The Scottish Canals

The Crinny - The Crinan Canal

Granny Felicity joined us in Conwy, and stayed for our trip through our first Scottish canal until Oban.  Oh, the beauty...After locking in through the first lock, our first experience with a large "sea" lock, we almost squashed a smaller boat beside us.  We weren't quite ready when the lock keeper opened up the sluice gates and we got a little sideways.  We stayed overnight between locks 10-11 and had a nice dinner at Cairnbaan Hotel, a one mile walk each way, a good stretch of the legs, except for Rosie who rode on my shoulders the entire way home.  (Not much more than an air pack weighs (firefighter speak), she's a light weight!)

Granny Felicity on the lookout, we're up 65ft already.

I'm not sure we're going to get lost...

Leah ready with a finger in case it starts leaking more!

Two little buddy's.  A local man brings them down to the canal in a cat box for grass as he doesn't have a lawn.

Leah decided she needed a Spa Day, Dad can you save your Green Tea bags please?

Heres a youtube link to the raw video we shot from the Quadcopter at our overnight stay and the exit in Crinan.
https://youtu.be/q8VyGGKPcZ0

Oban
Our arrival in Oban was bittersweet.  We had made it through our first canal but it was time to say good bye to Granny as she had to get home to prepare for her next adventure to Alaska.  We met Zetty's friend Renee Lindsay (we met through the awesome facebook group 'Women who Sail' - Ed), her husband Guy and their two children Phoebe (8) and Poppy (5)  aboard their boat SV Emerald Bay.  We had a really fun time playing, eating and making hopefully a life long friendship. The girls were especially thrilled to meet up with some more soon-to-be liveaboard children, though actually at this point, they try to make friends with anyone under 5ft tall, they're so in need of 'playdates'!!  We also had the great fortune to arrange a meeting with the legendary Arctic sailor,
Rev Bob Shepton from S/V Dodo's Delight.  Bob has transited the NWP twice and has cruised Greenland and the Arctic waters extensively.  We had a great day together, I asked a lot of questions and received some very good advice.  Bob is a delight, pun intended, and we had a wonderful time. I showed him my Quadcopter and how I managed to justify its existence on the boat, looking for leads in the pack ice of course.;)  I think he liked it and I know a group of climbers that might have one next time they're aboard Dodo's Delight!

Say hello to our new crew member, Susie Theis. or SusieTheis.com  Susie joined us in Oban and will be with us for the rest of the journey.  She's an Oconomowoc native, an avid skier, adventurer and sailor.  We're glad to have her aboard! Zetty's cousin Ruth Iliffe also came aboard in Oban and stayed with us through the Caledonian canal to Inverness.   Zoe has a 'boatschool' assignment to interview all our crew, visiting and permanent, and these will be posted on the blog once the scribe (somehow I got conned into this - Ed.) types them up!

The Cally - The Caledonian Canal
Corpach - We made it to the Corpach Sea Lock at around 12:30.  The lock keeper was nowhere to be found as he was helping another group at the next lock.  He showed up around 13:00 and said we had to wait for a few boats to lock out at 13:30.  We locked in at 14:00 and that was it for the day.  The basin it was for the night.  An early start the next day got us up and out to Neptune's Staircase, a flight of back-to-back locks that takes you up 64ft.

Banavie -
Swimming in Loch Oich - The map tells of the Great Glen Water Park located in the middle of Loch Oich.  Sounded pretty good for this clan so we thought we'd check it out.  Whoa, not a water park like we expected, the "water" was Loch Oich, the park was a small playground for the kids.  The "swimming pool" was an oversized hottub, with a 12 person limit.  Fun was had anyway and we all needed a bath.
Invergarry Castle - Spent the night at Invergarry Castle, or the ruins of it.
Fort Augustus - Now on our way down, we stopped for the night for the flight of 5 locks going down the next morning.  Fish and Chip shop.  Best burgers so far from the local butcher shop, D.J. Macdougall.  If you get anywhere near here, make sure you visit!

Drumnadrochit - Spending the night here in a small marina in order to visit the Loch Ness Monster Exhibit and the Urquhart Castle, the most visited spot on Loch Ness.

Camping picnic and...

complete with marshmallow roasting!

Peel, Isle of Man

Peel, Isle of Man. (by Zetty)
We sailed from Conwy, Wales to the Isle of Man with my Mum as official "stowaway/able seagranny"  aboard, leaving with the tide in the morning and arriving in the dark around 10:30pm.  We had to wait in the outer harbour for about 30 mins before entering the inner harbour and marina in low light, past the beautiful castle overlooking the bay and through the tidal flap gate and swing bridge that was remotely operated for us by the Douglas harbormaster on the other side of the island. The Isle of Man is an interesting place, small enough to make a great holiday destination with lots of outdoor activities, whale and dolphin watching and steeped in ancient history.  The day after we arrived my Mum took the older two girls off to the House of Manannan while Louie and I did laundry and Rosie took her nap.  They had such a good time (very interesting and interactive museum about the ancient history through to modern life on the Isle of Man) that we all went back the following morning.  In the afternoon we walked over to the castle, played on the beach collecting 'Queenie'
shells (queen scallops - Isle of Man is the largest harvester of this yummy shellfish in the UK) and jumping in the rolling breakers.  At one point I turned around and saw Rosie on her hands and knees in the surf, grinning like a madwomen, until she walked out and realized how cold it would be for the walk home!!  The Monkeys, coming from the inland lakes of Wisconsin, are real newbies when it comes to beaches and waves and we always seem to leave with one, if not all, completely soaked and freezing cold!   After walking around the castle, spotting a lot of new seabirds and wildflowers (Rosie's favorite thing to do) we came across the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) lifeboat station, and discovered it was open to visitors.  Louie, with his interest in firefighting and all forms of rescue, soon had all the girls and Granny and I exploring and learning about the history of the RNLI as well as how it operates today.  The RNLI has always been one of my favorite charities - as a British sailor you never know when you'll need them, and as a completely volunteer and charity run operation they are always needing support.  There was a film running in the station (turns out the very first lifeboat station in the UK was in Peel, I of M) about the history and running of the RNLI and we watched fascinated for as long as Rosie would let us.  We left before it was finished and Zoe was not (at all) happy to leave before it was over.  If any of our British readers know what this movie would have been, please let us know as we could perhaps find it online for her to watch.  I know for a fact that if Lou lived here he'd be a lifeboat man in a heartbeat.
We left Peel once again in glorious sunshine and sailed overnight north towards Scotland.  The sunset that night was hard to beat, and despite the decreasing temperature my Mum sat and watched for a really long time, as the colours were ever changing.  Northern Ireland was in the distance and the Scottish coast on the other side. During the night we came across groups of fishing boats driving in circles, possibly harvesting Queenies? A little confusing to the watch person until you figure out whats going on!! We also sailed past Dunmore where my great aunt, Tante Hans used to live, leaving me happily reminiscing about my times with her while on night watch.
We decided due to great weather to push on past Ardrossan and onto the Crinan canal entrance at Ardrishaig.

Visiting the House of Manannan Museum in Peel, Isle of Man

Peel Harbour

Peel Castle on the entrance to the harbour

Peel RNLI boathouse.  Great tour and movie

Milford Haven, Wales - Conwy, Wales

We had planned to stop in Dale, about 5 miles to the West of Milford Haven but there was a Webasto heater service agent in Milford Haven so that was it.  Our extended family, Zetty's sister Nicky's in-laws, live in Dale and are active on the water sailing etc.  John, father-in-law, is the harbour master, mooring master, general go-to-guy there and had a mooring arranged, Yacht Club welcome, etc all set for us if we could make it.  We ended up having the boat worked on through the weekend, all to no avail in the end.  Still, a fun time was had as told in the previous post.  And then...

Most of you have seen or heard about a famous '60s television show, Gilligan's Island.  In the theme song, the crew sets out for a "three hour tour".  "The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of the fearless crew the Minnow would be lost." This leg made me feel as if Arctic Monkey was the good ship 'Minnow' with me, the skipper, (some would argue Gilligan) and Zetty as Mary Ann, practical hottie (What?!? Ed.)  Our plan was to sail from from Milford Haven to Conwy about 160NM north, sailing across Cardigan Bay (which our family now informs us is 'notorious'!!).  As I always do,before we set off I downloaded the  weather files called GRIBs, and Zetty and I discussed our options.  We had a strong Southwesterly breeze coming, 25-34kts, but it would be from behind, making it a beam to broad reach to our next destination Conwy, in the north of Wales.  The 160NM trip would be about a 24 hour sail give or take a few.  According to the weather, if we waited, the next week was the same strong breeze but shifting to the north which would make a more difficult sail.  We've sailed in the predicted conditions before and the boat is certainly able to cope with it so the decision was made to set off around 11am.
We had a fine sail in 20-25kts for most of the day, made dinner and got the kids to bed.  The wind picked up a little so we decided to put one more reef in the main - from 2 reefs to 3, for the night.  We had no hurry and it makes it a little more comfortable so why not, its easy to shake out the reef if the wind goes down.  So far so good, 25-32kts, surfing down the waves, sometimes over 10kts of boatspeed which is great for us!  Zetty and I changed watch at about 12:30am.  Zetty showed me a line of rain coming, which we were ready for.  As I started putting on my gear, the wind jump up to 38kts.  I like to reef early as a precaution, so I thought maybe I'd take in a little more staysail, possible look at rigging the 4 reef point on the main.  We don't have it permanently rigged as its only used in storm conditions but its easy to do if you have two people and an autopilot.  Lifejacket on and one last check of the radar, hmm, looks like that rain is coming a little faster now.  As I watched the radar, the wind jump up to 42kts.  I called for Zetty, "Honey, I may need some help, the wind is jumping up!"  She said "OK" and started putting her gear back on.  Just then "Stanley" our autopilot let go.  He does fine but anything over 40kts and a confused seaway is pushing his limit.  As I jumped out on deck, the last glance at the wind was 54kts, "Zetty I need you right away!"  I grabbed the wheel and turned us back downwind as the boat generally goes head to wind when nobody is steering as was the case now.  We started surfing down the waves at over 12kts.  Zetty was watching the radar and trying to turn off the constant loud beeping (so as not to wake or 'alarm' the children) as the autopilot alarm went off- "NO AUTOPILOT COMPUTER".  I hand steered for about 30 minutes before the wind subsided again to 30-35kts.  Zetty was able to reboot the autopilot and "Stanley" took over again.  Now some may wonder what it was like.  Try sticking your head out the car window next time your on the Interstate, at night, going 65mph.  Now for extra fun, turn on the windshield washer, filled with salt water.  It's scary the first time, but thank goodness this wasn't our first rodeo.  Dawn came around 5:20am, the wind still from behind at 30kts.  We rounded Holyhead, sailed along the north coast of Wales and anchored just off Puffin Island near Llanfairfechan.  Conwy is a tidal marina, only accessible at High Water +- 3 hours so we spent the day watching for the elusive Puffin and sleeping.  It was a nice test of the ground tackle (anchor and chain) as the wind stayed at a steady 30-32kts all afternoon and the anchorage provided protection from the swell but not the wind and waves.  A short trip 7 mile trip at high water got us into the Conwy Marina for a solid nights sleep.  The next morning a local rigger stopped by the boat and mentioned that our upper spreader on the mast was bent on a downward angle.  Sure enough, what should be a six degree angle up, was 10 degrees down.  Not good as this could cause the mast to fold.  I had a chat with him and he agreed to come by the next day and fix it.  I'm glad we got by with only a minor issue.  It looks like they have a nice Pub here...

At rest after a tough slog.

Tony the rigger fixing the spreader.

Rosie at Tim and Mary's farm.

Zoe and Rosie in Uncle Tim's MG Miget.

Leah hanging on an old Cardinal Mark at the marina.