It was the first weekend of October, and, the first of the winter snows lay on the hills. The temperature was showing 7 degrees as we drove to the mooring on Friday afternoon.
We left Dallens Bay at around 1830, aware by this time that the expected weather window was changing slightly, but there was still a reasonable forecast, with southwesterlies, to be followed by northerlies. But it was cold, Beinn a' Bheithir looking distinctly chilly;
We anchored in total darkness at around 2130 in Duart, settling down for an early rise, intending an 0600 start to catch the tidal gate at the Sound of Luing. This was not to be; the wind was absolutely howling during the night, gale force from the south and SE. When it started to calm down a bit (at around six on Saturday morning), it was still consistently 28kts or above, with some very fierce gusts which damn near lifted me off the deck (I'm not sylph-like, even in the Claymore sense). Even in daylight, Duart Castle could barely be seen because of rain and spray.
At midday, the wind speed dropped dramatically, and there was a sudden shift in direction from S to NW. We'd missed the first tidal gate, which seriously ate into our planned times, so we abandoned the idea of the Clyde trip. As we headed SE past Duart Point, we met some pretty big waves from the south, but the NW 5/6 seemed to flatten them fairly quickly. After a bumpy start, we had a fast passage to Puilladobhrain, where, for an hour or so, we were the only anchored boat.
The weather improved a lot, and we were joined by six or seven other boats;
The House of the Trousers was welcoming as usual.
Sunday morning was beautiful, with a NW5, which saw us tacking back against the tide, but gradually the wind dropped and then turned easterly. Like so many other times, it turned flat calm, and we ended up, yet again, having to motor north up the Lynn of Lorn in the sunshine. The views were spectacular, and the trees on Lismore were starting to turn autumnal. And folks in Achnacroish suddenly remembered that they'd forgotten get their chimneys swept;
So, we didn't do what we'd planned, but an enjoyable weekend for all that.
