There is an old saying that if you love something then you should let it be free, if it loves you then it'll return. We have loved our time in Scotland and although we are free to head south, we will return. There are so many places yet to explore and friends that we have yet to meet, but meet and explore in the future we will. In the meantime however Arran needed investigating and we must start heading south to the sun and pastures new by making landfall in Ireland.

For many weeks now we have had the company of Arran's mountains looking down on us from afar. We expected that while we were in Lochranza they would dominate the skyline and be the backdrop for every photo, instead of their company we had 1000's of huge jellyfish surrounding the boat and scotch mist, read rain with a capital R, giving the place a mystic awe. This mystic awe however didn't stop us from taking a shore side trip to the castle and some of the island's delights. Larry had a great time at the peat and wood alcohol flavouring plant, sorry distillery, and we found that there was no such thing as English Heritage when some previous Lord decided to knock down most of a 14th century castle to make it more 'homely'.

So our time in Scotland drew to a close and we motored out of LochRanza in no wind and heavy drizzle. We like to think that Scotland was upset with our leaving and crying at our departure. We had a plan to try to get across the north channel, with it's significant tides and make for Bangor near Belfast. All was going to plan until half way across fog descended upon Ruffian. Nothing on a boat is a scary as being on fog in a shipping lane. You can hear ships engines, you can hear their foghorns, you know they are going fast, but the $1M question is do they know where you are? After experiencing all weathers in a single day, all went well and after being at sea for 14 hours we safely tied up in Bangor, as planned.

So what's the best way to unwind after 14 hours of sailing? Iain had a great idea. More sailing! Nutter! The yacht basin was awash with people and boats as Thursday night racing was about to get underway. After a quick chat with those onboard a Sigma 33, 'Blues', Iain found himself on the mainsheet, whispering his sweet nothings to the helmsman. We rounded the top mark 1st, the 2nd and 3rd marks 1st and then it all got a bit average with a 4th place finish out of 8 one design boats. There was a silver lining to this, the owners, David and Nigel, invited Ruffian's Crew to dinner at the Royal Ulster Yacht Club no less and over dinner things just got better.

Nigel explained that he was an ex Vice Commodore. Following dinner we were given a guided tour of the building and all its fabulous contents, culminating in the Lipton Room, named after Mr Lipton of Liptons teas. Mr Lipton is not just famous for his tea, he is also famous in Yachting circles for his Shamrock yachts and his campaigns to challenge for the America's Cup, the oldest and most prestigious sporting trophy in the world. Mr Lipton, although English 'adopted' the Royal Ulster after the Royal Yacht Squadron, in Cowes, turned down his membership as he was 'just' a merchant. Here, Fiona and Iain were in Shamrock's home ground surrounded by original America's Cup memorabilia, all of which had an intimate story which Nigel was able to tell. This was a priceless moment and something that Iain will treasure forever. Thank you so much David and Nigel all those at the Royal Ulster Yacht Club for making us so welcome.

Having slept like the dead we awoke to a new city and toured Bangor locally and Belfast further afield. Here we found exotic market gardens, vibrant markets and towns steeped in history, be this industrial in its ship yards or more recently in its sectarian and political troubles. This is certainly a city that we could love to come back to and berth in it's heart.

We have a very short weather and tide window to enable us to head south again tomorrow. We'll be leaving the dock at 2am and heading out into the tidal waters of the north channel. We'll then be heading south west to the Isle of Man and the port of Peel on it's west coast. The catch with peel is that we must be there for 11am or literally the door shuts. Will there be enough wind, will the tide play fair, will we make it in time or will we be left out a sea with no port of refuge? Watch this space to find out in the next instalment.


Fishies were not present in LochRanza and had been replaced with many enormous jellyfish.


The mountains didn't make an appearance in all our time on Arran.


The wildlife on Arran was very tame and deer were everywhere.


Larry discovered the local distillery, with the usual results. He'll be regretting that when he goes to sea.


One of the few patches of sunshine amongst all the fog.


Very scary space invaders. Ships, dredgers and sailboats all wanted to share the same piece of water.


The entrance to Belfast Loch was a really worrying time with super fast ships and fog a plenty.


Fiona found her new house.


We took in Belfast City Hall and Larry took his rightful place.


Sampson and Goliath, the cranes that built the Titanic, were a dramatic presence across the skyline.


Iain gives his views on fog.