I did the shopping in Tesco. I haven't spent that much money in a supermarket for years. I needed to get enough food for a couple of weeks as I may not be close to shops for the next couple of weeks. After shopping I went for a nice walk round the spectacular cliffs of Holy Island in the brisk wind. It was nice to find a sheltered spot for a little nap in the sun. I could see the large waves off the south stack lighthouse when I got up. The day before I had motored through a mirror calm sea over that same stretch of water. I got an early night's sleep ready for a long day on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning dawned grey and slightly less windy. The wind had also turned to the east which was a great direction for getting to the Isle of Man. We were motoring out of Holyhead harbour before 7am.
The morning of the crossing was pretty grey and it started to rain. The wind was good though and we made good progress until we could see the Isle of Man. The wind then seemed to decrease as the weather ameliorated. It was nice to see the Isle of Man appear out of the gloom. It is a really spectacular island. You can see why the Vikings liked it so much. There are some really steep banks and cliffs going into the sea and a range of shapely hills along the spine of the island. An interesting feature is the Calf of Man which is a little island off the southern tip. I had imagined it as just being a large rock, but it is quite a substantial place with a farm and several old lighthouses on it. It is separated from the main island by a channel 100m wide called Calf Sound. This is meant to be difficult to navigate due to it's narrowness and the rocks on either side. It does save quite a bit of time to go through it though and it is tidally efficient to take it (you get the tide with you earlier if you go through the sound). We went throughout the sound a bit nervously. It is pretty unnerving seeing the rocks so close on either side when you are in a vulnerable little boat. On the far side of the sound there was a good view of the steep hills going into the sea. A hill called Cronk ny Arrey Laa is particularly impressive. You don't want to play rolly Pollyanna down that one!
The wind on the west side was really weird. It kept gusting, changing direction and then dying. I didn't know whether we should motor or sail. Is kept the faith and sailed and was rewarded with a really good sail up the coast to Peel. Peel harbour has a splendid setting as it is tucked into this gorse clad valley parallel to the coast. There were loads of fishing boats moored up on the harbour wall as we went into the inner harbour to find a berth for the night. The first thing I set about doing was servicing one of the winches which had seized solid. I was quite lucky to get it working again I think. Once I had finished that, I was invited out to the pub from the boat next door, so I enjoyed a couple of pints before turning in. It was going to be another early morning.
Wednesday dawned grey and reasonably windless. This was not an ideal combination. I had visions of motoring under leaden skies up to Scotland. This is how the first hour of the passage started off, but then a really good easterly kicked in and we sped off towards the Mull of Galloway. Things got even better when the sun came out and we just had the most fantastic 5 hours of sailing. When the wind died I could feel the full force of the sun. I think I am getting quite brown. We then had about 4 hours sailing up the Galloway coast with the spinnaker up. This was all pretty serene, the only poor bit being a failed gybe. The failed spinnaker gybe led to the spinnaker begin taken down onto deck and being put up on the other side. This was not graceful but it was the safe thing to do as I am on my own. The Galloway coast brings back tense memories of the Three Peaks Yacht Race. It is often a windless little spot in that race too.
We motored the last two hours into the head of Loch Ryan. I am anchored about 5 miles north of Stranraer. It is at a place called Lady Bay and was recommended by my friend Damo who is the lock keeper at Portishead. It is in a convenient location and we seem to be pretty firmly anchored. There is a pretty amazing view out west to this conical island called Aisla Craig. It looks really out of place in the Firth of Clyde. You get islands like that in the Tristan da Cunha group, now round here. Arran is behind Aisla Craig. It would be nice to get a climb done on there at some stage. The only problem with the anchorage is that it gets pretty bumpy whenever one of the Irish ferries goes by. I guess I am just going to have to come to terms with that.
I am just on GPRS coverage here so can't upload any pictures, but will try to when I get into better coverage. The plan is to go up the coast to Troon tomorrow to pick up my friend Royston. We should meet my nieces on Friday at the east end of the Crinan canal and then go through the canal on saturday. This should be fine and I am really looking forward to introducing them to the boat. After that we need to check the weather and see where we can get. The dream is to get out to Skye, but we need to take things as they come.
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