Decided to take a quick trip to join the OGA60 Round Britain Cruise fleet in Oban, then go to Dundee to visit family. Arriving in Oban, it’s very difficult to find anywhere to park a camper van and actually sleep in it overnight! When offered a berth on ‘Letty’, the issue of sleeping in the van was solved and we parked just beside the Kerrera ferry for a week. Buying the tickets is less than simple, but that’s another story!
The OGA60 fleet had gathered in Oban, moored at the lovely Kerrera Marina a short water taxi ride across the Sound. We spent a most enjoyable few days as guests aboard ‘Letty’, sadly unable to race with her on Saturday when the prop fell off, consigned to the murky depths of Kerrera Sound.
On Sunday, ‘Cygnet of London’ arrived and offered us a sail up the coast to Mallaig via Tobermory on Mull. Thankyou, Simon, for an excellent couple of days of idyllic west coast sailing. We returned to Oban by train, another excellent journey across Tulloch and Rannoch Moors (the construction of this line has a fantastic history – and it’s still a most scenic route).
Once back in Oban, we wondered where to go and decided to visit the most westerly mainland point of Scotland: Ardnamurchan Peninsula. We took the 5-minute crossing on the Corran Ferry to drive along Loch Sunart and the Sound of Mull. There’s an excellent campsite right on the edge of the Sound near Kilchoan, looking across to the Isle of Mull. Due to the 30-mile single track, narrow, winding road, there’s very few vehicles around and we were lucky to have lovely weather and no midges!
Next stop was Dundee for the weekend to meet Esther, Steve’s grand-daughter, born in early May. There’s another excellent Community-run camping ground at Tayport, a 40-minute ride from Dundee along a dedicated cycle route. After an enjoyable time with the family, we headed south down the A1. Approaching Holy Island, where we’d decided to cross the causeway for lunch, Bev checked out the AIS and found ‘Windbreker’, Dutch friends on passage to Scotland to join the OGA fleet, looked like she was anchored there. We called and, sure enough, Edgar and Else had decided to come ashore for lunch so we enjoyed an afternoon exploring the island with them before finding yet another excellent overnight spot near Bamburgh, overlooking the sea. We watched ‘Windbreker’ set sail in the distance as the sun went down.