Linnhe Marina to Ardfern wet and windy 12 August 2023

 

This reflects the day rather well.

As you can see today has been wet, and windy, but not at all miserable. 

A short walk in the morning at Linnhe Marina, in the rain and the wind, set the scene for the day.  We walked to Stalker View Cafe (it might not be called that) for morning coffee and buns, then the short walk back.  That was our exercise for the day.

The forecast had changed - not for the better - and so we needed to set off earlier than we had anticipated.  We left Linnhe Marina at about 11.30 through the narrow southern entrance - much quicker than round by the northern entrance that we arrived by. 

We plugged south into the wind, with quite wet rain on occasions.  Passed Oban - we were going to go on the inside of Kerrera, but in poor visibility and with the sea state on the outside not being too bad, we decided to take the outside route. It was much too windy to make cetacean watching possible, and even bird watching was pretty hopeless.  We had to travel inside the cabin rather than on the flybridge - really unusual for us, but it was too wet to be outside.

We booked a berth at Ardfern and arranged to get fuel on arrival (diesel in Bangor is £1.60/ltr and £1.18/ltr in Ardfern - so it’s a no-brainer to fill up before we head home). We arrived at 15.40 straight onto the fuel berth - much to the disgust of the boat that we had overtaken on the approaches to the marina - they seemed a bit pissed off that they had to wait.  Well, that’s life.

We then moved round to a good berth, though having to berth broadside and against the wind made for a wee challenge.  All good though.

Sorry for the lack of pics today - it hasn’t been a picturesque day - maybe tomorrow.

Here’s a grey pic of us in Ardfern Marina, just to fill the pic void.

The boat bird list is also a bit thin because of the weather, at 19 species.

Our route: