After a much needed day in bed, it was time to move on.
We planned to sail to Ardfern as it was reported to have a well stocked chandler and we were in desperate need of a chart of the area. As Beverley tried to start the engine, she just wouldn't go. Now Salty Lass is a great little engine, as long as you warm her up with the glow plug she is fine. We soon discovered the reason, why Salty Lass would not start, we had left the ignition on while we were at the Mooring. It was a bit of a scare, but we soon fixed it by using a set of jump leads off the house battery.
Once we got Salty Lass going, we mainly motored to Ardfern where there wer no spaces left for us. So we filled up our water tanks then manoeuvred over to the visitor moorings which are just outside the harbour entrance. The next day, we unshipped Salty Sausage and motored into the marina, where there was plenty of room for our little dinghy, just at the back of the fuel dock.
It really was a well stocked little chandler and I think the reason it got this tittle was because of the huge array of screws and other small items which can be really hard to find. For example I got some really small screws and grommets which I have been looking for for a long time. The main things that we bought was a chart of the cruising area we are planning to cruise around next. The local cruising guide which is really useful local knowledge, a net which will keep a few things tidy, a really good terminal block and some nylon rope which we will use as makeshift snubber for the next blow. In this part of Scotland blows are the normal, in fact, you seem to either get no wind or too much.
Later that day, a slip became free, so we were able to moor up there for the night, so that I could do some work as a freelancer. So one day of work and it was time to go again, this time it was for Oban. The weather was quite mild and we planned our passage so that the tide would be with us and fairly slack, as we went through Dorus Mor, a rather notorious stretch of water. As it was mild we motored for a lot of the way, but at one point, the wind picked up and Beverley got the sails up really quickly. It was just a short sail, but we enjoyed every minute of it. However we needed to go down a channel to get to the marina, and as usual, the wind was in the wrong direction for the narrow channel, so we dropped the sails so that we had the best manoeuvrability, in the narrow passage.
As we went along the channel, Beverley and I had a really good chat about buoyage, as sometimes it was easier to see buoys further away than ones close to us. We soon got to Oban Marina, where they had heard our name incorrectly and missed the L, so you can tell what they thought we were. I tell you, Beverley and I had to kick some LAss, so they knew who we were.
