After a week of cold, rainy, and windy weather in Tarbert, we were able to set sail (or motor-sail) and get on with exploring west Scotland. From Tarbert we went to Campbeltown near the SE corner of the Kintyre peninsula. This positioned us for rounding the Mull of Kintyre (required careful timing with the weather and currents). After rounding the Mull, we tied to a mooring ball in a bay on the island of Gigha, docked at Ardfern Marina at the head of beautiful Loch Craignish, docked at the island of Kerrera for visiting Oban, and are now anchored in lovely Loch Aline inside the Sound of Mull. It’s fun to be on the move again and exploring the magical west coast of Scotland.
The map above shows our general sailing area right now in Scotland; the map on the right shows our route and the towns we stopped in on this leg of our sailing season. From Loch Aline, we will continue north and west.
Campbeltown
Campbeltown is a busy fishing port and a neat little town. They had a wonderful wee “larder” with tasty specialty foods.
Mull of Kintyre & Gigha
The lighthouse outside of Campbeltown Harbor, on our way to round the Mull of Kintyre. We felt really lucky to have such a great day for this adventure ’round the Mull!!!
This was the worst of the chop going around the Mull. The chop was due to about 8-10 knots of wind against the current, as well as, water from multiple directions converging at the bottom of the peninsula.
After rounding the Mull of Kintyre, we spent the late afternoon and night on a mooring ball in Ardminish Bay on Gigha, an island off the west coast of Kintyre in the Sound of Jura. It was calm and quiet.
Ardfern, Loch Craignish
Kerrera & Oban
Oban is the largest town in this area of Scotland (pop. 8,000) and is a tourist town because it is just off the west end of the Caledonian Canal (we transited the canal last year from Inverness to Oban). Oban is also the west Scotland gateway to the Highlands and to the Hebridean Islands, including Skye, and Lewis & Harris. We didn’t sail north/northwest of Oban last season, so it is exciting to be in a totally new area of Scotland. Kerrera is an island NW of Oban Harbour and has a nice marina. We stayed in Kerrera and used their water taxi (10 minute ride) to go into Oban for shopping and exploring.
Loch Aline
Several years ago Adam and I saw a sailing blog that including a visit to Loch Aline. We were enthralled with how pretty and protected this little loch was, so we put it on our list of places to cruise once we got our boat. Needless to say, we are quite happy to be anchored in Loch Aline, and are enjoying the sunshine and beauty of this place.
Lighthouse at the entrance to the Sound of Mull (on our way to Loch Aline).
An estate at the head of Loch Aline.
At anchor in Loch Aline!
Loch Aline celebration dinner: Fresh mussels from Oban (steamed in prosecco, butter, and garlic)!