Summer arrives on day 79!

At last, what I have dreamed of for the past several months has come true. We woke up to warmth and sunshine, clear blue skies and crystal clear waters. We had breakfast on deck! I went for a morning swim in the loch!! I had shorts and a t-shirt on!!!!

 

Finally a lovely warm sunny day in Scotland and I can tell you, nothing can beat it. The scenery looks stunning, the bees are buzzing around the wild flowers and the water is still and clear and no wind. The owner of Linnhe marine came and had a chat and pointed out the palm trees growing by the shore and he said that, because of the Gulf Stream, this part of North West Scotland can be quite balmy and mild and hence palm trees can survive.

We had thought about staying here for a few days because it is such a beautiful spot, but with this weather window we decided it made sense to head on to Oban. Also there was no electricity at the pontoons so we couldn’t “plug in”. It has made me realise how lost we are without electricity to plug into and charge all our various appliances – mobile phones, laptops, our mobile Wi-Fi device (known as the dongle), my DAB radio and the TV. Rather sad really. We remember when we first started sailing we didn’t need any of these things, except perhaps the TV but we didn’t have one on board in the early days. Mobile phones seemed to last forever and didn’t need charging every day because, I suppose, they were only used for making phone calls and had no internet connection then.


Castle Stalker from Lunar Sea.

Off we went at 12.00 in sunshine and no wind. We did some sun bathing and had a picnic lunch on deck while admiring the scenery. The wind picked up and we even had gusts of 20 knots after about an hour, but as it was in the right direction we cut the engine and actually had a marvellous sail on Loch Linnhe for an hour or so. We were heading for Dunstaffnage Marina rather than Oban because the marina at Oban is small and on Kerrera Island opposite the town, therefore you have to rely on an hourly water taxi to get you off the boat. (Although we have been told that a new marina on the town side is about to open any day, but it will be restricted to short stay only.) The alternative is Dunstaffnage Marina, a marina just North of Oban with some 200 pontoon moorings and all facilities including free parking, a restaurant and B&B. So that is where we are now for a week and the facilities are really lovely and newly built. The village is a five minute walk and the bus takes you into Oban in a few minutes or to Fort William in just over an hour. The weather today is still sunny but cloudy with strong winds(up to 35 knots forecast for later today) and a forecast of rain and thunderstorms later, so we are taking the bus into Oban to explore and do some shopping.

Dunstaffnage Marina nestled between the  mainland and Eilean Mor (Mor Island)