When East Meets West

It was a still morning on the canal when we woke. Ben Nevis was reflected in the calm black peat laden water. Out on Loch Linnhe the west coast the water was blue but had the same mirror like finish. The houses at the base of Ben Nevis really gave a scale to this giant that, until you're close, you rarely feel.



Originally our plan was to get to Oban. So we entered the lock at 0910 with Hexadex and motored out onto the West coast of Scotland 20 minutes later. Our plan was to motor against the north flowing tide and reach the Corran Narrows as the tide turned south, this would carry us all the way to Oban. It worked, as we approached the narrows our speed over the ground increased and we were on our way south west with the tide helping us. There was no wind, a clear blue sky from horizon to horizon. Kirsty and I struggled to remember another day on the water like this since we entered Scottish water.



It seemed a waste of a day to spend it tied up on Oban Marina. I'm sure there is nothing wrong with Oban Marina, but when it's a bright beautiful sunny day, a quiet anchorage seems to fit the mood. We found an anchorage about 5 miles north of Oban, just south of Lismore Island, in a small group of islands. We anchored off Eilean nan Gamhna at around 1430 and spent the rest of the day relaxing to Johnny Walker and Paul O Grady on Radio 2. We cooked dinner, then went on deck with a bottle of wine to watch the sun set and the mountains glow red in the distance.



It's now getting dark, and I've seen my first star since the June 21st at Inverie. One great day dulls the memory of quite a few bad ones. Good night