Plan A B or C ?

Plan A was to winter Tiger in Scotland, for us to return to the Midlands for a few months to work and then to return to Scotland in 2008 to continue cruising. So in pursuit of ‘Plan A’ we returned to Crinan to look for opportunities for Tiger.
As we approached Crinan we pulled up on a small jetty/pontoon on the left hand side. No kidding, it could have been made for Tiger as she fitted snugly in and because of her narrow beam didn’t stick out like a yacht would. It later turned out that we were about the first boat in 12 years (since it had been made) that had been able to use the mooring. Paul (the Crinan Lock Keeper and yet to become another great friend to us), told us he’d built it as a bit of a skive from having to do some forestry work one winter!

Conny asked Paul who was it that controlled the mooring and who we could ask if it was OK to stay… “that’d be me” he replied in his Yorkshire accent!
So, smiling like a Cheshire cat, Conny asked Paul if we could stay, “yes” he said, “after all you’ve got your British Waterways licence so why not?”
FANTASTIC…..what a beautiful mooring!
It’s worth pointing our here that we represented a bit of an oddity…. Most boats transiting the Crinan Canal are sailing boats and in order for them to use the canal they purchase a 3 day licence at a cost of £10 per meter! That would be £85 for Tiger for 3 days! But here we were with our BW licence from England that entitled us to be on the canal almost without timescale….how cool!

So here we were, it was the beginning of September, we had a mooring for Tiger and suddenly the mad rush to get back south had been lifted and we had time to on our hands……J

Today is the 19th December, we’re in Switzerland with fantastic, crisp, bright weather (it was down to -9O least night). There are a million distractions here but I really want to finish the blog for this year. I would prefer not to be in 2008 trying to think back to what happened! It’s hard enough thinking back from now!

Just before I carry on though…. I’ve been keenly following the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers). This is a group of some 240 boats that congregate in the Canary Islands in autumn and then set sail for the Caribbean to hopefully arrive sometime before Christmas. Some of the boats we’ve met on our travels are travelling across as we speak (or should I say ‘as I write’ J) including Bjorn from Denmark (although he’s not part of the ARC)


So back to Scotland…..

Now with this new found time on our hands, we had the chance to do a little more local cruising. We fancied the idea of heading south down the Sound of Jura and checking out the ‘Fairy Isles’ at the head of Lock Sween. Colin (our new friend from lock 11 on the Crinan) mentioned that his Father, Mother and two sisters were planning a trip aboard their motor launch the ‘Silver Strand’ and that we might meet up with them. So given the settled weather we set off, met up with the rest of Colin’s family for the evening and then headed into Lock Sween the following morning. Having spent the next day with Colin and having had a guided tour of Tavyalick, we said our goodbyes and Conny and I put…put…putted round to the Fairy Isles for a few days….

Back in the Crinan we started to meet all the locals and it wasn’t long before we felt really welcome and apart of scene. It’s fair to say that this was mainly down to the warm welcome received from a handful of people…

It’s a small world …

We were in the local bar called the Panther Inn one night… I should point out that this is a tiny bar that’s basically a small room attached and apart of the Crinan Hotel. I’m not saying it’s quiet but any night with more than 6 people would be called busy! Well… this particular night there must have been 8 people in, so it was packed out J. Anyway, we got chatting with a couple on their holidays. It turned out that they were from Leicester….
“Oh” we said, “near Nottingham where we set off from”
“Oh Nottingham” they said, “We’ve got a mate who’s just started at the marina there at Sawley”
“Sawley” I said, that’s where I used to work!”
Turned their friend was Keith Higginson! Only my ex-boss!
Well, what a coincidence. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was able to scrounge a lift south, pick up ‘Titch’ our camper and more importantly see the Tom and Lil who I hadn’t seen since August….
Well I can’t leave Conny alone for a minute…no sooner had I headed south, that she very nearly ended up with a 6inch nail embedded in her head. You see, she’d started working for Paul (the Lock Keeper) on odd days building dry stone walls and on this particular day it was raining! GO away with you…raining in Scotland…really??? Yes it was raining and Conny and Paul were building a shelter using wooden planks and a tarpaulin. What they hadn’t seen was a nail in one of the planks that must’ve had Conny’s name on it cause’ quicker than you can say “that’s a lot of blood, I think that needs stitches”, the plank slipped and fell on Conny’s head. So off to Lochguilphead’s sparkling new hospital it was for Conny and a new tube of superglue! Yep that’s what they use nowadays…better than stitches apparently