An update & a trilogy

Ah, there you are, apologies for the lack of blog posts, I have no excuse, except that I started reading the first book of The Hunger Games & then had to read the whole trilogy, so that's what I've spent my spare time doing, instead of writing blurb about our holidays.

Anyway, a brief(ish) update of what we've been up to...

12th July (Glorious or not...)
Port Ellen (1015) to Asknish Bay (1901)

To be honest, there really wasn't much to blog about today. We motored up the sound of Jura, against the tide (!) We won't mention names, but let's just say 'somebody' read the tide tables incorrectly. The kids played on deck & helped Chris blow up the dinghy and we had crusty bread & tomato soup for lunch (the fact that this has made it into the list of highlights for the day, indicates how little happened!) We tied to one of the Loch Melfort Hotel moorings & went up for dinner in the hotel, which has a playpark, much to the joy of the children who had been stuck on a boat all day! They do offer free showers to sailors, but they had run out of water (we didn't pursue the reason of how), so we went away dirty but with full stomachs, so it was fine.

13th July
Asknish Bay (0606) to Tobermory (1200)

Chris slipped the mooring at an unearthly hour, the kids & I stayed in our bunks until a more civilised hour. A fairly uneventful passage later, we were alongside in Tobermory. We ended up spending 3 nights here, walking in the forest, eating seafood, fishing for mackerel (Hannah & Chris caught 9!) and playing in the dinghy.

Tobermory is also home to the 7 minute shower dash. Where you pay Tobermory Harbour Association £2 & they let you shower for 7 (Yes SEVEN) luke warm minutes. And let me tell you, if you have long hair & legs that need shaved, 7 minutes disappears in a soapy blurr, faster than you can say "someone's having a laugh"....

Also worth noting is the 'Tobermory bounce'. Basically any wisp of moving air from the NE direction & the pontoons become a bouncy castle of boats!

Other things which happened in Tober/Balamory:

- Hot Chocolate (for me)
- A bunny rabbit on board (Rebekah's new towel has bunny ears)
- A cut from a thorn which might as well have been an amputation, the way Hannah reacted!

16th July
Tobermory (1015) to Eigg (1345)

A respectable start time, followed by bacon & toast for Hannah and me. There was concern from the outset about what appeared to be a mass exodus out the north end of the sound of Mull, but most headed for Coll, so as long as the Classic Malters weren't at Eigg, we'd be fine. Nearing Eigg, Chris had a moment where he saw "at least 4 other masts in the anchorage" only to realise it was lamp posts on the ferry pier. Doh!

Anyway, we got anchored in Poll Nam Parten (one of the anchorages on Eigg) with 3 other boats & plenty of room, had a bacon & cheese omelette for lunch & swiftly set off for the beach which Hannah has been talking about since last year.

MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH - Hannah overcame her fear of the sea! Despite being happy to hang over the side of Whisper in a force 5, Hannah has always been frightened of 3cm high waves breaking on a beach (logic anyone?). Maybe it was not wanting to be shown up by her fearless (insane) younger sister, but whatever the motivation, the two of them splashed, paddled & built sandcastles until the tide came in & the beach disappeared. A great afternoon had by all:)

17th July
Eigg (0935) to Knoydart (1235)

Up anchor & a careful course steered out of the anchorage and we were back in the sound of sleat, with a single heading across to Mallaig, on the corner of Loch Nevis.

Arriving at Knoydart, we picked up one of the few remaining hotel moorings (it was only lunchtime!), packed our shower stuff & took the dinghy to the pub on shore. Full tummies later (mine full of the tastiest hand dived scallops Scotland has to offer) and we took it in turns to shower ourselves and the kids.

Thankfully Hawk-eye Hannah (as we now know her) spotted "a funny black thing in your belly button mummy", which later transpired to be a blood sucking tick! Chris did an excellent job of pulling it out (head & all) and we now live in hope that I don't have Lyme's disease.

It started raining just after lunch & basically rained non-stop for 24 hours, well we had to have Scottish weather at some point! We were lucky we got to Knoydart when we did, a number of boats had to anchor due to lack of moorings, but this was mainly due to a good amount of the Classic Malters deciding this was a good stop off point on the way to Tobermory.

18th July
Knoydart (0601) to Salen Jetty (1334)

Another unearthly start where I stayed in bed, which was fine, since there was no wind, so it was easy for Chris to slip the mooring on his own. Visability was pretty poor, but with the AIS, the most likely hazard were pot buoys and other yachts. Two other boats followed us out of loch Nevis, both classic malters headed for their rendezvous at Tobermory on the 19th.

We headed left after Ardnamurchan lighthouse, into Loch Sunart & headed up to the new Jetty at Salen. It's owned by a couple from Yorkshire & they are hoping to have showers and toilets there by next year. But your £2.20 per meter gives you a lovely location, with excellent shelter & includes electricity. Hannah & Chris also caught 5 or 6 mackerel and a small cod! So it was fresh fish & pasta for dinner:)

19th July
Salen Jetty (1530) to Loch Drambuie (1715)

This morning we walked round to the forest on the far shore & walked out to the viewpoint & back, eating lots of wild Bilberries and picking up a few more ticks on the way (we're getting good at it!)

After lunch we slipped our lines at Salen, sailed out through the narrows & down to Loch Drambuie, which is behind the island of Oronsay at the mouth of Loch Sunart.

We got buzzed by a Tornado jet fighter on the way through the narrows, obviously we made good low-flying target practice!

After the tornado, we presumed we were in for a quiet night, where we would probably be one of just a few boats, but there were 16 others in the anchorage by the end of the evening!

We also had no Internet or mobile signal - although Warren (Kingfisher) has since informed us there's loch Drambuie WiFi! We didn't even think to look, given the surroundings!

20th July
Loch Drambuie (0950) to Lochaline (1243)

Up anchor & a short trip down the sound of Mull, to Loch Aline. Today's low flying aircraft was a Hercules! Pretty impressive!

Avoiding the Calmac ferry, logging freighter & rocks at the entrance of Loch Aline, we were soon tied up at the pontoons.

We had lunch in the Whitehouse restaurant, which gives the boathouse in Bangor a run for it's money in terms of quality & value. Then it was the community raft race in the afternoon, which was an entertaining watch. Apparently they had to make a rule this year that you have to build your raft on the day of the race, because people were turning up with impressive feats of marine engineering which they'd spent months designing & building. Which sort of took away from the fun a bit...

We had a quick paddle at the beach to finish off the day...as good a way as any I guess.

And that's us up to date...I'll do today's blog later.

I like to ride my bicycle...

Hannah learning to cycle her bike without stabilisers, while on holiday in Port Ellen, on Islay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zn7LwSm97c

Day 5: Last day in Port Ellen

As the title suggests, today was our last day in Port Ellen, tomorrow we head north. Islay has been great, as always and we look forward to visiting again soon.

Today was also the skipper's birthday - 37(!!!) - Eeek! So, like a good wife, I got up at the crack of dawn (well, 8am) and started on baking a birthday cake. First job was to soften the butter, but with no microwave, I had to be inventive. Over the vent of the dehumidifier seemed to do the trick & after some serious arm action, I had soft creamy butter, which got mixed with the eggs, flour & sugar and baked in a 1lb loaf tin. After we cut off the burnt bits (it's a gas oven on the boat - well that's my excuse anyway), the girls helped me ice, decorate & apply candles. See pic.

It was a beautiful morning on Islay, quite a contrast to what we had been waking up to the past few days. There were blue skies & sun, which gave me the motivation to head out for a quick run. My first in about 6 weeks & to be honest, I really noticed how much my fitness has suffered from my lack of activity (#lazybones) I really need to get back to training!

Back to Whisper, a quick shower, a rendition of "Happy Birthday" and a slice (or two) of cake & we were all set for a walk to Laphroaig, to stock up on Triple Wood - taking advantage of Chris' 10% birthday discount of course.

I took the Garmin, so for anyone who might care about such things, it's 1.89 miles from the marina to the Laphroaig shop.

Hannah again cycled like a pro, even making it all the way up the hill out of Port Ellen by herself. I suggested she deserved a green jersey...she didn't understand. (That's a Tour de France reference for those who also don't understand).

Successful purchases at Laphroaig & a nearly lost pair of sunglasses later and we were back at Whisper. I made sandwiches, Chris & the kids gathered up the buckets & spades and we headed for the beach. The weather was typically Scottish. Beautifully warm when the sun came out *takes off fleece* then the sun disappears behind a cloud & it's like outer Siberia *puts fleece back on*. Nothing quite like yo-yo clothing to put in an afternoon.

Picnic eaten & with a reasonably flat and hard grassy surface in front of us, we thought we'd take the stabilisers off Hannah's bike & see how she got on. She was great! After initial wobbles, she was storming up & down the grass and perfecting her stopping technique. I'll put the video on YouTube & post a link later (for the doting grandparents). She still needs practice, but she made great progress in an afternoon.

After our cycling exploits, the kids & Chris spent the rest of the afternoon fishing off the pontoons, they even caught a (very small) fish. Alas, not big enough to do us for dinner, so pasta with tomato sauce was the dish du jour.

We're now relaxing & enjoying a few episodes of Cabin Pressure - check it out, it's a highly amusing radio 4 comedy. We're VERY rock 'n' roll y'know...

Day 4: A swim & a bottling

Still in Port Ellen. It's not that the weather is bad & we can't go anywhere, it's just that we like Islay & there's lots to do.

This morning started with a very respectable 8:30 wake up call from Hannah. Then after a post-breakfast pyjama dance on the deck (the kids, not us), we got dressed, made sandwiches & headed for the 11am bus to Bowmore.

First stop is the Mactaggart Leisure centre. Hannah has been talking about the "distillery swimming pool" (it's beside Bowmore distillery, not a swimming pool full of whisky) for a number of months now, in fact, since we visited here last year. There's only us and one other family in the pool & after Rebekah's initial uncertainty, we have a lovely swim. It's a standard swimming pool, nothing special, except that it's heated with the waste steam from the distillery next door & it's owned by the community. It has just celebrated it's 21st Birthday & Dave Cam would be proud of this example of "the big society", although I'm not sure he'd have too many fans on Islay, so don't rush over for a dip Dave.

Splish, Splash, Splosh!

Shower, Dry, Dress!

Then it's off to catch the bus to Bruichladdich. Bus is perhaps an exaggeration, it's the post office minibus & it seats 8. There are 11 of us at the bus stop. We sit the kids on our knees & leave one poor soul behind. A sign states that "Seatbelts must always be worn" but in invisible ink below, it must say "But you're a wimp if you do". Not a single person bothers & we just cling on to seats, children & bags until we reach our destination. I love island life with it's lack of health & safety and it's laid back timetables. Nobody ever seems to be in a rush, it's a different pace & we like it.

The bus stops right outside Bruichladdich distillery, I get the buggy out of the boot & hope I've closed the boot properly, as the bus departs without anyone checking. It struck me that it's alien to us that (as grown adults) we would be trusted to close a bus door properly, without the health & safety police insisting that the bus driver checked we had done it correctly. But again, this is the joy of island life. You get to be a grown up, take risks & accept the consequences. In fairness, had I not closed the door properly, the worst that would've happened would be an old woman's weekly co-op shopping would've dispersed itself all over the road to Portnahaven, hardly life & death.

We arrive at the distillery about 2:15 & about 2 minutes after the previous tour has started. But since we have to wait until 16:50 for the next bus back anyway, we decide to wait for the 3 o'clock tour. There's a lovely, big, well stocked, bar/shop/reception area & we're easily amused for 45 minutes until our tour starts.

Without doubt, this is the best distillery tour I've been on. Informal, yet comprehensive & we were allowed everywhere. From the still-in-operation grain weighing machine from the 1800's, to the storehouses & the bottling line. And all rounded off with a "just ask for a taste of whatever you fancy" tasting session at the end. They even plied the children with stickers & colouring in pages, while we tasted. Superb!

With the tour, you get a £5 off voucher, which of course Chris insisted we spent - it would be rude not to! I opted for a bottle of Botanist gin (this is where it's made) and Chris spent his bottling his own Bruichladdich single cask (only 400 bottles) "Prometheus"...as an investment I'm told.

If you visit Islay, this is one not to miss & they'll let you take the kids round on the tour, which some don't. I just hope the news that they're being bought over by Remy Cointreau won't change the ethos & charm of the place, it would be a terrible shame.

All full of Whisky & Gin, we catch the bus back to Port Ellen. By now we're all a bit hungry & the girls are a bit sleepy. We walk straight off the bus to the Cyber Bistro up the side street after the co-op (it's well signposted). Don't be put off by it's modest exterior & simple decor, the food is good, the staff are friendly & it's well worth a visit. Certainly beats The Islay Hotel for value for money! The kids had the usual sausages & chips and fish & chips and they hoovered it all up. I had scallops for starter, Chris had crab cakes. Both were fresh & tasty. Then we both had burgers for main, which for £5, were nothing to write home about, but tasty all the same.

Now beyond-full of food, we walked slowly back to Whisper, watched a couple of episodes of "Mike the Knight" & put the kids to bed. Chris is currently engaged in his latest hobby, reading reviews of Islay eating establishments on Tripadvisor.

The wind is picking up & it's getting cool up here in the cockpit. Time for another cuppa methinks...

Day 3: Shower. Ardbeg. Bump.

A lazy start to the day, well it was still raining, so we were in no hurry anywhere.

After a good deep sleep, Rebekah woke us from our slumber about 0730, with her usual "I need toilet!" call. We let Hannah sleep on & she eventually woke about 9. Once we were all breakfasted & dressed, we headed up to the local B&B for a shower.

Now squeaky clean, we got waterproofed from top to bottom & set off for lunch at The Old Kiln cafe in Ardbeg distillery. A 3.5 mile walk (cycle for Hannah) is a good way to work up an appetite! The road to Ardbeg is one of the two main roads out of Port Ellen & is clearly signposted. You'll pass Laphroaig & Lagavulin on the way. The grain lorry from the maltings at Port Ellen was unloading as we passed Lagavulin, so we helped ourselves to some malted barley to chew.

As always, the Ardbeg cafe didn't disappoint, excellent kids meals, with the obligatory ice cream for afters. I had carrot & ginger soup followed by a salmon fish cake, both were lovely. Chris had superb crab chowder (I will happily admit soup-envy) followed by a lamb & haggis burger, which wouldn't be my cup of tea, but he said it was nice. He then finished off with what he described as "The nicest cheesecake I've ever had" and in fairness, I tried some & he wasn't wrong. Light yet dense Irish cream cheesecake with a biscuit base which was beautifully short & reminded me of a shah biscuit, served with a rich chocolate sauce. It would be worth the 7 mile round trip just for the cheesecake!

Our post-cheesecake plan (time will now be referred to as BC & PC) was a tour of the distillery, which I hadn't done since Hannah was about 15 months old. I have memories of me holding her up & her peering into one of the mash tuns with her dummy in her mouth & me suddenly realising that if she spat it out at that moment, I may have ruined several thousand bottles of Whisky! Ardbeg are owned by Glenmorangie who, unlike Diageo, allow kids on the tours. The distilleries owned by Diageo don't allow kids under 8 on the tours, for health & safety reasons. In fairness, if you dropped one into a mash tun or the mill, it probably wouldn't be good. But you'd have to be pretty incompetent. Hannah enjoys taking photos, so it was a great opportunity for her to snap lots of photos as we went round. The tour was fairly basic, but a good reminder of the process of Whisky making & we got to try Corryvreckan & Alligator at the tasting afterwards, with Alligator coming out on top. However at £65, Chris decided to spend his £5 off voucher (that you get with every tour) on a £35 bottle of ten year old.

Jelly babies & a little hill propulsion assistance was required to get Hannah the 3.5 miles back to Whisper, but she was great & will be entering the Tour de France next year...as long as they have Jelly Babies. Rebekah on the other hand, decided at the top of the last hill down into Port Ellen, that she had had enough of the buggy & wanted to walk. So out she got & approx 1 minute later face-planted the rather rough surface of the pavement, leaving a rather large blue & red bump on her forehead. So with wailing child in arms, we head to the co-op, buy a can of diet coke & apply to child's head. It's now 6 hours later & it's a bit less blue, but still pretty big! See photo.

Still stuffed from lunch, toast & yogurts were all that was required for dinner & after some colouring in & a play with the new dominoes set Nanny sent with us, the girls were off to bed. Which is where I'll be heading as soon as I get this uploaded.

Signing off...

Day 2: Glenarm to Port Ellen (Islay)

Leave Glenarm: 0310
Arrive Port Ellen: 0820

"Beep Beep! Beep Beep!" went the alarm at 0240. "Groan, Groan" went the crew. But up the skipper got, to assess the wind speed & give Larne port control (Warren on nightshift) a ring to get the latest weather info.

Meanwhile, I lie below hoping that a hurricane is imminent because:
1. My bed is cosy & I am exhausted.
2. I hate sailing in the dark, really hate it.

Let's face it, what's to like about sailing in the dark? You have no way of seeing pot buoys, logs, fridges (happened once)...or anything else lying in wait to sink a blind ship. On this occasion I'm disappointed, the wind is gentle & it's all hands on deck to make ready for slipping the lines & heading for Islay. I'm only slightly pacified by the fact that it should start getting light within an hour and a half & all potential hazards will at least be visible.

We cast off, avoid the rocks at the entrance to the marina & head out into the inky black sea at 2200rpm. My hate of night sailing is immediately justified by a near(ish) collision with an UNLIT fish farm boundary marker & several black pot buoys!! Not amused is an understatement.

The kids are oblivious to all of this, still out for the count below in their cosy warm bunks. They stick to the plan & don't surface until 0630, by which time the seas have started to calm, as we've headed out of the tide & into a fairly slack sea area at the far side of the north channel TSS, south of Islay.

We didn't see much traffic on the passage, mainly due to the constant drizzle & appalling visibility, but thanks to AIS we know there was one ship southbound in the TSS as we approached the corner & we spotted a motorboat who was in Glenarm the night before approaching from astern about 30 minutes out of Port Ellen. Presumably they left at a reasonable hour, I could almost smell their smugness as they passed.

Approaching Port Ellen, we see the new MV Finlaggan is berthed at the pier, we hope that it isn't about to leave, it doesn't & it dwarves us as we motor past to get to the marina. The smell of cooked breakfast, presumably from the staff restaurant on board, is torture!

There's no problem finding a berth, we take our pick & are soon tied up with the kettle on. After de-lifejacketing, de-waterproofing and de-fleecing, I set to work warming croissants & pouring coffee. Happy faces all round!:)

After breakfast we deploy the onboard auto-childminder facility (netbook with toy story 1-3) and Chris & I head off for a couple of hours sleep.

Post-sleep & after a quick shower we head to the beach, where there's a rowing regatta & tug-o-war taking place as part of Islay's "Festival of the sea". The kids build sandcastles, we watch the festivities & enjoy the amusing commentary.

Later we headed to The Islay Hotel, which Chris has raved about since his boys trip to Islay last October. It seriously disappointed:( Our crab cake starters had no crab in them, well not enough to actually taste any crab and the salad leaves it came with were soggy & brown and would've been better left off the plate. I had roast beef with veg, roast potatoes & yorkshire pudding for main. The 2 tiny slivers of beef were cooked well & tasted lovely, but the small number of roast potatoes were dry & chewy, not crispy. The yorkshire pudding (singular) was ok, but almost certainly frozen. The carrots & broccoli were cooked well, but there was next to no gravy on the plate & due to the wait between asking for more & receiving it, I had eaten most of the meagre offering & made little use of it the end anyway. Unsurprisingly, we decided not to bother with dessert.

Back to Whisper for a cuppa & a Tunnocks teacake (well we are in Scotland) & then it was an early night for all.

Zzzzzzz....

Day 1: Bangor to Glenarm

Left Bangor: 1702
Arrived Glenarm: 2100

We were all set to start this year's big cruise by heading straight to Port Ellen from Bangor at 1am Sunday. But we saw a chance on Saturday afternoon/evening to do some 'northing' & make Sunday a shorter passage, so we got stowed & got going, headed for Glenarm and armed with a lunchbag full of sandwiches.

The Northerly winds meant It was pretty lumpy for most of the passage, which Rebekah illustrated nicely by throwing up just past Black Head, despite having had sea sickness medicine! In hindsight, the cheese sandwich was a bad idea.

After getting the puke-monster to sleep, we continued on a fairly uneventful passage, apart from being called by Larne port control, as we passed, well, Larne. It turned out that Warren (of 'Kingfisher') had just started night duty & saw us on the AIS, so called for a chat, which was welcome distraction from the rolling & slamming.

We arrived in Glenarm to find no free visitor berths, so we took a chance & tied up in an empty non-visitor berth ("there's no way a local will be out for an evening sail in this weather"). We got the kids sorted, the heater on, the sick covered clothes chucked into the marina washing machine & had just poured the tea when, inevitably, the owners of the berth appeared, rightly demanding their berth back. So, off we went, to the dark, lonely fish farm pontoon, ready for our 0240 alarm.