Showers, seals & chips
26 June 2009 | Campbeltown
To get from Portpatrick to Campbeltown you need to sail past Ailsa Craig and the Mull of Kintyre (and yes we did give in to the urge and sing a few bars..... well if you can call it singing).
The last couple of hours of the sail across to Cambeltown were brilliant and the loch itself is very scenic. Campbeltown has a long pontoon for visiting yachts. However when we arrived at around 8pm all the berths were taken and we again rafted - this time against a brand new 42 foot Jeanneau; we put down our mucky fenders, made our apologies and tied up. Pete and Kathy were lovely and as soon as our lines were on they presented us with a glass of suitably chilled white wine. They are also heading North, so if we bump into them again we will return the compliment.
Campbeltown is a sad little place, miles from anywhere and very pretty but with traditional industry long gone unemployment is rife and from the look in a couple of the youngsters eyes they are amusing themselves with some sort of drugs..... in fact we have learned today that this area of Scotland has a major drugs problem with smuggling of drugs via the quiet western ports which are remote and therefore difficult to police.
Wildlife spotting today comprised of three quite tame seals playing behind the boats in the harbour.
This evening we availed ourselves of the most expensive showers yet (£3 each) at "Aquilibrium" the ever so slightly bizarre combination of public library and swimming pool before feasting on ham, egg and chips. The chips were courtesy of the local chip van, parked conveniently by the harbour. Tomorrow we will head a little further North for Loch Fyne (exact port to be decided over a glass of red wine)...