Author: dommyp

Wednesday 7th July, 2021

We woke up in the anchorage at West Tarbet to find the cloud had descended. A plan to walk from the anchorage and climb the biggest of the Paps of Jura was thwarted, as it now sat with its head in thick cloud. An exciting week was ahead though, as our son Caleb was coming out to stay on the boat. We had arranged to meet him at Gigha in a couple of days, so it was time to make our way back that way.

We left Loch Tarbet after lunch and motored for a couple of miles to the entrance to the Sound of Islay to catch the south going tide. Then we put the sails up and took the light downwind airs to about halfway down the sound until just the tide was carrying us with no wind at all. Motor back on again until the end of the sound where the wind picked up and let us sail all the way across the Sound of Jura to the North end of Gigha. We anchored on the east coast of Gigha in Drumyeon bay at 8pm just in time for the England versus Denmark football match. Right next to the local mobile phone tower… good signal!

Thursday 8th July, 2021

We chilled out on the boat … waiting for Caleb!

Friday 9th July, 2021, Gigha to Loch Keills

We collected Caleb from the Gigha ferry terminal and headed back to Azimuth. Pulled up the anchor and started North up the Sound of Jura. The wind was light again, so we had to resort to motoring. A short trip took us up to Loch Keills, a small tributary loch on the East side of the sound of Jura. We anchored at the end of the loch in lovely calm conditions.

Saturday 10th July, 2021, Loch Keills to Achanarich Bay

We decided to visit the chapel at Loch Keills. Its the 12th century St Charmaig’s chapel (after St Cormac, the Irish Saint) which has been beautifully restored, albeit as a quite dull box-like structure (which presumably it once was). The roof is new and inside there is a marvellous collection of medieval grave slabs now protected from the erosive Kintyre elements.

We returned to the boat and pulled up the anchor at 1400 and took the tide North up the Sound of Jura. The tide here was crazy, especially as we transited past the end of the Gulf of Corryvreckan and Loch Craignish headland. We arrived at Achanarich Bay at 15 30 and negotiated the narrow entrance between reefs and rocks to this fine anchorage. No wind!

A great place to explore with the canoe and many resident seals who took great interest in us!

Sunday 11th July, Cuan Sound

After a peaceful night at anchor, we awoke to another windless day. Leaving at lunchtime, we drifted up the sound of Shona and then gave up on the sailing and motored in to Cuan Sound. The tide is incredibly strong through here, and negotiating the rocks in the anchorage was a challenge. However, the anchorage was very sheltered once with lots of sealife. Good phone signal which meant we could watch the England final…. doh!

Monday 12th July, Off to Kerrera for more crew!

We had to do our sums right to get out of this anchorage and through the Cuan narrows. I calculated when slack tide was, and we left to find it was no problem at all in comparison to difficulties of the previous day. Finally some wind too, and a glorious sail out in to the Sound of Mull and up to the Isle of Kerrera where we dropped the hook, took the dinghy to shore on a beach populated by cows, met some locals and determined the route to walk across the isle to get to the ferry terminal where we were due to meet Ethan and friends Jo & Tom.

It turned out to be quite a trek, and the sun beat down on us as we negotiated the rough track and hill in the middle of the Isle. A steep descent too down to the ferry terminal and a welcome rest while we waited for the new arrivals. They arrived shortly after laden down with stuff and enough crates of beer to supply a small army! Now we thought how the hell do we get the 1.5 miles back to the boat over the hill again with all this stuff. Fortunately there was enough of us to split the load. The journey back was strategically helped by a stop at the local ice cream shop for cold drinks and ice creams where you helped yourself and left money in an honesty box, very nice. We all finally arrived back at the bay where Azimuth was lying at anchor, and several dinghy trips later, all crew was installed, and cold beers had been opened!

Sunday 4th July, 2021

After a couple of days exploring Gigha and a trip to the local pub and shops, we decided to head for the remote spot of Loch West Tarbet on the Isle of Jura. This involved crossing the Sound of Jura, and sailing up the Sound of Islay. Both sounds have strong tidal streams, so we had to plan the time to hit the Sound of Islay to get the North going stream. We left at 9am on a beautiful sunny day to find no wind at all in the sound. Our faithful friendly wind app, Windy had got it wrong again…. a common occurrence in our experience since this time it had predicted 10-12 knots from the SE. So we motored across the Sound of Jura for 2 hours, dodging the fishing boats and the Ferries enjoying the spectacular views of the Paps of Jura. As we entered the Sound of Islay, the tide increased our speed up to 10 knots through the narrow channel and whisked us up past the whisky distillery and steep hills until finally the wind kicked in. Time to get the sails up, and sail round in to the entrance of the Loch with views of Colonsay to the West. The wind was short lived, and referring to the pilot book, we got the engine on and prepared to negotiate the inner narrows of the Loch and reach the fine sheltered anchorages. The instructions are thankfully easy to follow as you weave your way between some nasty looking very close rocks. It turns out the narrow channels are nice and deep and you breathe a sigh of relief as you exit in to the wide open inner loch.

We chose to anchor on the south shore just past the narrows. What an amazing place! We took the dinghy to shore and tied up at a small dam for a fishing pool and walked along the coast to take in the remoteness of this spot. Climbing a ridge gave us some great views of the surrounding area.

Climbing even higher, and we came across another land bound loch with views out for miles. This loch had a natural dam at one end formed by a raised stone beach, which we decided to go and explore in the dinghy about a mile away from the anchorage.

Monday 5th July, 2021

Typical of Scotland, one day its sunny, the next its pouring with rain, so we sat and read our books and looked at the views. Eventually it stopped and we took the canoe out for a trip around the inner loch.

Tuesday 6th July, 2021

Now the sun came out again, and we took the dinghy to explore the north shore of the inner lock where we visited the bothy and climbed up the ridge to take in more of the breath-taking views. We met some fellow sailors and compared notes on the loch. Although the climb up the ridge was hard work with no footpaths to follow, it was well worth the effort for the views and when we stopped for a rest, three golden eagles were keeping watch on us soaring on the thermals over the ridge.

When we got back to the boat, we decided to move to another of the many anchorages in the Loch. So we raised up the anchor and renegotiated the inner passage in to the outer loch this time with the advantage of having our track to follow. We dropped the anchor again in Glenbatrick Bay right at the foot of the Paps. Another glorious anchorage!

Friday 2nd July, 2021

We had an early start to catch the strong tide that flows round the Mull of Kintyre. There was no wind, so we had to motor. We hit 11.5 knots on the SW corner of the Mull. Once we reached Machinish Bay the wind picked up a little, so we got the sails up and sailed / motored up to Gigha Island through the sound and anchored in a spectacular little bay with a white sand beach at the North end of the island. A really nice anchorage with a view over the sound of Jura, and the mountains of Jura in the background.