Tarbert to Crinan Canal

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.  It is always so much fun and fascinating to hear others’ experiences of sailing and life and one of the aspects that Stuart and I particularly enjoy with the boating lifestyle.  


The following morning I was tasked with trying out the new self-tailing winch we had installed on the mast and managed to slowly but steadily winch Stuart to the top of the mast for him to reeve the masthead pennant halyard.  I also generously let him back down again safely!


Hanging around


After freshening up and making myself look somewhat less feral we headed out for lunch at Lulabelles courtesy of a Christmas voucher from Stuart’s brother and family - thank you hugely Rory, Katharine and Oscar.  As you can imagine from a coastal village with fresh produce straight from Loch Fyne, the seafood was superb and we greatly enjoyed the selection of Scottish tapas.  Both of us agreed that our favourite was scallops marinaded in black garlic and tamarind with a pea broth and parmesan crisp - outstanding!


Off for lunch

With the sun still shining we readied Evolene and headed back into the loch to enjoy a leisurely sail northwards under the gentle power of the genoa.  A small fishing boat was making its way towards Tarbert harbour followed by a flock of seagulls swooping and darting behind it.  All relatively standard, until we looked up a bit higher and saw something far bigger… our first white-tailed eagle of the trip!  It hung around for a couple of minutes harrying the gulls and then purposely changed direction, heading towards land, presumably to its nesting area and hopefully content with whatever it had managed to poach from the gulls.


White Tailed Eagle


A couple of hours later we were securely docked at the waiting pontoon for the Crinan Canal, looking forward to our weekend transit with some new crew members aboard!

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