Cairnbaan to Ardfern

Once we were securely moored Julian and I headed for the hotel for an overdue lunch, then headed up the hill to look at the neolithic rock Cairnbaarn is famous for. It was a lovely walk on a fine October afternoon, and made a fitting climax to our day. However the day was not over yet! We needed to get back to Ardfern to pick up the car.

Julian had checked the buses before we left home, and thought we might have to walk to Lochgilphead to catch one. We checked with the hotel, who told us that there were no buses at all that Saturday! For some reason this years bus timetable had nothing on the first two Saturdays in October. Not to worry, we could get a taxi! I thought that was a better idea anyway as my ribs were starting to hurt again as the Ibuprofin wore off. The hotel gave us a taxi number and we called it, but there was no reply.

Our final resort was hitchhiking, or failing that, walking the 12 miles to Ardfern. It was 4pm by this time, so it would be dark before we got there if we had to walk the whole way, but we decided to set off anyway. We had walked about 3 miles when a lovely lady stopped and gave us a lift. She was going all the way to Ardfern, which was perfect! She dropped us just outside the shop, so we went in and bought food for breakfast before picking up the car and heading back to Robinetta for a much needed early night!

Smooth seas and lumpy porridge

The alarm woke us on Saturday morning after two and a half hours sleep, and Julian had fixed the electrics before I even finished dressing. The battery that we had left in use for the bilge pump was flat, and although I had tried out the other battery I had also moved the switch on the fuse box to “shore” not “battery”. I'd forgotten the lowest switch on the fuse box did something different to the others when trying them in the dark.

We got the engine on using battery 2, then switched to charge battery 1 before we dropped the mooring and left Arfern. I helmed while Julian put the kettle on, then it started to rain so he stayed below and made tea, since I already had full oilskins on. He also made porridge, using the remains of the hot water from the tea making. This turned out to be a bad idea and he made lumpy porridge for the first time ever; we've never been able to work out why people complain about porridge being lumpy, how we know how its done! He asked where the salt was, and I told him, but he did not find it so there was no salt in the porridge. It had stopped raining while the porridge cooked, so we both ate in the cockpit, and the hot food was welcome despite a couple of lumps Julian had not been able to get rid of.

Julian went back to bed for half an hour while I motored down Loch Craignish. It was flat calm in the shelter of the Loch; the clouds lifted and the sun came out to make for a beautiful morning. I turned towards Crinan and could feel a light breeze in my face as Robinetta began to lift in a slight swell. I was beginning to wonder where I should be heading when Julian got up and put the bed away. I wanted his local knowledge as to where the entrance to the lock lay, so he put his oilskin trousers on and came on deck. A yacht came through the Dorus Mor and passed us heading towards Crinan, and another was already waiting outside the lock. A double ended open boat towing an inflatable dinghy came off a mooring by the canal entrance as we reached the lock at 0930. At first I thought that the dinghy's outboard was powering it since it was snubbed in really close, but closer inspection revealed a inboard diesel, and a gaff sail on the mast.

After a short wait the four of us plus 2 towed dinghies headed into the lock. It felt like quite a tight squeeze, and I tied Worm up close along side as soon as we were tied up in the lock. On inspection the double ender turned out to be clinker built. That made two wooden gaffers and two GRP bermudans in the lock. I'm not sure if its significant that both gaffers were towing dinghies...

Julian asked for another fender to keep the bow off the stone of the lock, so I gave him the one that was keeping Worm off Robinetta. That meant I needed to move Worm's own fender into position instead; it was lying inside Worm, but on the other side of her. I got the boat hook and lent down over Robinetta's cap rail to reach it, and heard something crack. I don't know if I've cracked a rib, some cartilage, or just bruised it, but I definitely damaged some part of my rib cage. It's pretty painful!

The Crinan Sea Lock is operated electrically, as is the next lock, just above the basin. We went through in convoy, and were released into a surprisingly narrow canal at 1030. It felt more suitable for narrow boats than yachts, and the Crinan Canal Guide mentions that its a good idea for larger yachts to check with them that there are no boats going in the other direction! We passed the first bridge, hardly more than a footbridge on rollers, then the canal widened out at the Bellanoch Marina. The largest of the GRP boats stopped here, and our reduced convoy headed on through the Bellanoch Bridge. The speed limit is 4 knots, so Robinetta had no problems keeping up with the remaining GRP boat, and the double ender kept up too.

It began to rain, so I handed the helm to Julian and went below to put the kettle on. The Dunardry Lock flight appeared before it boiled, so I took the helm again so Julian would be free to climb the ladder with the ropes. In the event there was someone there to throw them to, so he did not need to. I had to dash below and wet the tea, and by the time I got back up he had gone up the ladder to help with the lock gates, leaving me to manage the ropes as we rose. At least I got to drink my tea while it was hot, but I did not enjoy the moving around to manage the ropes with my ribs hurting. I did not have a chance to retie Worm alongside either.

I virtually single handed Robinetta up the flight, with Julian helping out ashore. It turned out that all three boats in the lock were heading for Cairnbaan for the winter. The GRP one was owned by Adam Way, the boatyard's operator, and being very familiar with the canal he operated all the locks quickly with help from Julian and a lady who jogged between the locks. The Dunardry locks are not a flight, but 5 separate locks with basins between, and Julian stayed ashore to close the lock gates behind us as there was another little convoy close behind. That left me alone to reset the ropes every time, but there was no wind, and the basins were large enough to let me go forward and retrieve the bow line so I could throw it without worrying about Robinetta drifting off course. The constant moving round stopped my ribs stiffening up, and I was moving more freely by the time we got to the top of the flight at 1240 than I was at the bottom.

I picked Julian up from the pontoon at the top of the Dunardry Locks and we motored along the top of the canal to the Cairnbaan Locks. There are four of these, separated by basins, and once again Julian wanted me to single hand through them while he stayed ashore to work the locks. I persuaded him that I needed help managing the ropes as the lock emptied, so he stayed aboard until we reached the bottom, then climbed the ladder and helped open the gates, before casting me off and staying to reset the lock for the next convoy.

I found it pretty stressful managing Robinetta and Worm alone between locks, being in pain and not having had enough sleep, and ended up shouting at Julian at lock number 7 when he did something I was not expecting. He does not like it when I loose patience with him in front of an audience! Despite the contretemps the convoy team worked well, and we were through the last lock by 1400, well before our deadline!

Our destination was just at the bottom of the lock flight. There are pontoons on both sides, the one  on the south side, next to the yard where Robinetta would spend the winter, was virtually full, with only one gap that was too small for me to try to wriggle her into. The second pontoon on the other side had plenty of space at the far end, so I went past it and turned Robinetta round to come along side so I would not need to move the fenders, or worry about Worm on her tow.

Overnight driving

Getting time off work can be difficult, but we had planned how to move Robinetta from Ardfern to Cairnbaan carefully. We would drive up on Saturday, move her on Sunday, then get her ready for lift out Sunday evening and Monday morning, before driving home in the afternoon to go to work on Tuesday. An email from Adam Way changed our plans as he told us that the Crinan canal stops operating on Sundays at the end of September, so we would have to mover her on Saturday. Having arranged to take Monday off I could not suddenly ask for Friday!

We decided that leaving after work on Friday was the only option, so Julian made sure he was home by the time I got in from work, and we set off north at 1730. Friday night is never good for traffic, but although it was busy on the M11 and A14 we did not run into any real problems until we were on the A1. Ten minutes stationary while the police cleared a three car shut was not too bad, then we ran into another hold up just south of Newark. It was 1930, so we came off the A1 and found a pub called the Tawny Owl. A nice place on the Wetherspoons' model (although not one); a useful stopping place.

We got were back on the road by 2045 and did not stop again except for petrol and to change drivers. Whoever was not driving tried to sleep; rather like being on watch for an overnight passage in Robinetta! The weather turned bad though, with pounding rain that slowed us down, and we did not get to Ardfern until 0400.

We found Worm in the dinghy park and launched her, then I rowed us out to Robinetta. It was raining slightly, but calm, and it was an easy row. Robinetta's white bulwarks make her easy to find, even on a dark night and we were soon on board. I tried to switch the lights on, and nothing happened. I felt round for a torch, but we had taken them home with us last time. Luckily the gas lighter was easy to find, and the citronella candles gave enough light for us to get the bed out. By this time it was 0500, and we knew we should be up and ready to leave by 0630. None the less we got into bed properly, and Julian set the alarm for 0730. Leaving Ardfern at 0800 should give us enough time to get to Cairnbaan before the locks stopped working at 1600. That was providing of course that the electrics not working was something very minor! We were both too tired to think about what had gone wrong, and fell into bed and slept.

Shiny

We got a replacement pin for the Wykeham Martin drum. Of course it is brand new and shiny compared to the years of patina on the rest of the assembly. There is a small gap at the ring end even when the thread is fully home, but it fits nice and tightly.

In other news, we have decided where Robinetta will spend the winter. She will be at Adam Way's yard at Cairnbaan. That is just a short trip from Ardfern. We will take her there during the first weekend in October and she will stay there until some time in April. We may talk to Adam about doing some winter work. She is letting quite a bit of water in via the top sides - not good for sleeping on a rainy night, and we still haven't completely cured the garboard leak.

1937 to 2014 Track

I've put this map together to show Robinetta's circumnavigation. She started in Rock Ferry in 1937 and ended in Rosneath. In 1938 she travelled as far north as the Sound of Sleat and then returned to Liverpool via Northern Ireland. Later in 1938 she moved to Beaumaris for the winter. In 1947 she sailed from Beaumaris to Weymouth and in 1949 she must have sailed from Weymouth to the Crouch.

In 2013 we sailed her to Cowes and back to West Mersea, so the coast line we don't have written logs for is only from Weymouth to Cowes. This summer (2014) we sailed from West Mersea to Ardfern (green), crossing her southbound path (orange) on the west coast of Scotland. If you click on the map it becomes live and you can open the legend and zoom and scroll. This is disabled until you click to prevent problems with scroll wheels and gestures.