Goodbye Blue Hour! Over the winter, we sold our previous boat and bought our new boat: Festina Lente, a Discovery 55. Jonas and my dad flew to Scotland to fix it up two weeks ago; they've been working super hard to make it ship-shape. Me and my mom's flight leaves tomorrow and then we'll join them to begin our sailing adventure. This blog will no longer be used but here is the address of the new one:

www.festinalenteblog.ca

Back home.

On the plane.

National Museum of Scotland.

Really interesting graveyard.

Edinburgh castle.

Afternoon tea!

Glasgow Central Station - it's a really pretty and really big station that looked a bit steam punk, with metal beams running across the ceiling and wood-fronted shops along the walls.

Sirius enjoying the rare days of sunshine while we work on the boat.

As the end of August and the beginning of September approached, it was sadly time for us to wrap up our cruise and prepare Blue Hour for winter storage. We visited one last port, Lamlash, after leaving Gigha, and then headed to Ardrossan (near Glasgow), where Blue Hour was going to be hauled out. Though we arrived two days before the scheduled haul out in order to clean and put things away, the day we arrived we were told that Blue Hour was going to be hauled out the next morning. Luckily that went off without a hitch and Blue Hour is now safely on land in her cradle.

The next four nights we spent in an airbnb about a thirty minutes' walk away from the marina. Dad and Jonas winterized the engine, generator, fridge, and plumbing, as well as fixing various other mechanical issues and inspecting the engine. They also put on Blue Hour's cover to protect her from the elements. Mum and I cleaned and looked after Sirius, who had to remain on the ground - while climbing the ladder in order to get onto Blue Hour is one of his skills, he isn't able to jump down from the stern about ten feet off the ground. Instead, Sirius and I hung out in a little green space next to the marina while he enjoyed the few rare days of sunny weather we had been having and I read.

Ardrossan isn't a particularly nice place and is a bit depressing, but the airbnb was pleasant and there is a train station right next to the marina that goes to Glasgow and Edinburgh. On one of the days we were staying in Ardrossan, Mum and I went on a day trip to Edinburgh, which was really cool. We had a little problem getting there, as we missed the first train and may or may not have taken a wrong train after that, but we eventually arrived in Glasgow, which had the nicest train station I have ever seen. From there, we walked to another station which would take us to Edinburgh. There was a garbage workers' strike happening in the city, and as a result the bins were overflowing and garbage was covering everything. Glasgow seemed interesting otherwise and I wish that we could have spent more time there, but we could only stay for around half an hour before getting on the one and a half hour train ride to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city, with lots of grand old buildings and cobblestone streets that are great to walk through even without a clear destination in mind. There was a garbage strike just finishing up there as well, but it seemed much more minor than Glasgow and I didn't see a lot of garbage in the streets. When Mum and I first arrived, we went and got afternoon tea, which has been on my bucket list of things to do in Scotland for a while. It was great and we drank three pots of tea. Then we wandered around, seeing really cool old graveyards with gigantic tombstones, some of which are either built into or leaning against the sides of other buildings. We enjoyed seeing the giant monument to Sir Walter Scott, which is apparently the biggest monument to a writer in the world, as well as the castle and many other old buildings. After that, we went to the National Museum of Scotland, which is massive and also free. I especially enjoyed the fashion exhibit, as there were many beautiful old dresses there. We also saw the body of Dolly the sheep (the first ever cloned mammal), an exhibit on dancing and theatre from around the world, an exhibit on ancient Egypt, and an exhibit on East Asian history. I wish we had had more time to spend there, but we needed to get the 5:00 train back to Glasgow in order to make one of the last trains back to Ardrossan.

Surprisingly, the flight back to Toronto went well and without any problems. Sirius was fine, though we were all worried about him, and there weren't any delays or long lines at either airport. Since our flight left at 8:30 a.m., we had to get up at 4:30 and catch a taxi to the airport along with all of our bags. The only sketchy part was the taxi driver, who was a little bit shady and who we weren't sure was going to show up. Luckily he did and we arrived at the airport on time. Though it was a seven hour flight, because of the time change we arrived at 11:30 a.m. Toronto time. My grandparents met us at the airport and drove us back home. I'm sad to be ending our cruise and saying goodbye to Blue Hour, but it's nice to be back home and in our house with warm weather and sun. We will return to Blue Hour after school ends next June for more sailing!

Blackberry picking.

Canna House gardens

Canna is a really nice island near Eigg, Muck, and Rùm, and is one of the Small Isles between the Outer Hebrides and the west coast of Scotland. Though it isn’t tiny in size, only eighteen people live there. We (Blue Hour and Arthur) stayed there for three days, the first of which we spent hiking to the summit of the island. It was a great hike even though it was a bit misty and each time we reached a ridge that we thought was the highest one there was a higher one behind it. Canna also has a great store, which is open 24/7 and operates with an honesty box and a sheet of paper for people to record what they bought and what they paid for it. We spent the next few days walking in the beautiful gardens in front of Canna House (the manor), visiting Canna’s Church of Scotland which had amazing acoustics, and looking at what we call ‘panda cows’ (cows with black and white colouring that makes them look like pandas from far away). We also had dinner at Café Canna - Dad, Jonas, Anne-Sophie, and Guillaume shared a seafood platter of lobsters, crabs, and langoustines, and I had a delicious curry pie.

After Canna we returned to Oban to get a quote on how much it would cost to replace Blue Hour’s rigging (too much) and buy more groceries. We went back to the fish and chips place we went to last time and took several trips to and from Tesco.

We had visited Puilladobhrain several times when we were previously in Scotland, which is surprisingly quiet and peaceful despite how close it is to Oban. There is a cool bridge there, the Bridge over the Atlantic, which is made of stone and curved over a river. Beyond that, there wasn’t much good walking to do as there weren’t any paths other than a highway.

We then went to Carsaig, where our friend Dougie lives, but unfortunately he was away. There were nice walking trails there, which we walked along the evening we arrived. The next day, we all walked to the nearby town of Tayvallich, where Jonas, Axelle, Charlie, and Tristan had a great time using up their excess energy. When they were finished with the playground we went for lunch at the café.

The island of Gigha is another place that we have been to multiple times before. Our friend Don lives there, and it was nice to see him again. Don runs a milk and ice cream business in partnership with his wife, who is in charge of the local dairy farm. Don took us on a tour of his business, and it was cool to see the dairy farm and the place where he makes his ice cream. That evening, everyone on Arthur came over to Blue Hour for dinner and ate the five crabs and two lobsters that Jonas and Charlie had caught in a creel over multiple days. The next day we went for a walk and picked nearly ripe blackberries for a delicious apple-blackberry crumble that Mum made. As it was sadly our last night cruising with Arthur, we all went for dinner on their boat. I taught Axelle how to knit and we ate soup for dinner and the crumble for dessert, along with some Gigha ice cream which we had somehow managed to keep from melting despite the fact that neither Arthur nor Blue Hour as a working freezer. Jonas and Mum had put together a slideshow of Blue Hour and Arthur which we watched on Arthur’s handy projector. Then we said goodbye, as we were leaving Gigha early the next morning. We’ll miss sailing with Arthur but wish them luck cruising in Ireland!

We left Mallaig and sailed to Totaig in Loch Duich. There was an old castle built in the Middle Ages and rebuilt in the early 20th century, which we anchored nearby and were able to get a tour inside. It was very interesting to look at the interior, which was old-fashioned and fancy. There were also tour guides in kilts to explain the castle’s history, which involved the Jacobite rebellion. The kitchen was especially cool, as it was set up with wax figures and food to seem as though the servants were in the middle of preparing dinner.

After Totaig, we sailed to Plockton and then to Acarseid Mhor on the island of Rona. The tides were massive there at sixteen feet, which made it difficult to take the dinghy to shore in case it dried out on land and we couldn’t get it back into the water. It also made it stressful to come into anchorages, as a bay that had enough room for Blue Hour at high or middling tide might be completely dry by low tide, and giant rocks were exposed as the tide went down.

In Duntulm Bay on the Isle of Skye, we planned to reunite with our sailing friends from France on their boat Arthur whom we had met in Greenland six years ago. Since we arrived before them, we went for a mucky hike over rolling hills to the end of a point and what used to be a coastguard watch house. It was very scenic and from the top we were able to watch Arthur come into port. Once we got back to Zoom, which luckily wasn’t stuck high and dry on the rocks ten feet inland, we motored over to Arthur. It was great to see them again and we invited them over to dinner on Blue Hour. We plan to go with Arthur to the Outer Hebrides before they head south to Ireland and we go to Glasgow to put Blue Hour away for the winter.

The next day, we sailed with Arthur to Uig, a small town, as both boats needed to stock up on fuel. It was surprisingly warm, which meant that everyone could finally take off their sweaters and eat ice cream.

The Ascrib Islands were beautiful but not sheltered enough to stay overnight, so we went to shore and had a picnic for lunch. It was wilderness there except for a cottage that had a picnic table outside of it, which was quite pleasant. Then we left to spend the night at Ardmore Point.

We spent three nights in Loch Eynort in the Outer Hebrides, as it had many well-kept trails through the woods and along the coast. Unfortunately, Dad had several important work meetings to go to and there was no internet where Blue Hour and Arthur were anchored, so after hiking to the top of a windy hill to see if it had reception, he resorted to taking Zoom around the corner and doing his meetings there. It was Guillaume’s birthday, so we all went to Arthur to celebrate and ate the lobsters that Jonas had caught that morning. Jonas and I were invited over to Arthur to watch a movie (How to Train Your Dragon), since they have a fancy screen and projector, which was a good opportunity for me to practice French. The sunny weather continued more or less for a few days, so Jonas and the kids from Arthur played in the water with the kayak and paddle boards.

Inside the castle.

Fixing the electric winch.

Neptune’s Staircase was a series of eight locks going downwards, which luckily didn’t feel like they took that long because they were pretty easy to do. Blue Hour was the only boat in the lock, which meant that we didn’t have to worry about crashing into the other boats, and going down was much easier than going up. From there, we motored down the canal, went through a few more locks, motored some more, and came to the end of the canal. We were in the last lock when it broke and the doors wouldn’t open, but luckily we only had a short delay while the lock-masters waited for the tide on the ocean side to rise and equalize with the water level in the lock.

Once out of the canal, we were officially on the west coast of Scotland, which we had really enjoyed in previous years. We spent a night in the town of Oban, where we got fish and chips and went grocery shopping. I tried to find a used book store but was unsuccessful.

After Oban, we sailed to Loch Drumbuie, which was beautiful and remote. It reminded me a little bit of Norway and a little bit of Lake Superior, as there were lots of pine trees and a rocky coastline. Jonas had fun sailing his opti dinghy and he and Dad fixed the electric winch, which has been struggling for a while.

The next day, we sailed to Loch Moidart, another anchorage, where there was an old abandoned castle. Dad, Jonas, Sirius, and I went for a walk. We wanted to see the castle, but there was a locked gate blocking the entrance. Luckily, there was a gap just big enough for me and Jonas to wriggle under between the bottom of the door and the ground, so we went inside. The roof was no longer there but most of the stone walls were, and it was cool to walk around in and explore. The castle had two tall turrets on either side, the staircases to which had unfortunately collapsed a while ago, but they were majestic to look at.

We are currently in Mallaig, a town which we have been to before. There is an old steam engine that still runs between Mallaig and Fort William, which is interesting to watch, as well as an excellent bakery that we will go to tomorrow.

Going through the Caledonian Canal.

Though we were planning to sail south from the Shetland and Orkney islands to the west coast of Scotland – we had been there in previous years and loved it – the wind has been blowing from the west for weeks and that wasn’t feasible. Instead, we decided to travel through the Caledonian Canal, which cuts right through Scotland, and go up the west coast from the opposite direction, which was where the Caledonian Canal ended. To do this, we sailed southwest to mainland Scotland and stopped in the town of Inverness, where the canal began.

After being in rural areas for a while, Inverness was a bit overwhelming. The marina was in an industrial area and at first I didn’t like it, as we were walking past factories beside a road, but when we got to the old town, Inverness became very nice. That evening, we walked through the old streets which were crowded with people and which gave me culture shock due to all the noise, flashing lights, and confusing crosswalks. The next morning, we left to begin transiting the canal.

We began with a flight of three locks which would take us upwards above sea level. To do this, Dad drove Blue Hour into the lock alongside four other boats while Mum and Jonas threw the lines – a bit difficult, as we were at the bottom of the lock and the walls were pretty high above us – and I climbed a slimy ladder to get the lines at the top of the lock. Then, once the lock doors were shut, it began to fill with water and Blue Hour rose until it was level with the sides of the lock. Jonas pulled in the stern line while I pulled in the bow line as Blue Hour came higher.

Once we finished going up the flight of locks, we motored along pretty rivers until we docked at a floating dock in Lochgarroch for the night. The canal is really nice and relaxing, as it is quite rural between the locks with only trees and fields and a well-kept walking path beside the water. The weather is also mostly sunny and much warmer than on the coast, which is a welcome change.

The next day, we motored through Loch Ness, though we unfortunately didn’t see any monster. The lake was about twenty nautical miles long and pretty narrow, and the wind was right on the bow so we couldn’t sail. The next flight of five locks was in the centre of the town Fort Augustus. As we pulled Blue Hour through, there were large crowds of tourists taking photos along each side, which was a bit stressful. It was also difficult to walk along the top of the locks with Blue Hour’s lines as Dad motored into the next lock when I had to dodge around spectators. On the bright side, we were able to go through the locks that afternoon as opposed to having to waiting until the next day as we had expected. We rafted onto another boat at the other end and went to a pub for dinner.

Today we traveled down more scenic rivers and finally reached the highest flight of locks, which are actually only thirty metres above sea level. This meant that we could start going down rather than up in the locks, which is much easier. Mum, Sirius, and I walked along the footpath beside the river in the morning while Dad and Jonas drove Blue Hour to the next locks. There was a small cruise ship in front of us, which meant that we had to wait a bit between locks as it went ahead of us. Unfortunately, as we waited for the lock to be made ready for us afterwards, the swing bride broke and wouldn’t open so the ship had to wait in a narrow area of the river without crashing into the sides while it was fixed. It didn’t take too long for that to happen, and once the ship went through and we were able to go through the lock, the bridge opened fine for us without issue. We are currently in Banavie, which is nice and quiet, with many boats along the sides of the river and a few houses. Tomorrow we will go through the set of locks right ahead of us, called Neptune’s Staircase.

Running down the sand dunes.

Sanday also has huge amazing beaches. I know I said the beach in Akkerfjord was my favourite, but I think I like Sanday's even better. It is huge and white, with very little debris and a beautiful view of both the ocean and the sand dunes behind it.

Sanday, one of the Orkney Islands, may be my favourite place that we have visited in Scotland so far – at least rivalling Fair Isle. We decided to bike around the island, with beautiful views of green fields full of cows and flowers the whole way. We ended up biking to an excellent pizza restaurant and café which, though it was a much farther bike ride than we had initially thought, was definitely worth it. The only problem was that the tide is huge here so finding a good spot to park Zoom was a bit difficult, as well as lugging the folding bikes to shore. Here, we pulled up alongside an old concrete jetty with tide flats on either side and loaded the bikes onto it, then unfolded them and wheeled them to shore from there. When we came back after a few hours' outing, the tide flats were under water and so was half of the dock, pretty much right up to the spot where we had tied Zoom.

Puffins!

Fair Isle, at the southern tip of Shetland, is really beautiful and isolated. It has many fields of sheep and a few farms and houses, as well as dramatic cliffs filled with seabirds. We walked to town and to the lighthouse, with beautiful views of the ocean and other parts of the island the whole way. A ferry comes three times a week in the summer and once a week in the winter, or sometimes never if the weather is too bad. The harbour is small and not very protected, and since there were so many boats there, we all had to squish in. Blue Hour was rafted three deep and so were a few other boats. It was a bit sketchy but it was worth it.