Monday 21 May 2012

Canna

Summer seems to have arrived in Scotland. Four consecutive days of light winds and warm days. Lovely. We left Oban on May 16 with a favourable tide up the Sound of Mull and an easy downwind 25 mile run to Tobermory. Just as touristy as ever, Tobermory is a must stop for any boats heading north a well sheltered bay with colourful houses along the shore. The next day we carried the tide around the much respected Ardnamurchan Point and then north west to Arisaig. Tradition has it that a yacht that has rounded Ardnamurchan should tie a bunch of heather on its pulpit to show it's good fortune or good luck in making a safe passage.

Arisaig is captivating, and we stayed three nights. Each day we went for a long ramble through the surrounding farm lands and forests. Yes, forests. Once, the non-rocky areas of Scotland were covered in trees, but the old forests are long gone. Around Arisaig there was much replanting over the past 100+ years and today there are stands of tall conifers, mostly spruce and pine, and many species of native deciduous trees. We spent one afternoon exploring an old garden that was established in the 1930's by a Glasgow businessman who subsequently went bust and sold his plants, but war broke out and nobody came to collect them...so over the intervening years they have flourished...as have those cuttings taken by visitors! Now, local horticulturists are having a wonderful time bringing it back to its former glory - rather like the Heligan Gardens in Cornwall. The rhodo's, now tall trees often in impenetrable jungles, were in full bloom.

Arisaig was closed off during WWII and became a centre for training of secret agents and saboteurs who were sent to France and other occupied countries to create havoc for the Germans. The little visitors centre, cum-museum, has an interesting photo record of the training and bio's of many of the agents. On the harbour front is a rather moving memorial to about 50 Czech's who were trained here who subsequently were captured and executed by the Germans.

Today we sailed (and motored) through the Small Isles, going south of Eigg, with it's striking volcanic plug on the southern side, then south of Rhum the largest of the Small Isles, about 8 miles by 7 miles. The whole Island is now a nature reserve and visitors are restricted to a small area at the head of a bay on it's eastern side. The rest of the mountainous island is given over to the preservation of the resident herd of Red Deer and Sea Eagles that were once common in the Western Isles but almost became extinct 20 years ago. The eagles on Rhum were imported from Norway.

A 985 Low is forecast to be off Ireland tomorrow so we can expect some strong NE winds and rain. No problem, the anchorage is well protected and there is good walking on shore with some old churches to visit. Right now, 18:30, we have just finished dinner in the cockpit looking east to the craggy mountains of Rhum bathed in the warm summer light with still two hours to go till sunset.

1 comment:

  1. Great post from one of our favourite cruising grounds.

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