To Tarbert

Moondog
Brian Whitefoot
Tue 7 Aug 2012 15:00

Another sunny day...quite incredible for this voyage. I think we have now seen more sun in the last week than in the last two months. The plan today is to go to Tarbert (55:52.0N, 005:24.6W), but first we have to get out of the canal.

Chris and Ann rejoined us for this last leg of the canal, to learn how to work the locks and generally get a feel for having your boat in the locks. The slight flaw in this plan was of course that we had not actually worked any locks yet, thanks to Jimmy, and so this would be a joint learning exercise. As it happens, we got through unscathed, despite the crew nearly opening the sluices at both ends of a lock at the same time, which could have been highly entertaining. Once in the Ardrishaig basin , after our trip of perhaps 2 miles, it was time for lunch in the sunshine, with Chris and Ann drifting into the lazy schedule of canal cruising with surprising ease. They also had sensibly concluded that Jimmy would be an integral part of their trip down the canal.

Lunch finished, we locked out to sea and then turned left to sail a few miles north (ish) up Loch Fyne, playing with all the string again to tweak the sails to get the most out of the light winds. We even worked out the best way to use the pole to goosewing the genoa, to add to the overall stress of trying to get maximum speed out of little wind. The answer is obviously to put the engine on, but this tended to send Michael to sleep, so we got value out of all the white canvass and string.

This is a very pretty part of the world, and we will definitely be back to sail the full 20 or so miles up to the top of Loch Fyne.  However, this time we needed to turn round and head south to Tarbert, which turned out to be a ‘picture postcard’ little harbour, with an excellent Italian fish and chip shop, with outstanding fresh fish. Our only disappointment was that the chippie did not sell mushy peas. In his defence the Italian / Scottish owner explained that he had once bought some peas but no one ever wanted them and they went way beyond their use by date. He put it down to the Scottish aversion to eating anything coloured green. By way of alternative our friend did offer such delights as deep fried pizza pie, but regrettably felt unable to offer deep fried Mars Bars, for fear of being prosecuted by Mars Corporation. I am sure we will be able to find someone prepared to risk the wrath of Mars before this trip is over.

 



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