Heckler
Well-Known Member
Thinking of Pwllheli - Dublin - Bangor, then across to where? Any recommendations on pilots? Tips, where to avoid? When is midge time?
Stu
Stu
Visiting the west coast of Scotland this year, any hints?
- Thread starter Heckler
- Start date
Capn Pugwash
Well-Known Member
The Midge season begins in May and lasts until October but the main "height of bite" is June to August. If you are coastal you may get away with the worst and the infamous Highland Biting Midge is (as it says) mostly restricted to the Highlands!
See Midge Season
Apart from that I love the Mull of Kintyre, Kyles of Bute, East Loch Tarbert/Loch Fyne, Isle of Arran etc. The Cumbraes are also worth a visit as is sailing around Ailsa Craig.
Fairly benign cruising, very little in the way of tidal races etc. Some really nice anchorages as well. I will try and dig out some of my pilot notes and send them on to you.
See Midge Season
Apart from that I love the Mull of Kintyre, Kyles of Bute, East Loch Tarbert/Loch Fyne, Isle of Arran etc. The Cumbraes are also worth a visit as is sailing around Ailsa Craig.
Fairly benign cruising, very little in the way of tidal races etc. Some really nice anchorages as well. I will try and dig out some of my pilot notes and send them on to you.
gardenshed
Well-Known Member
CCC pilots/Imray Pilots are both good. Hamish Haswells book about the islands of Scotland also a pleasant read but doesn't cover mainland anchorages (kind of obvious from the title.....)
Bangor to:
Depends on the time available. Sanda, Campbeltown, Tarbert, Portavadie, Kyles of Bute, Rothsay, Upper Clyde then back down south is a reasonably easy circuit.
Bangor north past the Mull of Kintyre is quite exposed but Islay, Ghia, Jura very very different from the clyde fleshpots. Much more remote and wild. More tidal gates going outside the Mull rather than into the Clyde estuary. It is all great.
Midges: Only experienced on days of the of the week ending in "y" and from between the hours of 00:00:01 to 23:59:59
Unfortunately Scotland is plagued by them from now until late September.
Bangor to:
Depends on the time available. Sanda, Campbeltown, Tarbert, Portavadie, Kyles of Bute, Rothsay, Upper Clyde then back down south is a reasonably easy circuit.
Bangor north past the Mull of Kintyre is quite exposed but Islay, Ghia, Jura very very different from the clyde fleshpots. Much more remote and wild. More tidal gates going outside the Mull rather than into the Clyde estuary. It is all great.
Midges: Only experienced on days of the of the week ending in "y" and from between the hours of 00:00:01 to 23:59:59
Unfortunately Scotland is plagued by them from now until late September.
jimi
Well-Known Member
Ardrossan is a must visit place. Be sure and take a trip to Saltcoats when you're there, its even better!
andymcp
Well-Known Member
My favourite is Gigha - I love that little bay and the Boathouse is a cracking welcome of food and drink, made all the better by ignoring the landing pontoon and arriving on the little beach just to the north. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
LittleShip
Well-Known Member
JIMI........... you are an evil man!
/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Skipper Stu when are you going, at this rate there could be a convoy!
Tom
/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Skipper Stu when are you going, at this rate there could be a convoy!
Tom
Sgeir
Well-Known Member
I agree, but Saltcoats is only for bilge keelers.
Heckler
Well-Known Member
Hoping to leave Pwllheli on the 11th July till the following Sunday. Jimi is a wicked so and so! Thinks us Gogs are thick, Sacha came from Ardrossan!! I spent a night there while doing the survey. Actually went out to a restaurant on the front for a steak. Was told afterwards that the feral kids can be nasty?
Stu
Stu
Heckler
Well-Known Member
Re: Visiting the west coast of Scotland this year, any hints? *DELETED*
Post deleted by skipper_stu
Post deleted by skipper_stu
Sgeir
Well-Known Member
Blimey, I'm nasty now!
When I was a kid, I used to hang about Saltcoats harbour watching the open boats, mainly small fishing boatsand trip boats, come and go. Even up until the 60s Arran's Sunday newspapers in winter were delivered by an open boat from Saltcoats, a pasage of 12NM each way, on the Spndrift as it happens. I used to dream about having a boat there. But it only for bilge keelers or shoal draft boats.
Decades later, we did keep our boat at Ardrossan for a while. There is one bar, famous for its sectarianism (and which may have lost its licence), that visitors should avoid, otherwise it's fine.
Mote, beam.
When I was a kid, I used to hang about Saltcoats harbour watching the open boats, mainly small fishing boatsand trip boats, come and go. Even up until the 60s Arran's Sunday newspapers in winter were delivered by an open boat from Saltcoats, a pasage of 12NM each way, on the Spndrift as it happens. I used to dream about having a boat there. But it only for bilge keelers or shoal draft boats.
Decades later, we did keep our boat at Ardrossan for a while. There is one bar, famous for its sectarianism (and which may have lost its licence), that visitors should avoid, otherwise it's fine.
Mote, beam.
Heckler
Well-Known Member
Re: Visiting the west coast of Scotland this year, any hints? *DELETED*
Post deleted by skipper_stu
Post deleted by skipper_stu
andymcp
Well-Known Member
In all honesty I don't think there's much to recommend any of the mainland marinas as part of your itinerary, unless you particularly want the shorepower etc. Much better and more interesting places to go on the west of the Clyde estuary, or on any of the islands in the Clyde. Download a copy of the Welcome Anchorages guide (or ask for one to be sent out to you) - it's a great quick guide to rustle up places to go, although the pilot books will be what you need to get you there.
Personally I would go for some of the places on the other side of the Kintyre peninsula, but thats just personal preference. Given the restriction on your time, the Clyde might be more accessible.
Personally I would go for some of the places on the other side of the Kintyre peninsula, but thats just personal preference. Given the restriction on your time, the Clyde might be more accessible.
Sgeir
Well-Known Member
No offence taken. Jimi occasionally drops in the references to Saltcoats because he knows I have family connections with the town and the area, although why anyone from Cumnock should feel superior is beyond me. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
One grandfather was the (shipyard) foreman at the Ardrossan Dockyard Company, another worked in Nobel's blackpowder plant, one grandmother was the (then later, an) infant school teacher in the Saltcoats Public School from the first world war until she retired, in her seventies, around the late 60s or maybe even early 70s. My late mother, born in Windmill Street overlooking the harbour, was also a teacher in the area, and late father managed a gentleman's outfitters in the town's main street. So, I have some fondness for the place.
It is undeniable that since the there are problems in the area, which since the 80s has lost almost all of its traditional industries, and is still in a process of recovery. That is is no reason for visitors to avoid the place.
Of the two harbours, Saltcoats is shoal as stated. The entrance at Ardrossan can be tricky in strong SWs, but we've certainly come in without difficulty in a SW6, and I believe Webcraft came in under sail in a SW8, and lived to tell the tale. Several people on this forum use or have used Ardrossan Marina. The yard staff are excellent.
EDIT: incidentally, I agree with Andy; the coastal marinas and harbours are of little interest compared with Argyll or the islands.
Earlier thread about Ardrossan here.
One grandfather was the (shipyard) foreman at the Ardrossan Dockyard Company, another worked in Nobel's blackpowder plant, one grandmother was the (then later, an) infant school teacher in the Saltcoats Public School from the first world war until she retired, in her seventies, around the late 60s or maybe even early 70s. My late mother, born in Windmill Street overlooking the harbour, was also a teacher in the area, and late father managed a gentleman's outfitters in the town's main street. So, I have some fondness for the place.
It is undeniable that since the there are problems in the area, which since the 80s has lost almost all of its traditional industries, and is still in a process of recovery. That is is no reason for visitors to avoid the place.
Of the two harbours, Saltcoats is shoal as stated. The entrance at Ardrossan can be tricky in strong SWs, but we've certainly come in without difficulty in a SW6, and I believe Webcraft came in under sail in a SW8, and lived to tell the tale. Several people on this forum use or have used Ardrossan Marina. The yard staff are excellent.
EDIT: incidentally, I agree with Andy; the coastal marinas and harbours are of little interest compared with Argyll or the islands.
Earlier thread about Ardrossan here.
wotayottie
Well-Known Member
you'll find pwllheli expensive but with good loos.
Heckler
Well-Known Member
I did it again, sorry, halfway home and remembered, will deffo get it for you, swmbo (hey lau where is such and such?) is with me this weekend, she doesnt forget, she was with the binlids last weekend.
agree about the bogs, am on the pile moorings so only get to use the expensive marina ones occasionaly.
Stu
agree about the bogs, am on the pile moorings so only get to use the expensive marina ones occasionaly.
Stu
Heckler
Well-Known Member
Andy
thanks for that, suspect we will try to go up the channel toward Tarbert, not much time really, my mate is on a tight schedule, am half tempted to get swmbo to book a second week off!
Stu
thanks for that, suspect we will try to go up the channel toward Tarbert, not much time really, my mate is on a tight schedule, am half tempted to get swmbo to book a second week off!
Stu
colvic987
Well-Known Member
how about from bangor, to ballycastle, a trip to raithlin, port ellen, gigha, crinan through canal to lochfyne, down to tarbert, largs portpatrick, across to ardglass then trip back to pwllheli.
If short of time, miss out port ellen and raithlin..
just notice you have a week, so you might only get to portpatrick ..
If short of time, miss out port ellen and raithlin..
just notice you have a week, so you might only get to portpatrick ..
FullCircle
Well-Known Member
We are venturing North to the glorious West Coast next week.
I have retained the services of a local boatman for the trip plan & entertainment itinerary. In fact the brother of the rich owner.
The loyal servant is collecting us from the airport at Glasgow, and will repair us to a hostelry, before taking us to the boat, fully prepared, with the duvets turned down in the cabin, and the eberspacher on low hum.
You can PM him if you PM me.
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
I have retained the services of a local boatman for the trip plan & entertainment itinerary. In fact the brother of the rich owner.
The loyal servant is collecting us from the airport at Glasgow, and will repair us to a hostelry, before taking us to the boat, fully prepared, with the duvets turned down in the cabin, and the eberspacher on low hum.
You can PM him if you PM me.
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
starboard
Well-Known Member
Bangor-Ballycastle-Sanda-Lochranza-Tarbet-Tighnabruach-Rothsay-Lamlash/Holy Isle-Portpatrick-Peel-Pwllheli
Fair winds, have a great trip..!!
Fair winds, have a great trip..!!
hlb
RIP
If only a week, the route has to be IOM, Portparick. Then theres choices. But not far, before heading back. A week is not long enough to do Scotland, from Pwehlli. Done a fair bit in a power boat from there, but still took a few weeks.
