This is the start of week 7 and we are now officially half way through what is a wonderful “Experience” of sailing around the coastline of Britain!
Today is the day to say goodbye to Pete and Chris, and with their bags packed and well stuffed full, they caught the 10am ferry to the mainland into Oban where they have a bed and breakfast booked for tonight before they make their way home to Bath.
Now our crew is down 40% which will make a significant difference to us in many ways! We immediately set about planning our next adventure – we had already decided last night that we wanted to visit Mull, and worked out the most favorable times to set sail allowing for tide.
Mike, John and I planned the passage from Oban to the Sound Of Mull and across to Tobermory!
Here is John well at work with his charts and navigation tools…….
John helmed off the pontoon , we put up the sails with one reef in readiness for the wind we expected as we headed to the Sound of Mull. We hit a strong tide as we already predicted as we set out before the optimal time in order to get to our destination at a reasonable hour.
As everyone expects when visiting Scotland, the torrential rain fell – but we were a little spooked by having to wear sunglasses for the strong sun at the same time!
We are learning to sail, we are not a racing yacht, I repeat, we are not a racing yacht, so why, we ask did a wry smile appear across Ricks face as we managed to out run the two boats heading in the same direction, fabulous tacking and my skilled helm (with just a little bit of advise from Rick!)
We had a most beautiful sail across with good winds, albeit a little flukey with surround sound fantastic scenery, everywhere we looked it was so beautiful.
As we approached Tobermory we saw a beautiful cruise liner in the sound with a regular tender bringing its passengers to and fro. We sailed into Tobermory, with the sound of bagpipes in the distance. We secured ourselves to a buoy, as soon as we did, I asked for another turn at maneuvering the boat, so we released the buoy and round I went again, then the 2 boys took their turn. This confused the harbor master who came out to us to see if everything was alright, whilst she was there she took the £20 fee for us securing ourselves in the middle of the water!
Now we have a downsized crew, Mike and I set about tidying the galley and giving it a good clean then prepared a tasty meal of gammon steaks, boiled new potatoes, steamed carrots and green beans served with a leek and cheese sauce – yum!
Tobermorary looks beautiful in the evening sunset and we couldn’t resist pumping up the tender and motoring to the shore to take a look at the metropolis of Mull!
A quaint place well worthy of its “Balamory” status. We will explore further tomorrow as we are planning a day of rest.
Just time before we head back to the boat to sample a pint of “Isle of Mull” beer, yet again contributing to the local economy!
Lots of fresh air and beautiful sailing equals sleepy sailors, time to get our heads down – goodnight!
