Crinan to Jura Loch Tarbet

While we were climbing yesterday, I had the distinct impression that we could actually have gone sailing if we had applied sufficient yoor to the problem. The seas had looked fairly benign despite it being quite windy. We hd met a couple who had sailed through the Sound Of Luing that day in a small boat and although they looked like they had had a wild experience, I think that was probably more due to wind speed than it was due to sea state. If they could handle those conditions in their boat, there was no doubt that we could handle more in a Contessa 26. This brave talk was all a bit irrelevant anyway as the wind had moderated by Monday.

We left the mooring at about 9am and set off round some little islands into the
Sound of Luing. There was a good wind, but it was by no means a problem, indeed it gave very nice sailing. It was an absolutely beautiful day with blue skies and far reaching views. These views started with the Paps of Jura in the south west, Knapdale in the east and Scarba to the north. We then had great clear views of all the islands round the Sound of Luing and eventually of the hills of Mull. The view of Ben More on Mull brought back memories of the Scottish Islands Peaks Race and a very dodgy traverse of a scree slope onto the slopes of Ben More proper.

There were quite a few other sailing boats around. We were the only boat out with our spinnaker up. This felt quite exciting at times as we were pulling nicely up through the islands of Fladda etc. at the very northern end of the Sound of Luing. This is an amazing stretch of water that you have to navigate carefully. There are whirlpools and rocks around. You can see the water swirling around underwater rocks that you know are only metres away. It was up here that we saw the yacht Drum sailing the other way. This is a very impressive and very big yacht. It is also a very famous yacht as it used to belong to Simon Le Bon. It was beautiful.

The Sound of Luing was the northernmost point of the voyage and we then headed west and south around the outside of the Garvellach islands to the west coast of Jura. The wind died a bit here and we had to motor for about an hour (I was mindful that getting sucked into the Gulf of Corryvreckan was a poor idea). Once the wind returned we had a cracking sail down to Loch Tarbet on Jura. The scenery on the west side of Jura is really cool. There are all these raised beaches. In fact there is a whole raised coastline with beached sea stacks and caves. These features are criss crossed with natural dykes. The whole coastline has the backdrop of the Paps of Jura. It is a special place.

The wind really picked up when we entered Loch Tarbet. We had been hoping to find a sheltered spot where we could anchor and go ashore. We settled for a sheltered spot where we could anchor. Royston found an excellent little spot at the east end of Glenbatrick Bay. The chart marked this as having a rocky bottom (bad for anchoring), but we could see the sand beneath us in one spot so we just went for it and anchored there. We were behind a little hill with a beautiful white sand bay behind us. To our left were views of one of the Paps of Jura and out to sea was the island of Colonsay. In the evening, the sun set over Colonsay and the sky was really red. We could then see loads of stars above us and the shapes of the Paps before we turned in for the night. A perfect end to a fantastic day.