The plan was to sail from Tobermory to Oban today,  meet Yee Tak off the train and then get to the Crinan Canal  before the generally unpleasant weather on Saturday.

The wind was forecast to be SE, i.e. on our nose for half the distance down the Sound of Mull, before it was due to veer and us to slide off to Port, resulting in a fine beam reach across to Oban. The winds were due to be no more than 10 or 11 kts against us….a bit uncomfortable, but nothing worse.

Problem one arrived in the form of a key broken off in the ignition switch. After an hour of fruitless gentle persuasion and then rather more aggressive persuasion, we tried the old trick of a screwdriver down the hole. Fortunately the remnants of the key played ball and we could at least start the engine.

Problem two was Yee Tak’s second leg of her 4 leg journey. A delayed train to Birmingham meant a missed connection, there, and then a final missed connection in Glasgow, leaving her with the last train to Oban…a minor if frustrating inconvenience (initially…)

Godly irritation number 3…we dropped the mooring lines about an hour later than the plan, and Heydays nosed out into the Sound, to be met with a much bigger wave chop than the apps suggested, and almost double the predicted wind speed. After 45 minutes of slog, we were making less than 3 kts over the ground…and that was with 1kt of tide. Now that we had lost an hour, and that the wind app was considerably in error, we looked at each other….do we carry on with the possibility of getting down to a headway of about 1kt when the tide turns,and hope for an earlier wind change, or turn back. In the end, the old adage which says that if you are considering turning back it is the right time to turn back, made sense, and we arrived back in Tobermory  inside 10 minutes, having spent 50 slogging the other way…

Final note: Had Yee Tak’s train been on time, she would have been able to catch a ferry over to be with us. In the event, she had to find a (very expensive) bed for the night.

Back in Tobermory,  we managed to source a new ignition switch….in Oban. Oh well, we’ll just have to hope that the old screwdriver trick works tomorrow when the winds will be much more favourable.

What to do in Tobermory on a ‘free’ day?

… possibly the odd beer or whisky….

The winds look set fair for Friday morning, so once we heard from Yee Tak that she was safely tucked up in the hotel, we had an early night.

Alarms when it is still dark are rarely welcome, but as always we fall into an unspoken routine around a bit of personal hygiene and getting the old girl ready. The ignition switch took a lot more ‘persuasion’ with the screwdriver this time, but with the trusty diesel finally bursting into life, we slid away from Tobermory for what we hope will be the final time on this trip.

Nosing out into the Sound of Mull, the sea is smooth, but the predicted wind is not to be found. In fact, as we head into the misty murk, the sails don’t do much at all…

The usual CalMacs ply up and down, and also the ever more frequent cruise ships.

The sun tries to make an appearance and for a while we can fill both sails in the early morning light…

But by the time we pass Duart Castle on the Eastern tip of Mull, we have furled the genny, and rely once again on the engine.

We get tossed lightly around in the overfalls and mini whirlpools between Lissmore light and Lady’s Rock,

…and then finally Oban becomes visible….

With Yee Tak on the harbour wall we have a rare chance to get pictures of our own boat at sea, although sadly not under full glorious sail.

We have a choice of pontoons  and with Heydays snugged down we set off to pick up the new ignition switches (yes, Heydays has a spare…with spare keys!!). After a leisurely lunch we get the new switches installed, and attend to a few other chores in the late afternoon sun, while watching several other boats make various attempts at mooring.

The harbour it seems, is home to several square riggers, and as always we wonder at the bravery of the poor 18th century souls (many of them pressed men) who had to go aloft in terrible conditions, without modern nineties of hard hats or safety lines.

We’ve been watching the forecasts very closely for sign of weather windows to get us south and west to Coleraine. Friday night and Saturday morning looks a bit grim, but Saturday afternoon…???