Start of the new season - retracing old ground.

The weather outlook didn't look too good when we were ready to start out for our summer cruise on 29th May, so, rather than head south to round the Mull of Kintyre, the decision was made to go back through the Crinan Canal. Scottish Canals had increased the cost significantly from last year, however, this year we would have a fully assisted passage included in the price, which was quite a relief. We stopped off at East Loch Tarbert for one night before heading up to Ardrishaig and the sea lock where we paid our dues. With the help of the ( very ) friendly staff, we made rapid progress and were able to tie up securely in the basin above lock 14 ( penultimate ) by the shutdown time of 17-00. The aforementioned weather then duly arrived and we spent 2 days and 3 nights waiting for the gales to pass through, fortunately the canal license allowed for 4 nights!

On Tuesday 2nd June, the wind was still blowing quite hard but was forecast to reduce during the day, so we set out at 10-30 to make an appointment with the ‘Dorus Mor’ tide gate. After passing through ‘Dorus Mor’ we turned NW to the sound of Luing where we achieved our maximum speed of 10.3kts over the ground. Our intention had been to go to Oban Marina on Kerrera Island, but we were making such good progress that we decided to change plans and go for Loch Aline just off the Sound of Mull on the mainland side. Loch Aline is a beautiful place with an excellent new marina which we visited last year. After a quiet night, we set off the next morning bound for Tobermory to provision the boat, and then start new adventures for 2015.