Day 6 and 7 – That was never a week!

Well we’re done, Midnight Mirage handed back, but that was never a week, surely we only started yesterday!  I’ll write a bit of a summary at the end of this blog but before that a bit more about Arran, which has to be one of the most beautiful Scottish islands. 

On our second day at Lochranza we decided to catch a bus to Brodick, Arran’s largest town.  Brodick itself was a little disappointing (not much there and it’s just a bit ordinary) however we did find a great coastal walk between Brodick and Brodick Castle.  Also the journey to Brodick from Lochranza takes you through some of the most stunning scenery you’ll see anywhere – Scotland in miniature, a wild mountainous landscape, a mixture of hills and glens which are brought alive with vibrant green, brown and orange colours everywhere you look.    

So our first time sailing in Scotland, what do we think?  Firstly as a sailing area it’s pretty easy.   It is tidal which usually makes it tricky, but there’s no real issues with shallow bits and tidal streams are generally weak, not to bothersome.  As you can see from the map it’s also pretty well protected from those nasty Atlantic swells and parking, compared to some of the shenanigans in Greece, is a doddle all marina’s, mooring buoys and anchoring.   Apart from sailing it is a beautiful area, if it wasn’t so green you would think you were in Greece.  So, what’s the down side?  It’s cold and unless you’re able to pick your week it’s probably going to be wet as well.  However as long as we can choose a good weather window I suspect we’ll be back.

We didn’t get very far, a week isn’t anywhere near long enough to do the Clyde Islands justice.  As you can see from the map we went to 3 places where we lingered to make sure we saw enough of them and these were the ‘must see’ places we had planned (when sailing the weather almost always stops this from happening).

Unusually for the area the wind was pretty absent so we hardly sailed at all, mostly motoring, however the last day didn’t let us down and was a blue riband sailing day making it a pretty perfect week.  Thought I’d finish with a video Ellison took yesterday as we romped back to Largs mostly at 7 ish knots (that sounds slow, but as sailing chums know it doesn’t feel it!).

So, if you get the chance, by ferry or yacht, give the Clyde Islands a go, you won’t regret it.

Vaughan

Vaughan