Day 32- Sunday 19th June Oban to Loch Aline

The route from Oban to the Caledonian Canal is straight up Loch Linne to Fort William.I do not want to go there just ye,t as I wish to linger a while in this marvelous sailing area. However, the Western Isles is a big place and I don't just want to tick off as many islands as I can. The "Sail scotland" booklet says that  Argyll and the Islands has a larger coastine than France.I just can't do it all.Furthermore I have sailed these waters twice before with a chartered skipper, so there is much that I have already seen. i have not decided how long to stay, but today I thought I'd just go for a sail.

It did not seem a promising start. At 9.00 there was no wind at all and the fleet of toppers in the Oban Sailing Club were being assembled with not a flutter in their sails. However, within the hour there was a force 3 south westerly and they were hammering about. Tony had suggested that if there was no wind I should catch the ferry from Oban to Mull and go to the gardens at Craignure. With this wind I thought I'd sail there instead.

The sail across the Firth of Lorn was a port tack all the way at a steady 6kn.The tide was against me but it wasn't until I entered the Sound of Mull that I noticed it much.Between Rubha Fiart (no comment) and Duart Point the water was pouring out of the Sound at 4kn. As I inched forward I had plenty of time to look at Duart Castle. It has a commanding presence at the entrance to the Sound and seems like a continuation of the cliff face.

 The wind then just died and I motored to  Craignure. This is where the Ro-Ro ferry disgorges the cars arriving on Mull. I remembered arriving here with my mother when we went on a whale watching holiday. I anchored in the bay and pumped up the tender and dug out the bike ready to go looking for the gardens. As I did so, the wind turned, started to build and was now from the north west.This meant that it was blowing into the bay and it was not sensible to leave Hylje so close to a lee shore.I settled for a late lunch in the cafe where I could keep an eye on her. The place was full of people hanging around waiting for the 5pm ferry. There is a good tourist information centre as well, with a series of "what to do and see" booklets for all the regions of scotland. As i would be visiting most of them I took a good handfull.

This wind would make it difficult to get to Tobernory at the far end of the Sound and to go back to Oban would now mean fighting the tide again, which was about to turn. I decided to make for the very small Loch Aline. The village at the entrance has a lot of facilities. This includes the White House,which is described as outstandingly good in the Good Food Guide.However, I thought I'd tuck myself away at the top near to the Ardtornish Estate.I was surprised to find that my Orange internet connection was still working.