At the counter

For some the rally is over.

This is the weekend of the Mull car rally, unfortunately this driver's race ended on the Saturday.

Duart Castle first thing

Our spell of settled weather continues, much cooler this morning only
2 C when set off at 07:45 this morning. The Castle was looking good
washed in the early morning sun as we passed by. The Mull car rally
starts in a couple of days and we have started to take across the
ancillary vehicles, ambulances, doctor's cars and breakdown wagons,
not for the faint hearted this rallying game.

That's it, no more Panoramas

Well it was too tempting this morning when the sun came up over the hills above Oban.

And this was a few seconds later.  

Yes I have a Panorama function on my iPhone

Quick photo taken today heading back to Oban on the lifeline service.
Lovely weather since I joined on Wednesday.

And that's another season over

Julie, Lynne and David off for the last sail of 2012 in a brisk wind
from the NW, not many others out but we headed off with a heavily
reefed mainsail and genoa. On our way down the West coast of Great
Cumbrae we were doing over 8 knots with the wind on the beam. Lunch
swinging around on a mooring bouy at Millport before heading back up
the Largs channel where I took this Panorama photo. Great day's sail
and a good one to finish the season off with, the boat comes out of
the water this Monday.

Out with the lads

Out for lunch today at the Point in Greenock with, from left to right,
Ian, Brian and Walter. Always good to catch up with the local and
Waverley news, between Brian and Ian there isn't many folk that have
navigated the waters or the streets of Inverclyde that they don't
know. Walter's expression can be put down to his shock at having to
get a round in now that it's September again. (only joking Walter)

At Anchor

Just arrived off the North end of Bute, anchored by the Burnt Islands and indulging in a Pimms to watch the sun set

Lunch out at Rhu Marina

Out on an Awayaday to Rhu and lunch with Mum.  We bumped into Frances Mascarenhas who was also dining out at the Marina Cafe, incidentally a  nice place to visit if you are ever in the area.

Visiting ship

The Passenger Vessel Amadea anchored off the entrance to Oban Bay this
morning. In between showers they have a wonderful day for it.

Pot of gold?

Heavy rain showers at the moment which produced this rainbow over
Lismore and an interesting cloud.

Not one of our better days

Yesterday, Friday 14th, proved to be difficult for all involved, the weather forecast was bad and unfortunately proved to be on the button regarding the wind speed and direction.  On this run strong winds from the North West make the berthing at either end of the run difficult, in particular at Oban as this means it blows directly onto the berth through the North entrance to the Bay.  We departed from Oban on time in the morning and on arrival at Craignure the wind had increased in strength to 35 knots and up, a Force 8 or 9 gale or severe gale.  The  next two sailings were subsequently cancelled until we departed at 13:00 for Oban.  

On our first entry to the Bay we turned round and headed back out to sea to review and wait for the squalls to pass.  We berthed successfully on the next attempt utilising the port anchor to hold the bow off as we approached the berth.  On departure we found on recovering the anchor it had picked up a long piece of wire rope from the bottom of Oban Bay which had wrapped itself around the flukes. This had to be removed before we could proceed as there is always a danger that it could get caught round one of the propellers once we were underway.  Removing the wire proved to be difficult as we had to hook it using a grappling hook, tie it off and then lower the anchor to get it clear.  This was eventually carried out and unfortunately we had to let the wire go back into the water.  We arrived back in Craignure nearly two hours late and so picked up the usual schedule having missed out three round trips during the day.  So sorry folks but hopefully you all made it across eventually.

Celebrity for a morning

We had the BBC on board this morning filming for a new series 'Town'.
This particular programme will naturally feature Oban and Caledonian
Macbrayne is an important part of the community.
They asked for a suitable crew member to be interviewed on board and
yours truly was as you can imagine reluctantly persuaded to step
forward to be filmed with Nicholas Crane. Those of you familiar with
the Coast programme will know him from his signature umbrella.
It was good fun and I hope we look good. Unfortunately you will have
to wait until spring 2013 before it is broadcast on BBC2, don't worry
I'll alert you to it.

Lifeboats and old boats

I have been back on board the Isle of Mull for five days now, providing the service for the good folk of Mull. Now that the jet stream has decided to position itself in the usual position i.e. just to the North of here, we are experiencing what we Might call, our usual weather. As London and Paralympics bask in sunshine, we have mist and rain, see photo of Oban.

This morning to kick off our Sunday we dropped the two starboard lifeboats down to the water and sent them away for a wee trip.

One of my old ships Balmoral has been here in Oban ever since I joined, berthed across the Bay on the North Pier. I'm unsure what is the matter other than she is undergoing repairs, great pity for them
as they have had to cancel their Northern Ireland sailings.

Tomorrow sees a BBC crew coming on board to do some filming and maybe even a wee interview with yours truly.

Anti-clockwise circut of Cumbrae

We set off on the boat with a good friend Carolyn of Two Fat Ladies
fame. The weather didn't look too promising at first with a gentle
westerly but this picked up as the day went on and the sun came out.
We had a terrific sail, latterly with just the main up as the wind got
up to a force 5 giving us up to 7½ knots.

Film night Total Recall

Out on the town last night.  We went to see Total Recall, the remake of the 1990 film, which should have been a good film, but I'm afraid isn't.  More like a series of chases with admittedly great special effects but lacking any kind of a plot and with 'super' humans that fall 30 feet and then pick themselves up before letting off another burst of bullets.  Interestingly, maybe as it was rated 12A, there was a limit of one swear word that was used throughout to describe all events.  

Back to school

Well cook school actually as Julie gave me a birthday present of an
Ashoka Cook school voucher to attend a class on curry cooking. It
has taken a while to get a suitable date but I made my way out to
Motherwell College yesterday and had a very enjoyable morning making
Chicken Tikka Masala, pilau rice and a chapati, see photo. Our tutor
was a chef from the Green Chilli Cafe here in Glasgow, very
knowledgeable and helpful. This has been the second cook school I've
attended and I'm impressed by the extra wee tips that a professional
knows about cooking that you don't seem to ever see in books or on the
TV. Apart from a rather well done first chapati, (carefully concealed
under the second one in the photo) the meal was really good. Ashoka

Motherwell College is also very impressive, and I didn't even know

that it existed.

Not just for drying clothes.

Living in a flat in the West end we have high ceilings so a pulley in
the kitchen is a great place to dry clothes. Also a good place to dry
my home made pasta. Easier than I thought to make, but not on the
first attempt I will admit, but this second batch was tasty and very
filling.

Getting to grips

My cousin Judith, from the far flung fields of Lincolnshire, dropped by and we took her out for a wee cruise.  Usual weather requiring a double reefed main and a handkerchief of genoa.  Once underway Judith was on the helm.

And you say that the boat could capsize and we would all drown if I get this wrong?

Actually it's not all that difficult.

Steady as she goes, aye aye.

Quite fun this, what was all the fuss about?

Alternative activites for windy days

Dear reader, as you know we have been on the boat this week, sailing around our local Clyde waters. As luck would have it we have been subject to a windy spell of weather, nearly all from an Easterly direction. On Wednesday at Largs it was like the Levanter off Gibraltar, screaming down the hill and giving me the willies about even getting off the berth, so we decided to head South to the Robert Burns Museum in Alloway, near Ayr.  For any of you that have been to a supper at the end of January or appreciate the musings of our national wordsmith this is a good day out.

There is the museum itself, where there is a collection of memorabilia on Burns life and some interesting interactive displays.  At the back of the building a cafe restaurant which opens onto a well laid out garden.

Then you can take the short walk down a path to the cottage where Burns was born.  On the way you pass some fun sculptures of characters from his poems, wee sleekit, cow'rin tim'rous beastie here, which for those of you who know your Burns, which I don't, will appreciate was a metaphor for the working class farmers being downtrodden by the land owners.

A Tam o Shanter wind vane, pointing to the East wind.



The cottage.

The bed that Rabbie and his siblings were born in.

The grate.

Brig o' Doon bridge where Tam's mare lost her tail to the pursuing witch, who couldn't follow them over the running water, the River Doon.  Good day out and if you're like me and find the Scot's and local Ayrshire words unfathomable then there are useful translations next to all of the scripts on display.  Maybe something I need in the blog to explain what I'm on about?