Hidden Tarbert. Campbeltown Loch to Tarbert 24 July 2024

 

Our Campbeltown Loch anchorage was excellent - really good holding with its thick gloopy sandy mud.  As the winch sucked the anchor out this morning the bow of the boat went down (and then bobbed up again!) - lovely.  We left at 08.00 to motor north in a grey chilly morning - the chill being abated a little by the wind being from behind (in a manner of speaking).

The headless hills of Arran accompanied us most of the trip, but the sea was fairly calm, and it became just a little warmer as we came north (only a very little).

We were directed to G pontoon again in Tarbert marina and got tied up before midday, which gave us all afternoon to explore the town - a town which we thought we knew - that was much too presumptuous.

We found a very small community heritage centre on the south side of the harbour - free to go into and full of fascinating fun facts about Tarbert: the town’s fishing industry grew to prominence in the 1800s; it was based upon the Herring, known as “Silver Darlings”, which thronged in Loch Fyne (just at the entrance of Tarbert harbour); the heyday lasted a century from 1850; small wooden skiffs with rakish masts and brown sails fished the loch from June til January (then followed the shoals elsewhere).

Herring skiffs leaving Tarbert harbour in the late 1800s.

By the late 1800s there were an incredible 58 shops in what was still a village.  There were 10 sweet shops, 9 grocers, 5 bakers, 4 tea rooms, 4 cobblers, 4 butchers, 3 trailers, 2 chandlers plus banks, hotels, an ironmonger and gunsmith, saddler, an animal feed merchant, a fish and chip shop, and a cinema. Amazing!

 

This undated picture is titled “Fisher Lassies”.

After our history lesson (and there was a lot more which I haven’t shared) it was time to go for a bit of a walk.  We headed along Harbour Street and then Pier Road on the south side of the harbour - past the Calmac ferry to Portavadie (runs every hour).

The Vikings left a long boat behind - could do with a little TLC.

Pier Road is lined (mostly) with old traditional Scottish stone houses most of which are in excellent condition and have lovely gardens.  It’s a treat to wander along ogling at them - so we did.

At the end to the road there’s a memorial to the Nancy Glen, a fishing boat that sank just offshore with the deaths of two crew.  Not mentioned at the end of the road - unless you look up Google Maps - is a narrow dirt path to one of Tarbert’s star attractions.  The Shell Beach is about 100m through scrubby woodland along a muddy, rooty, rocky path.  Well worth the scramble.

The beach is made up of broken scallop shells which were dumped just offshore many years ago by a shellfish processing business.

It’s not big but is perfectly formed.  Perfect for contemplation.

After all our contemplating we were exhausted and hungry.  As a starter before dining aboard we bought a couple of fish dishes from the mobile seafood van adjacent to the marina.

Excellent seafood from “The Silver Darlings”.

Our route: