joke for my younger readers, but they’re all variants of the same play on words. For example: which bird is good at blowing out birthday candles? A puffin! Oh well…. I must fly!

Oban and Kerrera

It’s been a while since I last posted and some readers may be wondering what has happened to Mañana and her crew! We’re still on our ‘Round Britain’ adventure, but after we arrived at Oban Marina on 29 May 2019, we went home for a few days. We had some domestic matters to attend to; I also managed to play in two concerts (one with Wessex Military Band and one with St Swithuns Brass Band). Maria played in the latter as well. I also celebrated my 60th birthday…

We travelled from and to Oban by train, arriving back on Tuesday 11 June. That day we had a look round Oban, including McCaig’s Tower. This edifice, prominently located high above the town, was built between 1897 and 1902 at the behest of John McCaig, local banker and part-time architect. It was intended as a memorial to him and his family but was unfinished when he died. Only the outer circular wall was built.

Our intention had been to sail on Wednesday 12 June, but the weather thwarted our plans! The wind blew strongly from the north for two days, and north is where we wanted to go. Beating to windward against a Force 7 is a mug’s game! Staying put allowed us to explore the (small) island of Kerrera a bit. Apart from Oban Marina, with its boatyard and Waypoint Restaurant, there’s very little on the island. On the northern extremity, overlooking the northern channel into Oban Bay, stands Hutcheson’s Monument, which honours a man considered the founding father of what is now the CalMac ferry operator.

Many CalMac ferries sail past the monument on their way into or out of Oban; I don’t know if they’re required to dip their ensigns in salute! You can see here that the channel is quite narrow.

This is a view of Oban Marina from the hill where the monument stands. You can’t see it, but we were struggling to stand against the northerly wind!

We made another trip across to Oban on the little ferry run by the marina (on Wednesday), and on Thursday we took a walk along Kerrera to Ardentrive Farm (the only farm on the island; nice herd of Highland Cattle, also Jacob’s sheep and rare breed pigs). We bought some meat in their farm shop. For wildlife spotters: a jellyfish in the marina!

On Thursday night the northern wind finally stopped; by Friday morning (14 June 2019) a southerly was blowing. Much more suitable! So we set off to sail to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, where we arrived in time for tea. We had a good passage except for one downpour, sailing nearly all the way without recourse to our recently serviced engine. After we moored in Tobermory Harbour the sun came out, so that the village looked lovely! The colourful houses appear in the BBC’s ‘Balamory’, apparently (I’ve never seen it); the large Victorian building up on the hill to the right is the Western Isles Hotel, where my parents spent their honeymoon in 1957.

A further report from Mull will follow (featuring a lot of wildlife!).