The great “Dileas” adventure… (Part 5)

Read Part 4

We got up early to catch the tide down the Sound of Mull and make our way to Kerrera for some crew changes. Being close to Oban it has good transport connections and also gave us the opportunity to have a meal ashore in one of the restaurants on the North Pier.

The next day after the crew change over and some provisioning we carried on our way to Puilladobhrain where we were going to anchor for the night. Being not much more than an hours sail from Oban it makes a good stop if you can’t leave until after lunch. There was limited space there as 15 boats were already anchored, but we found a gap and enjoyed what remained of the sun while watching a seal play around the boats in the hope he would get lucky with some food.

Sunset at Puilladobhrain

The next part of the trip was going to take us south again, although when we left Puilladobhrain we hadn’t actually decided where we were going to stop. We left early and passed Insh Island, Easdale, and retraced our steps through the Cuan Sound. We had decided we wanted a mooring or a berth rather than anchoring and that gave us options of Kilmelford Harbour and Pier, Kilmelford Yacht Haven, Craobh Marina or Crinan boatyard. After deciding that Loch Melfort would probably be more peaceful than Crinan boatyard we headed there and picked up a mooring at Kilmelford Harbour and Pier, just in time to inflate the dinghy before lunch, and to spend a leisurely afternoon on shore.

Fishing boat on the beach at Loch Melfort

The final part of our trip was to take us to Ardfern where we were leaving the boat. As we got ready to leave the wind picked up and we had one of the best sails of the trip down Loch Shuna, through the Dorus Mor and up Loch Craignish, avoiding the lobster pots as we went. We were tied up in the marina about 4 and a half hours later and cleaned up the boat and ourselves before we treated ourselves to a final night dinner in the Galley of Lorne.

Tags: Craobh, Crinan Canal, Loch Melfort, Oban, Puilladobhrain, sailing in Scotland, Sailing Scotland, Seil, Tobermory, West coast of Scotland

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The great “Dileas” adventure… (Part 2)

Read Part 1.

The rain from the previous day had gone when we got up, but it didn’t seem far away. We decided to stay above the canal basin and watch all the boats head through the locks - and as the fleet was heading through for West Highland Week there was almost guaranteed to be some entertainment…

As we had our morning coffee the bottleneck began and we were glad to be tucked in out the way against the wall.

Crinan bottleneck

As most of the yachts were heading North through the Dorus Mor most had to be away by lunchtime, and with the bottleneck over we enjoyed a peaceful afternoon and evening with coffee and cake outside the Crinan coffee shop, and later some drinks in the Crinan Hotel bar.

Sunday started a bit sunnier, but with strong winds forecast we decided just to head to Craobh marina, which gave us the option of heading to Oban the next day if the forecast was still for strong winds. We thought we might have seen some of the West Highland Week fleet racing from Craobh to Oban, but we were just a bit too late and just caught the tail end of the fleet rounding the bottom of Shuna, heading up the Sound of Luing and past Fladda Light.

As the weather was nice we extended our sail and went past Craobh, into Loch Melfort to investigate the anchorages and moorings there. Then it was back to Craobh to settle for the evening and enjoy the fabulous sunset.

"Dileas", and the Craobh sunset

Tags: Craobh, Craobh haven, Craobh marina, Crinan, Crinan Canal, cruising, Fladda, Loch Melfort, sailing in Scotland, Sailing Scotland, Shuna, Sound of Luing, West coast of Scotland, West Highland Week, west highland yachting week

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