Lazaway Life

  Lazaway in the first lock leaving the sea at Crinan. The forecast for the north Irish Sea (Machrihanish and Mull of Kintyre) over the next few days is pretty dire - lots and lots of wind - and we felt as though we had been in Ardfern long enough, so we decided to take the Crinan Canal across the top of Kintyre so that we are on the inside of the Kintyre peninsula and sheltered from the wind. Susie and Gordon have travelled this route before (in the other direction) but it’s very new to Mary and me and rather exciting to take Lazaway along this thin ribbon of water. Locks filled with enthusiasm once they started. The canal is quite beautiful to travel along - relaxing and picturesque - unless you are driving a large boat or fending off other boats in the locks! Relaxing and beautiful. Entering a lock - less relaxing. Gordon’s new camera has captured this,  and has been speeded up X6 For going through the locks we were paired up with a yacht whose skipper just didn’t care if t...

  We were asked by the marina manager to change berth today - the owner of our first berth is apparently on their way back so we had to vacate it. Today has been a day of sunny breaks and fierce squalls with heavy rain.  Naturally, just as we started to move, a squall came in, and almost as soon as we had tied up at the new berth it went dead calm - thus the picture above. The only coffee/lunch spot in Ardfern is Lucy’s.  It’s very popular, so we booked a table at 10.30 for breakfast. And the food (we all had their cooked breakfast) was very good (except for the sourdough toast with a rock hard crust almost impossible to cut) but the experience is not as good as it should be.  There were a lot of flies whizzing about - a problem that should not be difficult to solve - the people on the next table had to ask for it to be wiped down because it was covered in crumbs, and one of the tiny jugs of milk for the coffees was off - Mary only noticed after adding it to her coff...

  Craignish Castle. It has been converted into apartments although this is not that apparent from the outside. It’s on a fairly exposed and definitely remote site.   One apartment sold in 2023 for £325k - so not cheap. We are staying in Ardfern because the forecast for travelling south past the Mull of Kintyre is pretty dreadful - a lot of wind from the WNW.  We may be here for some time. Mary and I went for a walk south, down the Craignish peninsula to Craignish Castle (about 7 mile round trip).  We found Susie’s necklace on the road along the way - a little worse for wear having been run over a number of times.  It now has ‘character’. It is a beautiful peninsula - really rather verdant, fecund even. The abundant rain and at least a bit of sun and warmth, creates ideal growing conditions.  There are lovely houses and gardens along the way - one house has three professional gardeners three days a week, the head gardener coming originally from Bangor. ...

  Setting off from Kerrera, heading south towards Kerrera Sound at 06.30 this morning. We had an early start in order to catch the tide - particularly through the Sound of Luing which is very narrow with very strong currents (bit like The Narrows at the mouth of Strangford Lough). And our journey was not long - just 2.5 hours - so we arrived at Ardfern a few minutes after 09.00 this morning.  Our aim is to position ourselves for the run home, past Machrihanish and the Mull of Kintyre, and on down the Irish Sea.  We need a good day for that and just at the moment the forecast for days ahead is looking grim. So straight onto the fuel berth to fill up - we need it for the journey but also to avoid refuelling in Bangor where the diesel is about 30p a litre more expensive.  After refuelling we were directed into a lovely berth, very secure and on the main pontoon.  Required a bit of manoeuvring and reversing but very snug once we were in. It’s obviously the place to ...

  Our dinner at the Waypoint last night was one of the island’s highlights - excellent scallops and venison in a friendly, down to earth small restaurant.  Our way of sampling what else the island of Kerrera has to offer has been to take a hike from the marina at the top of the island right down to the other end. A round trip of over 13 kilometres. The path is actually the main road down the east coast - all of it single track and much of it gravelly and unsurfaced. The weather has been windy with very low cloud, so low on occasions it has been an all engulfing mist.  Oban, only half a mile away has frequently not been visible.  On the up side, it hasn’t actually rained, so we feel we’ve done quite well. There is not a lot at the south end of the island but from the outset what there is, is well promoted. We were very keen to get to the tea garden! And there were frequent signs to keep your enthusiasm up - they are needed over a 6 kilometre walk. The tea garden is be...

  Early morning at our mooring in Canna bay. Looking north at the east end of Canna as we leave the harbour bay. We had a leisurely departure from Canna at 10.00 (dodging the incoming Cal-Mac ferry), the timing designed to get us to the top end of the Sound of Mull just as the tide turns to take us south.  The weather has been fabulous - a little bit of a NW breeze, but because we are running with it, it feels like there is no wind at all.  And it’s very warm and sunny. We’ve done quite a bit of motoring today so our highlights have been the fabulous views of the islands and headlands as we pass them.  It has been one long orgaziama! The light at the SE tip of Canna with the island of Rum (or Rhum) behind. The mountains at the south end of Rum. The island of Muck nearest, and Eigg in the distance. The Ardnamurchan Peninsula as we approach  Ardnamurchan Lighthouse looking splendid in the sun Rubha nan Gall lighthouse on the north side of Tobermory as we enter the...