Tarbert to Port Bannatyne
The weather forecast was still unsettled and the wind was increasing to a F6 so we resigned ourselves to a Saturday in Tarbert. It is a pretty little town surrounding the harbour with its own castle overlooking both the Loch and the Harbour.
One benefit to our enforced stay was the availability of some Wifi as my trusty phone had completely died the previous day and I had the dreaded black screen with instructions to sync with iTunes! In order to do this I had to spend a couple of hours sitting in a small laundry room mid way between the ladies and gents loos/showers with my computer and phone linked by the Apple umbilical cord waiting for the software to download. We had tried downloading it overnight on the boat but the Wifi kept dropping in and out and so didn't work - the advice from the HM was the best signal was to be found in the laundry - hence my Saturday afternoon in the laundry with a paperback!
Sunday dawned very wet and overcast so we decided that if the weather improved that afternoon we would cross the loch to Portavadie - 3 miles across the Loch- which is a marina/leisure centre complex with a 5* hotel and restaurant and an infinity pool overlooking the loch. However when we got back from church it was still pouring with rain and we decided that we would rather stay dry and forgo the opportunity to visit this man-made centre! I cant say the thought of an infinity pool looking out over a wet and misty loch really enticed me too much!
That morning we visited Tarbert Scottish Free Church. Again a very small community in a very large impressive building however it was a very unusual service. As we arrived we were handed a modern book of hymns and songs and an old copy of Psalms and canticles. The service started as we expected and then the second hymn was announced from the P&C book - which was sung unaccompanied. All the rest of the hymns were then sung unaccompanied which was quite a challenge with so few folks in the congregation. We joined the small congregation afterwards for coffee and again met a group of really lovely people many of whom were Tarbert born and bred and who were able to tell us lots about life on Kintyre.
The next morning was dry and sunny and the prospect was for a good day with the chance of showers. We set off from Tarbert heading for the Kyles of Bute. This is a spectacularly pretty area arching around the top of the Isle of Bute. The only problems identified on the charts and pilot books are the Burnt Islands which sit just at the top of the Isle of Bute and cause some interesting tidal flows. We enjoyed a wonderful sail up the West Kyle in a lovely F3/4 which slowly died as we turned towards the Burnt Islands which left us drifting quietly under our headsail watching the birds and dolphins in the Kyle.
Just as we approached the channel through the islands we encountered one of the occasional showers which turned out to be 15 minutes of torrential hail!
After dodging a couple of ferries we carried on down the East Kyle to Port Bannatyne - a small harbour about 2.5 miles north of Rothesay and much quieter with no ferry traffic. By the time we tied up the skies had cleared and we spent the evening in a dry warmish port - had we finally caught up with summer?
One benefit to our enforced stay was the availability of some Wifi as my trusty phone had completely died the previous day and I had the dreaded black screen with instructions to sync with iTunes! In order to do this I had to spend a couple of hours sitting in a small laundry room mid way between the ladies and gents loos/showers with my computer and phone linked by the Apple umbilical cord waiting for the software to download. We had tried downloading it overnight on the boat but the Wifi kept dropping in and out and so didn't work - the advice from the HM was the best signal was to be found in the laundry - hence my Saturday afternoon in the laundry with a paperback!
Sunday dawned very wet and overcast so we decided that if the weather improved that afternoon we would cross the loch to Portavadie - 3 miles across the Loch- which is a marina/leisure centre complex with a 5* hotel and restaurant and an infinity pool overlooking the loch. However when we got back from church it was still pouring with rain and we decided that we would rather stay dry and forgo the opportunity to visit this man-made centre! I cant say the thought of an infinity pool looking out over a wet and misty loch really enticed me too much!
That morning we visited Tarbert Scottish Free Church. Again a very small community in a very large impressive building however it was a very unusual service. As we arrived we were handed a modern book of hymns and songs and an old copy of Psalms and canticles. The service started as we expected and then the second hymn was announced from the P&C book - which was sung unaccompanied. All the rest of the hymns were then sung unaccompanied which was quite a challenge with so few folks in the congregation. We joined the small congregation afterwards for coffee and again met a group of really lovely people many of whom were Tarbert born and bred and who were able to tell us lots about life on Kintyre.
The next morning was dry and sunny and the prospect was for a good day with the chance of showers. We set off from Tarbert heading for the Kyles of Bute. This is a spectacularly pretty area arching around the top of the Isle of Bute. The only problems identified on the charts and pilot books are the Burnt Islands which sit just at the top of the Isle of Bute and cause some interesting tidal flows. We enjoyed a wonderful sail up the West Kyle in a lovely F3/4 which slowly died as we turned towards the Burnt Islands which left us drifting quietly under our headsail watching the birds and dolphins in the Kyle.
Just as we approached the channel through the islands we encountered one of the occasional showers which turned out to be 15 minutes of torrential hail!
After dodging a couple of ferries we carried on down the East Kyle to Port Bannatyne - a small harbour about 2.5 miles north of Rothesay and much quieter with no ferry traffic. By the time we tied up the skies had cleared and we spent the evening in a dry warmish port - had we finally caught up with summer?
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