I'll take the High Road

Despite the overcast skies with rain showers Julie, Dave and I set off in the Yeti for Overtoun House near Dumbarton to stroll amongst the hills and glens.  The first part of the walk was grand, albeit a bit damp, well sodden, underfoot but we had our boots on and were suitably clothed in the middle class outdoor clothing of choice, Goretex.

There was a certain amount of dissent amongst some of the party as we slipped and slid our way up the hill but once we had caught David back up again at the top, the views made it worthwhile for all the effort.  On our way backdown the heavens opened up and we arrived at the car soaked through from the waist down, the Goretex keeping the upper half dry and sweat free.
Overtoun House is owned and run by a Christian Group, mainly from America, and they are in the process of turning it into a refuge for women and children. They have also opened up one of the downstairs rooms as a tea room which we headed for to dry, or drip off.
The house is now somewhat in the twilight of its years having laid empty for 15 years but the group have plans and it will be great if they can seem them through.
We came into the building through the rather grand entrance and were met by a couple of very friendly ladies who were warming themselves by the fire.
The main room at the front is quite spectacular, and the Glenn Miller music playing in the background made it all seem a little surreal, as we were the only customers I felt like we had stepped into a Stephen Poliakoff play.  The tea was lovely as was the cream scone and we came away much fortified after our soaking.

There are many more photos at the House web site http://overtounhouse.com/

Weather damage

We have been experiencing strong South Easterly gales over the last few days, unusual for this part of the world where strong winds and storms usually hit us from the western half of the compass.  We were scheduled to do our first run of the winter timetable south to Colonsay on Monday, but with the pier being on the east side of the island and the forecast predicting a SE force 7 to 9 we had to sensibly call off as it would have been impossible to tie up safely.

Due to the disruption to other services, out to the Outer Hebrides, we continued with our Mull service.  There were high seas and strong gusts of wind which lead to the vessel rolling and pitching heavily on the way across, indeed as can be seen in the photo below we did sustain damage in the mess room.  Fortunately procedures are in place to minimise and contain any consequent damage in that the cap was securely screwed on.

The chef this time round is excelling himself, this was the sweet of the day for lunch.

It isn't like this all the time, honest!

To the nice people in the 274 cars that we carried over to Mull today, presumably from England, to start their October school holiday we are very sorry.  Even we haven't seen this much rain before, when the locals start commenting, it must be bad.  Unbelievable.  Also those folk that went all the way out to Tiree and Coll today on the Clansman and then came back because they couldn't get alongside, sorry

Friday breakdowns

Another wild old day, with gale force winds from the south.  The removal of the fish box and the insertion of a nut and bolt into the rope guard seems to have helped a lot with the vibration. 

All was going well until early afternoon when we couldn't raise the aft ramp after loading at Oban.  The fault was tracked down to one of the hydraulic units that supplies the power to the aft winches and the rams on the ramp to raise and lower it.  Fortunately our busy Chief Engineer was on the job and we were off again after about 45 minutes.  We were now running so late we cancelled one of the round trips from Craignure, this allowed us to catch up with the timetable and we were able to get folk to Oban for the 18:10 train back to Glasgow.  This is a priority for us as this is the last train of the day.

As compensation to the people that had their sailing cancelled they were allowed to sail for free on the Loch Aileen ferry across to the mainland.  A lot further to drive but they would be back into Oban quicker than waiting for us and saved the fare.

When we arrived in Oban I was despatched down to the bar to attend to a gentleman who had collapsed with chest pains.  Glad I did my first aid course last year and fortunately the paramedics attended quickly and treated the gent for a suspected coronary attack.  Eventful day really.

Bouncing about

When we were departing Oban yesterday afternoon the ship was vibrating a lot more than usual, particularly at 60% pitch.  It was getting to the point that it was difficult to fill out our forms on the way out of the harbour, so clearly things were getting bad.
On leaving Craignure we used each engine independently and found that there was more vibration from the port engine as compared to the starboard.  Clearly something was amiss so the company organised divers to attend last night, to check out the propellers.
They found a plastic fish box off a fishing boat stuck in amongst the propeller gear and a missing bolt from the rope guard on the starboard prop.  This morning, things seem to much better so they must have been part of the problem, though the vibration hasn't gone completely.
From a chilly 6C the other morning it was 13C today, accompanied by a Southerly Gale, blowing on the way across, complete with driving rain.  Autumn equinox gales maybe?

At sea again.

Island of Lismore.

Duart Castle with Mull in the background.

It was a rough old night alongside at Craignure Pier, the wind blew
all night and the ship bounced off the pier. I mustn't grumble as I
had a bed and duvet, unlike our new residents that had a few blankets
between them and the couches. Some of the stranded passengers found
accommodation in Tobermoray, to add to their stories the taxi ran into
a deer on the way down the coast. No one hurt, well other than the
deer.
We got off OK at 6:45 and even the two drunks that were chucked off
earlier made it back on board. The sun came out and the snow, yes
snow, came down and covered all the tops of the hills. My camera
isn't up to the long shots required but here are a couple of the views
on the way across to Oban.
That's me half way through the week, quite eventful with engine
breakdowns and storms.

Conversion to passenger ship

We knew that it was going to be a windy old day and so it proved to
be. We had a bit of a heavy landing onto the pier at Oban as the wind
freshened up from the NW, then in the early afternoon we called off
the berthing at Craignure just as we were approaching and hove to,
waiting for a squall to pass through. When it had died down a bit we
came alongside and everyone got off but we didn't load anything, just
waited and waited to see what would transpire while listening to the
wind howling in the rigging.
Here's a couple of photos taken out of the wheelhouse as we hove to,
if you look carefully you can spot a yacht heading up the Sound of
Mull, going to windward against the tide. Put's the rest of us fair
weather yachters to shame or maybe we're not that daft!
The wind continued to howl and we couldn't depart for fear of damaging
the ship or maybe running aground when we pulled away. By 18:00 a
decision was made that we were going to lie alongside here for the
rest of the night in the hope that the wind would die down by the
morning. Unfortunately we have 114 passengers on board, some have
found accommodation ashore but 60 odd are now making their beds around
about the passenger areas of the bar, cafeteria and observation
lounge. We gave them a free meal and drinks, a local hotel has
rummaged up some blankets and we are now all bunking down for the
evening. Apparently this has never happened before, can't believe
that, but it makes for a change.

Thanks for all the snowballs

I have been on board now for nearly six days, for the first time ever
I missed the boat on Wednesday when I joined, thanks to the roadworks
on Great Western Road in Glasgow. Only by minutes despite the
herculean efforts of the bus driver we arrived in Oban to see the ship
sailing across the Bay.
This weekend was the Mull Car Rally, sponsored by amongst others
Tunnocks, who anyone from Scotland will know, makes Caramel Wafers,
Snowballs and Macaroons. Mr. Tunnock knows his clientele well as the
Scottish have a fondness for sweet sticky sweets, particularly those
made out of dubious ingredients. Does anyone know what that sweet
sticky stuff is inside a snowball? Their retro van was on board and
the driver was kindly handing out free samples, see photo. The dark
chocolate caramel wafers are delicious, so I'm told, as clearly I
wasn't going to be having any on my diet.
It has been interesting seeing the rally cars going out on Friday and
the bits coming back yesterday and today. Due to the pretty appalling
weather there was several cars damaged that had to retire.
We unfortunately didn't cover ourselves in glory today when we broke
down alongside at Craignure on the first trip of the day. Two and a
bit hours later we got going again, sorry about that folks. The Chief
Engineer is now phoning around trying to source bits for a 25 year old
water cooling pump. Anyone who has looked for spare parts for
something that age will sympathise.
Pretty grim weather as well today, up to Force 9 in the Minch and our
fellow ferries have been badly disrupted in carrying out their vital
lifeline service. More tomorrow, this time from the North West which
may impinge on our service too.

On my way home

At Tower Pier

Dining Saloon

Docking Telegraph

Left the dear old paddler this evening and now making my way north on
the train. Sorry to leave as it was good fun on board, a bit like
piloting an aeroplane, quite long periods of dullness with short
moments of terror.
Back to the day job on Wednesday, will seem even more
'straightforward' than usual.

Trip across the river

Waverley alongside at Tilbury Landing Stage

Princess Pocahontas Ferry

Princess Pocahontas

Gravesend Pub, note chandeliers

As we were off for the third day in a row, myself and Tony the Purser
went on the Princess Pocahontas ferry to Gravesend, which is just over
the other side of the Thames from Tilbury. We had to go and deposit
some excess change at the bank. Once that was done we had a walk
through the quite smart town and visited Princess Pocahontas's grave
in the churchyard. See http://goo.gl/IMYfT for more information.
Naturally we felt obliged to visit a pub to sample the local ales, and
found this rather splendid place with its chandeliers and delightful
Polish barmaid.
The good news is that the weather tomorrow is scheduled to abate and
we are going upriver on a charter run from the Tower, so at last we
will be underway again. Crew will all be raging alcholics if we stay
here much longer.

No sailing again today

The weather has still not abated, we were all up at 6:00 this morning ready to head upriver to pick up at Tower Pier.  Given the strong winds at the moment we would have been able to carry out the first part of the cruise downriver but with the forecast it would not have been possible to carry out the rest of the day down to Southend and the River Medway. We would probably only have been able to take the people to Tilbury and then bus them back, about 2 and a half hours, so Ian, the Captain, has decided to cancel all of the day's sailings.  This is the third day of cancelled sailings and everyone feels really bad about it, but it is hard to see what else we can do.

Weather stops play

Unfortunately our great spell of hot and calm days has come to an end. It is overcast now with a stiff west or southwest breeze blowing down the river. The forecast is so bad we have had to cancel our day's cruising as we would have been unable to berth at Clacton or Southend. Regrettably tomorrow doesn't look any better, indeed worse with a gale forecast. Still we might make something of it, it's another day and things change.

Cloudless Skies

Still unbelievably warm, passing Greenwich you can see the clear blue sky.

New Building

Unless you have been in London recently you may not recognise this new skyscraper. That is HMS Belfast in the foreground.