20th August onwards

Friday 20th July –

Today is a sad day...finally we must say our farewell to Bjorn. He and his visiting Sister and family are heading off south and then over to Ireland. Conny and I are really going to miss him. If someone had said we would meet a Danish chap on this trip and spend over 4 weeks travelling together 24/7 (well ok 16/7) I would've never believed it. We've grown to love this guy. In a world often full of dis-trust, suspicion, greed and pre-occupation, Bjorn is a real one in a million. We'll miss his limitless generosity, his company out on long trips, his company in between trips, his humour, his compassion, his optimism, his 'glass half full' approach to life and his constant smiling and laughing...

Anyway, where to start catching up..... After meeting up with Bjorn we stayed in Puilldobhrain for a couple of days exploring the area. I had it in mind that I'd like to navigate under the 'Bridge over the Atlantic' later in the trip. This is a famous bridge linking the island of Seil to the mainland. Water depths here are low and if the boat has a shallow enough draft it can make it through on 'high water springs' when the tides are at there greatest. Upon investigation though we found the waterway to be thick with weed making it not such a good idea.

From Puilldobhrain we headed for Oban where we topped up supplies and had a mini-tour of the town on foot before spending a very rocky night in the harbour on a mooring buoy.
The next morning we headed for Tobermory. The crossing of the Lismore peninsula went without incident but as we headed up the Sound of Mull a north westerly wind picked up and started to make life a bit uncomfortable. On the threat of increasing winds for the afternoon we 'changed tack' and headed into Loch Aline. This understated Loch (in the pilot book) turned into a nice surprise. Surrounded by wood lined shores we spent a nice afternoon and night there.

The following day or two we spent in and around Tobermory before heading over to Loch Drumbuie. Sort of part of Loch Sunart (if it wasn't for Oronsay), this area was beautiful (I'll let the photos speak for themselves).

Just 3 or 4 miles further into Loch Sunart lies the Island of Carna. The previous night we'd seen people on the summit and commented on how great the views must be and agreed we should walk up the next day. So off we went in Tiger the following morning. The passage was tricky with rocks, both above and below the waterline, scattered along our route. The pilot book described the area as containing 'some of the most spectacular bits of rock dodging in the Western Isles'. The routes laid out in these pilot books are something else and go something along the lines of 'line this tree up with a hut on the right, then once past a big rock on the left head at 240 degrees to the other shore until 2 thirds of the way across' etc etc....all this with a 2.5 knot tide, a depth reading that had gone from reading 110 meters deep down to 2 meters in a matter of seconds and the responsibility of leading Chili through who was following! Anyway we got there only to find (because we'd been concentrating on the pilotage) that you couldn't see the summit of Carna for fog and it had just started raining....doh

Bjorn had offered to take us out to the Atlantic side of the Isle of Mull on Chili at some point, something we couldn't do unless very settled weather was about. So with this plan in the offing we set off back to Tobermory to find Tiger a place to stay and get some supplies. On the way over Fiona confirmed she was coming to visit for 3 days. So we buzzed Bjorn on the vhf radio to check if it would be ok for her to come along on the trip.

The next morning Bjorn and I went shopping on the back of the joke that we'd be back by ten past nine. In the event it was 10 o'clock and Fiona was already on Tiger. Get this! She left Redhill the evening before. Got to Glasgow at 12 o'clock. Then back on the road at 4am reaching Oban at 6.45. Then a ferry and a bus ride to reach Tobermory! We were chuffed to bits to see her.

By 11ish we'd set off in Chili and were motoring (no wind) our way out to the island of Coll. We'd been told that the plankton blumes were at their strongest this time of year and with this area being the best feeding ground in Europe, that we stood a reasonable chance of seeing minke whales, killer whales, dolphins, porpoises and basking sharks. Anyway it wasn't to be. After 3 hours of motoring we hadn't seen alot and so changed course for Staffa (what a magnificent lump of rock!) and then onto Bunessan on the south side of Mull close to Iona.

The next morning there wasn't a breath of air and mist hung low all around so we decided to make the most of the settled conditions and visit Iona. Iona was beautiful. Turquoise water 5 meters deep (and you could still see the bottom) and white sandy beaches....
We had a walk round the island whilst pulling Bjorn's leg once more about Viking invasions (the Vikings invaded no fewer than 7 times). But as he pointed out how mad would you be if you'd sailed and rowed an open boat all the way from Scandinavia only to find a load of monks and no women! Anyway, by late morning the mist had burnt off leaving blue skies and sunshine and the wind was on the increase. By the time we were ready to set sail we had a force 4 or 5 and from a favourable direction. Wow.......what an afternoon! We were flying along at up to 8 knots and surfing down 2 or 3 meter waves! OK not Vendee Globe stuff but exhilarating never the less.
Our first sighting was of a basking shark not 5 meters from the boat. No kidding, if we'd arrived at that point 30 seconds earlier we'd have hit it!. Bjorn quickly turned into the wind to slow down as the sleepy giant went about it's plankton eating business. Next was the best though.....a Killer Whale and an infant...I can't explain it but there was something really magical about seeing them. We were all like excited kids. They surfaced perhaps 4 or 5 times as they disappeared off into the distance. Wow......
Not long after and having covered some big distance in 3 hours, we entered into Loch Cuan, our anchorage for the night. As we stopped to drop anchor we realised we had an audience of seals not 20 or 30 meters off.
That night wasn't the most comfortable as the wind made Chili lie side on to the resident swell. The rolling of the boat meant I had to pin myself into the 'dog bunk' to stop myself from falling out. Ok in itself, except I was sharing with Scamp who growled at me every time the boat moved!
The next morning was an earlyish start to get Fiona back to catch her bus at Tobermory. Motoring again due to light winds we passed a school of porpoises....what a great few days!

After bidding Fiona farewell we decided to head back to Loch Sunart. On the threat of strengthening winds (for a change…..NOT!) there was no time to loose. This time we headed for an anchorage we’d seen from the previous occasion, a fantastic spot surrounded by mini islands and completely deserted.
The wind picked up as promised that afternoon so we were careful to make sure our anchors were well bedded in. Then it was over to Bjorn’s and ‘chilli rice’ for dinnerJ. Afterwards out came the Tobermory scotch Fiona had bought Bjorn as a thank you. I have to say neither Conny nor I are whisky fans but this was something else.
The nest morning (14th July) we trekked up a nearby (hill/small mountain) and were greeted at the top by some fantastic views of Lock Sunart and beyond.
On our return it was time to go wood collecting. We’d already identified a spot on one of the islands and planned to have barbecue. I became fire manager whilst Conny and Bjorn went back to the boats to organise the snap. What a great evening. After finally managing to get a fire going with damp wood, we settled down with plenty of Skin So Soft midge repellent and some great food. At 11 o’clock (Danish midnight) we celebrated the start of Bjorn’s 50th birthday (still can’t believe he’s that old).
Bjorn must be a righteous guy because the next day (his birthday proper) saw clear blue skies, hot sunshine and calm weather. It was glorious. It was as if summer had arrived overnight. The previous day we’d been dressed in fleeces and jackets, now it was shorts and tee-shirts.
Bjorn’s sister and family were arriving in Oban in a couple of day’s time and we needed to use the facilities of the town so we headed off in that direction with Chili. We used Loch Aline as a stop off point for the afternoon and night and then headed to Oban the following day (which incidentally had returned to fleece and jacket weather! Summer had lasted a day L).

Bjorn’s Sister (Ditte), her Husband (Frank) and kids Ziggy and Bugge arrived in Oban on the 17th quite late on. Not knowing when the next ferry would be, we went over from Oban Marina (which is situated on the island of Kerrera) to the town in Tiger to pick them up (many bodies and lots of weight).

Bjorn had decided that he would like to head up to Loch Sunart to show everyone the anchorage we had found previously and to see if they could see any ocean wildlife on the western side of Mull. So off we went again up the Sound of Mull. We had a great barbecue and camp fire again at what had become our favourite spot. My party trick for the evening was to demonstrate how NOT to break firewood and ended up with a black eye framed by two cuts on my face…..doh.
Sadly this was to be our farewell evening and possibly our last tipple of Tobermory whisky together. Unfortunately, I finished the evening slightly the worse for ware and gave Conny quite a hard time with the dingy when leaving (something along the lines of my superior dingy handling skills). Just for the record, I think it was due to the bang on the head and absolutely nothing to do with the scotch!!! J
The row back to Tiger was amazing. It was now dark and as the paddles of the dingy disturbed the water it lit up with a thousand tiny glowing stars. This phenomenon is known as bioluminescence which is usually, but not always, the result of plankton giving off light. The same happens when it rains and it’s something that has to be seen to be believed. Just as an aside, we’d been talking with Bjorn about this and he recalled that he’d first seen it when peeing into yacht’s see toilet in the Atlantic… can you imagine getting up in the night to find the toilet glowing green when you pee’d into it! I think I’d worry that I’d become radioactive….

The next morning Bjorn rowed over quite early on. It was a sad affair and quite emotional. It’s strange to have made such a strong tie in such short time….

Following Chili’s departure we hung around in Sunart that day but it did seem a bit quiet. Until that is, we met up with Alan and Rhoda. We paddled over to meet up with them in Loch Drumbuie and had a lovely meal with them.
Over the next couple of days we meandered our way back to Oban whilst awaiting the arrival of Lil (my Daughter).