Motoring north up Loch Fyne into Loch Gilp we follow the Scottish version of a Milk Run. At Ardrishaig you enter the picturesque Crinan Canal. Pasha and Tania loved its forested shores, the rich wildflowers and the manual locking procedures – Sweden’s Gota Canal in miniature. On Blue Dove some paediatric passengers joined us and were delighted with the locking process.
At the west end of the canal you turn right up Loch Craignish to Ardfern for dinner, then (when the tides are right) back down into the Dorus Mor and Luing tideraces for a wonderful 11 knot squirt north up to Kerrera and Oban. We were blessed with good weather as far as Oban, but then it became miserable and stayed that way. Time did not allow us to explore waters north of Ardnamurchan Point, so we turned tail and groped south again in driving rain, fresh southerly breeze and sleet. Sadly, Pasha and Tania had to head to London en route Moscow and we offloaded them, temporarily, in Rhu.
