We spent three nights in Oban Marina, which is actually on the island of Kerrera opposite Oban town (actually a city).  There we caught up on laundry, cleaning and various maintenance tasks and enjoyed the showers!  We had two shopping expeditions via the little ferry to Oban to restock and also enjoyed Oban town.  It is a busy place – the port for many of the western isles and also a major holiday centre.

On Monday we crossed with Antipole to Oban itself and went alongside to pick up Ynskje’s son Nick and Becca, who arrived by train from Glasgow.  After introducing them to their boat and procedures we set sail for the Sound of Mull.  We were becalmed for a while but eventually a light air arrived and with some help from the spinnaker we reached Loch Aline, which we entered to anchor overnight.

On the Tuesday we had a good sail further up the Sound of Mull, again helped by the spinnaker, to the picturesque fishing port of Tobermory.  We went onto a pontoon berth to make exploring ashore easy.  Ynskje and Tony found an excellent tea shop close by. Becca adds: Nick and I explored a coastal path which took us high above the bay and gave us some great views of Antipole.

On Wednesday we sailed out of the Sound of Mull and on to the Isle of Rum, one of a group of islands known as the Small Isles.  On Thursday we dinghied ashore to explore.  There is only a very small population, mostly employees of Scottish National Heritage.  Nick and Becca followed a stream and climbed almost to the top of one of the peaks and admired amazing views over to Skye and the mainland before the mists closed in. Becca adds: the gully which was at the top of the stream was an amazing sight to see – getting close to the edge was a rather scary experience.

Meanwhile, Ynskje and Tony visited Kinloch Castle.  This extraordinary place was built by the Bulloughs, a Lancashire family who had made a fortune by mechanising the cotton mill industry.  George Bullough spent his vast inherited wealth building an ostentatious castle as a hunting lodge – an example of extreme Edwardian opulence.  He was pretty eccentric and the castle included heated tanks to keep turtles and alligators, while the conservatory had hummingbirds flying about.

On Friday we had a lovely sail to Armadale on the Isle of Skye, which positioned us well for the passage in to Inverie.  Inverie is on the Knoydart mainland peninsula and has no vehicular access from elsewhere  – everything has to come by water.  We expect to meet up with Ynskje’s daughter Sarah, who has been walking over the mountains for two days to get there, and we will be having supper at the Old Forge pub, which boasts it is the remotest pub in the UK.  On Sunday we will sail to the port of Mallaig to put Nick & Becca ashore and from where they can get a train back to their other lives.

It has been fantastic having Nick and Becca as crew.  Apart from their company, so many of the tasks got done much more quickly with more hands.  By the end of the week things were going like clockwork –  snuffing the spinnaker, stowing the pole and gybing in rapid succession and then everything tidied away as if by magic.

That’s the news for now

Ynskje & Tony x