Steve Cockerham asked me to join hm to sail his 34 foot Sadler, with him, Andy Rackham and Ruari Kirwan. We sailed out of Largs on 21st August after an overnight on the boat and a meal in the marina. We sailed up the coast, past Largs town on our starboard side ... we were doing a steady broad reach with the wind blowing from the east (coast side).
We made good time up the east coast of Bute - which is divided in two by the Highland Boundary Fault. North of the fault the island is hilly and largely uncultivated with extensive areas of forestry (the highest hill is Kames Hill at 267 metres) and to the south the terrain is smoother and highly cultivated. The western side is known for its beaches, many of which enjoy fine views over the Sound of Bute towards Arran and Byte's smaller satellite island Inchmarnock. Bute is separated from the Cowal peninsula by the Kyles of Bute.
This northern part of the island is sparsely populated, and the ferry terminal at Rhubodach connects the island to the mainland at Colintraive by the smaller of the island's two ferries. The crossing is one of the shortest, less than 300 metres! We let it pass ahead of us. In the 1940s/50s Bute served as a naval headquarters (we saw the remains of this), and before that, in WWII, it was a camp for Polish Armed Forces, (unofficially thought of as a prison for Sikorski's political enemies).
We moored up on a blue buoy overnight in the bay of the village of Lamlash (in Scottish Gaelic - An t-Eilean Àrd)
This is the largest village by population on the Isle of Arran It opens into the Firth of Clyde, 4 miles to the south of ferry port Brodick, in a bay on the island's east coast, facing Holy Isle. After we tied up around 6 pm we put the 'pram cover' up over the cockpit, just in time as the heavens opened! After a beer we then took the tender to have a few pints and a meal in the pub. Back around 9.30 pm and bed! We sailed back after motoring into the Clyde. Back by lunch time and got home for 5ish.
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