2014.3 Port Ellen, Islay

 

I was delighted to see Port Ellen again on such a beautiful day. I remembered my first experience with holding a mooring buoy in dark  around midnight, when we arrived last time, almost three years ago. 

 

Lovely to walk on the beach in front of the town

This ship is delivering grain to the Island for malting as Islay is one of the biggest centers for Whisky production. It was interesting to have a view of some beginning procedures, coming from sea.

 

We stayed on Islay and had a chance to try out our new folding bikes which allowed us to see a bit more of the Island than we were here the last time.

2014.2 Sailing south to Islay

 

The Caledonian Canal allows us to sail from one side of Scotland to the other

When we were waiting at Corpach basin, I noticed the flags at Canal office, including the Canadian which represented the Rideau Canal, were not there. But, soon a boat with a Canadian flag came to the pontoon and also departed with us into sea.

We sailed into Loch Linnhe and stayed overnight at Port Ramsay, and continued sailing south next morning. It was nice to see some of the yachts in Three Peaks Race heading towards their Ben Nevis stage and finish.

 

Sailing from Port Ramsay to south was again calm without much wind. Picture below shows some boats in the anchorage at Pulladobhrain as the morning fog started to clear.

 

 

Then we had a rather difficult time sailing to Islay as the wind died and we had problems with our engine.