Jura, Scotland 6/6 - 6/9

We have spent the last couple of days on a mooring off of the small town of Craighouse on the island of Jura. Jura has a year-round population of 190 and most are involved with the local distillery. The only way for tourists to get here is to take a small seaplane or a ferry to the neighboring island of Islay and then another ferry. There are a series of mountains on the island and the three tallest, conical ones are called the Paps of Jura. The few people who come here, climb them. The Paps and the distillery are the main attractions. 

When we arrived, the first order of business was to go to the distillery, try a few samples, and replenish our supply. 

The next day we decided not to do the Paps because of the unsettled weather and we took an unnamed trail I saw on the Alltrails site to a nearer mountain. All was fine until we reached the telephone tower and the trail became an animal trail. We forged ahead through the boggy grassland, known as blanket bog, up the hill. We were rewarded with beautiful views and several deer sightings. From the summit, we could see Islay, Gigha, The Mull,  and the other Inner Hebrides. If it was clearer we could see Northern Ireland. We also saw a high mountain lake that I knew had a trail from the road so we headed cross country again through Cotton Grass, orchids, and other alpine flowers and mosses. There was an amazing stone wall that ran for miles across the island. The time and effort to make it was staggering. All was fine for a short while until we hit a waterfall and the trail evaporated. Once again we bushwhacked through the hummocks, sometimes falling up to our knees in dark, tannin-stained water and sphagnum moss. Made it to the road and had a celebratory Guinness at the hotel with a nice English couple. We even had hot showers there and the hotel gave us huge fluffy towels when we asked.

  The weather pattern of blustery rain squalls has continued although today we woke up to a steady howling NW wind from the Arctic. We decided to stay put another day.

On our second full day in Jura we went to an exhibition at the community center celebrating the 75th anniversary to the day of the publication of 1984, written by George Orwell when he was living in a cottage on the remote northern end of Jura after the war. An artist collected 1984 volumes of the book and arranged them in boxes in a sculpture-like way. There were foreign editions, regular editions, special editions, movie VHS, and artistically altered editions. That night we came back to launch a gin made on the island that had botanicals that related, in some way, to the book or George Orwell.  As you can imagine, only 1984 bottles were produced. There were samples, local food, live music, and readings. 

First Week of Cruising: A Lesson in Scottish Weather 

There is a saying here, "If it is sunny it means it is going to rain soon". This aptly describes our first week of cruising. We have encountered calm seas, strong winds, sun, rain, and hail - often all on the same day. We set off from Ardrossan on May 31st and had a short shakedown cruise over to the island of Aran. We anchored in the harbor between the town of Lamlash and The Holy Isle, which we visited last year. The Holy Isle is named after an early Christian monk, St Molaise, who lived in a cave there for many years. Now it is a Buddhist retreat center (https://www.holyisle.org/) and a sanctuary for the endangered Eriskay Pony (only 300 or so left) and Saanen goats and Soay sheep. This time we saw several bands of the ponies grazing by huge masses of pink flowering rhododendrons. I thought the bushes were so beautiful until I learned they have become an invasive species, pushing out local plants. 

             View from Holy Isle (all of these pictures were taken last August). Ailsa Craig, in the background, is where the majority of the world's curling stones are quarried.

                                             A Saanen goat

                                             A Soay sheep

                                                   Rush hour on the main street of the island

                                             Eriskay ponies

                                                                  Retreat rock paintings

                                                                        A Soay ram

6/1 - Nico woke me at 4:30 and said, "Let's try to get around the Mull today!". The Mull of Kintyre is the notorious headland that has tremendous currents and formidable cliffs. You have to go around when it is calm and the tide is slack or you encounter large, choppy waves. We headed off but realized that we would be too late for those perfect conditions so we stopped at a small, privately owned island called Sanda which is just before the headland. We passed a large nuclear sub. The British navy likes to keep them in these deep, easily protected lochs, away from prying eyes. We hiked the verdant island, encountering a large herd of deer on the way to the lighthouse. Howling wind, but the anchor held.

                                                                             The sub

                                                          Far and Away anchored at Sanda

                                                 The interior of the island - mostly bracken fern

                                                                   Curious red deer

       There used to be a pub here but the island was bought by a Swiss businessman. People are allowed to land but not go near the buildings.

                                  The lighthouse on the other side of the island, known as The Ship

6/2 - This time we left at the much more reasonable hour of 6:30 to round The Mull. Even picking a calm morning and a slack tide we still encountered choppy seas. Locals go right close to the cliffs to avoid the current, but the rocks are scary. I wouldn't want to do this in any worse conditions. We sailed to the Island of Gigha and anchored. We went into town and walked to Archamore House  (https://www.greatbritishgardens.co.uk/argyll-and-bute/item/achamore-gardens.html) which has gardens known for tropical plants. This region is warmed by the Gulf Stream so they don't get heavy frosts, despite the high latitude. We walked further and visited several standing stones, approximately 2,000 years old, placed by ancient Irish.

                                               Rounding the Mull - note the layers of clothing!

                                                     The building gives a little perspective

                                                                     The Isle of Giga

                                                                       At the garden

An ancient standing stone with sheep wool that blew on to it

                                                                  The old and the new

                                                               The main town of Gigha

                                      Probably one of many Shetland pony pictures for the summer

6/3 - We enjoy visiting the small, local stores in the communities we visit. The one on Gigha was staffed by a very helpful man who acted as postmaster, banker, and fishmonger. I also couldn't resist a jar of sticky toffee sauce. We headed to our next anchorage on West Tarbert Loch. The wind was behind us and we had a lovely sail up the long, narrow bay. We went to the head of the loch and anchored by a woodsy bank opposite a sheep farm and below a fish pier.

These ferries are the lifelines for the island communities. We passed this one in the loch, heading to Islay.

6/4 - The next morning was a completely different day. Once again we got up early (3:45!) to head out before the winds picked up too badly. Even so, it was raining hard, in the low 50's, and the wind was blowing 20 knots straight down the 8-mile loch. We reached up the coast with a double reefed main and headed down another loch, Loch Sween, to a good, protected harbor by the village of Tayvallich. Nico spent the cold, wet, windy afternoon tearing apart the sewage pump impeller - twice - until he fixed it. Not a fun job!

                                             Our snug anchorage. The wind was really gusting.

                             It isn't all fun and games. Nico earns his dram of whiskey at night.

6/5 - Woke up to more squalls passing through but we had a relatively quiet night in this protected spot. Some gusts did heel the boat over a bit without any sails on! There was even a wintery mix of sleety ice pellets and the temperature was in the 40's. By mid-morning things calmed down and we took a walk to a beautiful nature preserve, Taynish (https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/taynish-national-nature-reserve-p252131#section-gallery). 

The weather is ALWAYS changing. It goes from sunny and warm to rainy and cold in a split second. 

                                              We even got some sleety ice pellets for a while.

It didn't rain for our long walk to and through the Taynish Nature Preserve. Once part of a large manor, now the house only retains fifteen acres and the rest is preserved. Lily Langtry, the actress who was mistress to Queen Victoria's son, once lived there. We walked through a beautiful oak forest that in early spring is carpeted with bluebells. We then wandered through the manor's pastures, trying not to annoy the large, fuzzy, horned inhabitants.

We visited a piggery that was built around 1800. A sluiceway ran downhill from the manor's kitchen, carrying slops to the individual runs.