Evolene - Nauticat 42

The Crinan Canal opened in 1801 and connects the villages of Ardrishaig with Crinan creating a nine mile shortcut for sailors and general boat traffic, avoiding the more circuitous and exposed route around the Mull of Kintyre. Whilst the conditions were favourable and a trip round the Mull would have been very manageable, the prospect of navigating the 15 locks with friends in the beautiful countryside was infinitely more appealing! Stuart and I were up promptly on the Friday morning to go through the first four locks alongside another boat.  The first couple of locks always take a little bit of time to settle into the rhythm of how the boat moves in the flow of the lock water, finessing fender placement and managing the lines but soon we were in our rhythm, out of lock four and cruising down the canal to the pontoon at Lochgilphead where we would be joined by our willing conscripts, I mean crew - thanks Audrey and Jenny! - and spend the first evening. The afternoon was spent fresh...

Following a settled evening in the snug but secure anchorage of Black Harbour we readied ourselves and nipped across Loch Fyne to the charming village of Tarbert.  The marina here is always a favourite of ours - the facilities are excellent and the setting beautiful. Tarbert Marina We made the most of the day in the continuing glorious sunshine, cleaning the boat inside and out, doing some washing, taking rubbish and recycling ashore, stretching our legs with a shoreside run and reprovisioning. It all takes a bit more planning compared to house living!  When going round the Co-op I was very mindful that whatever I was buying needed to be carried in the rucksack and two shopping bags I had brought with me, otherwise it was going to be a little bit more challenging to get it all back to the boat! Stuart cooked a delicious beef stroganoff for dinner and we decided to take an amble round the pontoons after dinner and met a lovely couple aboard their stunning Garcia Explorer 45....

  By Emma: We are off! To borrow a line from Becca and Zac of Teulu – we're bloody doing it! (https://www.youtube.com/@TeuluTribe) The past few weeks have been a bit of whirlwind as we prepared the boat for sailing, the house for renting and ensured respective work handovers were as complete as possible.  (We’ll cover more about our boat prep in a future blog.) On Saturday 19th April we left Dundee after a phenomenal send-off from my lovely colleagues – thank you all so much for the warm wishes and support! We hopped on the train and made our way across to Inverclyde, where Evolene had spent the winter in the excellent care of James Watt Dock Marina. Stuart’s brother, sister-in-law, and nephew met us there to help with final provisioning (and absolutely thrash us at cards!). As evening drew in, we wandered up to Scott’s restaurant to meet more family for a final dinner ashore – a perfect evening of laughter, hugs and the kind of conversations that make it hard to say goo...