Places to visit just the once...

Lochboisdale does have one of the worst designed washrooms I've ever seen. The showers open directly onto the urinals. The loos open directly onto the changing bench - the doors can't fully open if anyone is sitting on it.
 
Neither of mine north of the border and both beginning with B: Bradwell marina and Boulogne. It's a long time since we visited either so if they have changed my apologies.

I have never seen so many notices to customers as there were at Bradwell - do not clean fish in the wash basins being one of them. Gives some idea of the clientele. Very tight entrance, horribly muddy at low water, no thanks.

Boulogne - very tidal on the ebb making berthing difficult, terrible smell coming downstream from the weir, disgusting facilities. No thanks again.
 
Port Mary (north end of Luing on west side just outside Cuan sound west entrance). Spent the night at anchor here once, and every time I pass it I wonder why I did that? It was uncomfortable, exposed, and barren. But there were some interesting excavations ashore that suggest the possibility of lime kilns there in the long past.
 
ctva said:
Loch Boisdale, lovely new EU under marina with all mod cons... that the locals use. By mod cons I mean, the washing machines, showers etc which have big signs for Harbour Users only. One lady arrived with enough washing to fill all 4 washing machines along with kids and granny in the showers, none of the harbours staff batted an eyelid yet we were paying £25 for the night. Oh and there are no shops with the hotel and ‘village’ looking a dump. One place I’ll never go back to.
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A bit harsh but factual, although we found the hotel staff very friendly. Whilst I would never say never, we were storm bound in Lochboisdale for a week - a week can be a LONG time!!!
 
MM5AHO said:
Port Mary (north end of Luing on west side just outside Cuan sound west entrance). Spent the night at anchor here once, and every time I pass it I wonder why I did that? It was uncomfortable, exposed, and barren. But there were some interesting excavations ashore that suggest the possibility of lime kilns there in the long past.
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Slightly further south we went into Cullipool. It looked 'interesting' on the way in and I thought that we wouldn't return. But after a lovely stay there we did return a couple of times. Beautiful place with lovely walks.
 
Cullipool has half a dozen visitors buoys now and a leading line from Pladda in to them, great wee cafe in the new (Atlantic ????) community centre but it closes at 16-00, there is an artisan baker in the village and a sea eagle watches you from its nest at the top of the quarry. Most of the quarriers cottages have now been gentrified as holiday homes.
Worth a stop if you are too late or early for the tide in the Sound of Luing. Awkward steel mesh fishing pier for landing but good natural slipway in front of where the rowing skiffs sit. Interesting that they are continually using a crane to hoik the creel boats in and out
 
Lydney. The harbour wall juts out across the severn river in a spot where the flow is well over 5kn at springs. The result is that there is a bow wave at the end of the harbour wall thats maybe 3 ft high. To enter, you aim directly at the end of the wall and the tide sweeps you past and befind it. Arrive too early and you will be swept past. Arrive too late and you wont arrive at all but will sail backwards. And if / when you get in there, the little YC are a friendly bunch but the town is a dump.
 
Quandary said:
Damned locals, they get everywhere these days!
Do you think you may have got a wee bit hard to please?
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When these pontoon developments were installed, the eu grants were done to provide facilities for both locals AND passing yachts as a tourism industry benefit. There are now no options for passing boats. That is the problem.
 
It's a shame this thread appears to be turning into a general place to rant about marinas with bad service. I thought it was intended more as a list of places that were barely tenable and therefore interesting/challenging.
I might add Port of Ness, Lewis. It was a fishing port for centuries but you need big cajones getting in and out with a swell running...
 
Quandary said:
Bunessan, we passed it a week or so ago in sunshine and the wife resolutely insisted we press on, took shelter there a couple of times in our early days but with the swell found it almost impossible to get our kids ashore on the broken down pier surrounded by jagged rocks. Last time, few years back went to the hotel to eat, mine host was English but had obviously done his hospitality training in Edinburgh.
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We’ve found Bunessan lovely, good holding and shelter except from northerlies.
Nowt wrong with the English or even people from Edinburgh. We could talk about Irish incomers... :)
 
ctva said:
We’ve found Bunessan lovely, good holding and shelter except from northerlies.
Nowt wrong with the English or even people from Edinburgh. We could talk about Irish incomers... :)
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Strangely, even Irish blow ins find a welcome in Loch Boisdale and most of Scotland, possible exception is Bellanoch Marina which is so exclusive that the uppity permanent berth holders have their own secret access code for the publicly funded facilities building. Another place I would be reluctant to return to.

My apologies for perpetuating the thread drift but he started it.
 
Not many places I would not go to again where I sail, but I won't go into the harbour at Symi unless I have to due to bad experiences including my anchor being deliberately fouled in an attempt to make me pay for a diver, who probably did the fouling himself.
In Turkey the scary but beautiful passage is to go to Bozburun via the shallow channel to the north of Kizil Ada where a 2 metre draft boat like mine can only just make it and has to pick exactly the right path to avoid grounding.
 
I crossed the bar at the Ore entrance at low tide a couple of years ago. 20cm between the keel and hard shingle, with 4 knots of tide ready to pin us to anything we touched. It was very satisfying, especially as all the other boats on the cruise had got up early to get in at high water.

Even if I wanted to try it again the bar is much shallower this year, so would need to be a very high low tide.
 
ctva said:
When these pontoon developments were installed, the eu grants were done to provide facilities for both locals AND passing yachts as a tourism industry benefit. There are now no options for passing boats. That is the problem.
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Twas ever thus. When the HIDB buoys went in (kids, ask your grandparents) they were immediately grabbed as free permanent moorings by locals in many places. Gigha, for example, and Millport.
 
I can't actually think of anywhere between Trebeurden and Gdansk that I wouldn't happily revisit, though some would require decent weather. On the other hand, it looks from the above as if I need to avoid Scotland in its entirety, which is just as well because it is against my principles to visit anywhere that you can't get the local booze cheaper than at home.
 
Little Grebe said:
Le Tréport

The basin behind the lock was far shallower than the pilot guide/almanac suggested such that we spent the night rafted off a local fishing boat (with the inevitable early morning departure) rather than moored in the marina beyond.
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Yes, I'll go with that. The town is a bit like Ramsgate on a bad day, but it is worth going there for the the view from Normandy's highest cliff.
 
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