Exploring Loch Tarbet, Isle of Jura

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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