Packed up and all ready for a serious programme of overdue winter maintenance – no, not the boat, the crew. I’ve got a date next month for a new hip joint, and the co-skipper is expecting a new knee soon after.
This nostalgic third time round Britain has been really enjoyable, but that plus other outdoor sports have been taking a toll on joints. Happily, spares are available nowadays.
We hope to be fit and ready to go by the spring. With the last of the rum in the saloon locker, we raised a toast to the next season of sailing!
The long drive to Oban wasn’t wasted. We needed to be here anyway to lay up for the winter. And we did squeeze in a couple of days when the Force 5s eased down to Force 2-4. It was a chance to motor into the wind across the Forth of Lorn and up the sound of Mull as far as Loch Aline for a night on a pontoon.
We took a short stroll to the village (aided by walking sticks) and back for a drink at the nearest bar, which is in the harbour office. It is only open from 4pm to 7pm, and served by office staff, one of whom also works for a new local distillery called Nc’Nean (sic). The whisky has a clean, dry taste, and is delicious as an aperitif.
Next morning, we left through the shallow entrance just before half tide, with about 2 metres under the keel, and motor-sailed back to Kerrera. There was hardly any wind, but the sails were up, mainly to air them before we put them away for the winter.
It all rather confirmed that excessively creaky joints are a liability on a sailing boat, and that it’s sensible, and a lot safer for the moment, to postpone serious Hebridean sailing.
Though the much anticipated autumn cruise hasn’t happened, there were compensations while laying up: the marina has a pleasant restaurant with a view across the Bay (scallops and black pudding are particularly tasty). There’s also the Oban Seafood Hut, a 10 minute ferry ride away, for the best oysters, mussels, scallops, and crabs I know of – an excellent al fresco lunch to mark the end of the season.
●While we were there, the Queen Mary II anchored for a day off the seaward side of Kerrera. It is so huge it cannot get through the ship channel into Oban Bay. There was a constant stream of launches – each with capacity for 100 – to and from the ship all day.
tide by tide 