Thursday 11 July

Yesterday we’d debated various plans over coffee. Ultimately we need to be home before Monday for appointments. The winds are currently forecast to be light north or north westerlies for a few days. The main options are Lamlash on the east coast of Arran or Campbeltown on the east of the Mull of Kintyre. As Lamlash is very slightly closer to Millport we decided on the anchorage to the north of the visitor moorings there. It’s deep but not quite as lacking space as the Imray charts would suggest, the Antares survey shows a much wider shelf before the bottom of the harbour drops away. We dropped the hook at low water in around eight metres, by the time we’d settled back on the chain Temptress was in ten or twelve which rose to around fifteen later. Too late we read of the bottom being foul with old moorings, we’ll solve that one later if it proves a problem.

What defines a Loch or Lough, what defines a Sound? Why is Lamlash a harbour not either of the others?

The milk bought in Ardrishaig was at its use by date and a few lumpy bits were visible floating in our morning drinks. It had made a mushroom sauce to accompany the meatballs without issue on Tuesday evening but was it on the turn? Better safe than sorry, we launched Merrow and headed to the Co-op. Despite several previous stop overs in Lamlash this was a first for Temptress’ crew.

A lady stopped her car by us as we walked across the boatyard by the slipway. Are you looking for a dog? Her sister had found a spaniel with a doggy life jacket on running along the shore road north of the village. She was hoping to find a worried boat owner hunting for their pet. We had no clue, having recently arrived and one of just four boats at anchor. The only person we’d seen heading to the shore had a bright orange jacket on. She drove off towards the south end of the village. We later spotted the man with the orange jacket carrying his bags of shopping and his jacket unconcernedly towards the slipway. Presumably it wasn’t his dog either, we will never know the outcome but hope the spaniel was reunited with its owner.

Having made our purchases we looked at the menus of both the hotel and the tavern, deciding on the latter for lunch. Dirty fries are a thing, probably a very unhealthy thing but scrumptious. Mine claimed to be a seafood fest and under the cheese and honey chilli dressing lurked a mound of scampi in batter, prawns and calamari nestled in the chips. Delicious especially when accompanied by a pint of mango ipa. The skipper had more straightforward chicken in his with a couple of pints of Hurricane Jack to wash it down. The afternoon passed in a food coma though I did manage to knit a few more centimetres of my Faroese tank top before supper.

As the alternately sunny then cloudy afternoon progressed a steady stream of boats arrived. The moorings filled up, the shallowest anchorage spots were taken and still they came. It was entertaining watching different skipper’s approaches to anchoring. Some without a fuss selected their spot, dropped the hook, backed off a little and quietly let it settle whilst others had two sometimes three or more attempts often facing completely the opposite direction to that at which the rest of boats were lying.

Eventually I cooked our supper, cauliflower cheese – yes more cheese coated food. This time bacon bits, onion, courgette, green pepper and mushrooms plus mace and Italian herbs made into a cheesy sauce poured over a half cooked dissected cauliflower then coated with more grated cheddar and pepper. Put the dish in the oven for an hour or so til brown on top. Tasty and a firm family favourite but as we were still full from lunch there were leftovers! Afterwards we discovered happily that there was still enough warmth in the sun to sit out in the cockpit whilst we finished our wine.

The forecast looks like it may be possible to sail home to Bangor tomorrow, however Saturday there is no wind at all. The skipper decided he’d rather sail than motor so we will be up early to catch the south going tide. Planned departure around 07:30 for the final fifty miles or so of this cruise.