Pootling around the islands

After leaving the Caledonian Canal, I headed down the coast and stopped at Port Appin. It was recommended by someone from another boat I kept bumping into (not literally thank goodness) coming down the canal. The weather was initially good, but there were foreboding signs...

Weather starting to come in at Port Appin

There was an excellent seafood restaurant at Port Appin where I enjoyed the most exquisite seafood platter. It certainly took my mind off the weather for a while.

The following day I headed up the Sound of Mull to Tobermoray. However, the mist and drizzle had set in and I arrived cold, wet and tired. Tobermoray is a very beautiful little town on Mull where the houses are painted bright colours - it really looks like something from a CBeebies program. As far as I could tell peering through the gloom....

The forecast for the following days promised no improvement to the weather, so rather than press onwards to the outer isles, I headed back to Oban to sit things out. The marina at Oban was rather run down and I think the current owners are struggling to make it work. Together with the gloomy weather ("Driech" as they say around here), I hit a bit of a low spot on my journey.

View of Oban in the drizzle

After staying two nights in Oban, there was a break in the weather this morning so I headed down the coast to Ardfern. The skies were clearer and the wind was perfect, so I hoisted the sails and had a very pleasant trip down.

When I arrived at Ardfern, I parked the boat and wandered off towards the village. As I passed the boatyard, a voice shouted to me "Ah, so you made it then!" It was one of the crew off the boat I had bumped into in the Caledonian Canal! His day job is working at the boatyard. We stopped and chatted briefly and arranged to meet at the pub later for a drink.

We met up and there was another girl off the same boat and a couple of other sailing buddies. After chatting for a while, I left to go and eat in the restaurant.

Stunning view from the restaurant across the loch

It's amazing what a bit of convivial company, a plateful of Venison, a glass of red wine and a lovely sunny evening can do to lift the spirits!