Vickie and I returned to Oban on Saturday 7th in order to collect a hire car from Hazelbank Motors in Oban. The next day I drove the hire car while Vickie took the Porsche so that we could leave it at Largs Yacht Haven ready for our arrival. Pretty countryside to drive through but it was a long day taking 3 hours each way.

We now had the parts for the thruster, but after a frustrating couple of hours replacing the automatic battery switch it still refused to operate.

Monday morning was gusty so we turned Millstream using warps so that at least we were facing in the right direction for our departure from the cul-de-sac.

We made a fairly quick passage down the coast making the most of the favourable tidal streams. At 13:40 we arrived at Crinan sea lock, but there were two yachts ahead of us just entering the lock so we waited until 14:15 when we were able to enter with another small yacht the 'Arran Comrade.'

After traversing the first two locks and paying the rather steep £173 fee we headed off towards the first flight of locks at Dunardy.

The first section of the canal is very narrow and shallow. I wasn't paying close enough attention and we grounded the. keel and the port side rudder as we approached Beallanoch marina.

Although the Skippers Guide to the canal says that the minimum time for transit is 5-6 hours the canal closes for the night at 16:00, so we moored up to a small jetty just below Dunardry locks.