14th Sept 2009, Stranraer

We got away from Kirkcudbright a couple of hours before high tide ( left at 1pm ) on Wednesday 9th and only went as far as the Isle of Whithorn where we anchored overnight. That was a whole 4 weeks in Kirkcudbright and we were really getting quite settled there, it is a great wee town made especially welcoming by the locals who are very sociable and hospitable. [ You know who you are – Thank You ! ] It was a gentle sail and very enjoyable in the sunshine, and after Isle of Whithorn the next stop was at East Tarbet Bay by the Mull of Galloway, we could have gone on round the Mull but decided to park up and waste a day instead of going over to Ireland. We had decided that we would put into Stranraer rather than head too far up so that Carolyn could easily get over to Dumfries and Lockerbie to see her Mum & Dad while her Dad went into hospital for an operation. [ Press Update – operation was today and all OK ]. So when we left E Tarbet bay to round the Mull the wind never came far enough to one side or the other to make it a decent sail and we had the motor on all day. We also had to wait for the right time of the tide because the current around the Mull is about 4 knots and rather than leave in the dark about 3am we waited for the afternoon tide. Of course that meant that we didn’t arrive in Loch Ryan until about half past nine at night – an hour into darkness. As you’ll see from the pins on the route – we anchored in the part of the bay call ‘The Wig’ overnight before coming into the new pontoons at Stranraer on the Saturday morning.
We’ll see how the weather goes over the next few days but I think we should be able to get a little bit up the coast here before heading around the Mull of Kintyre – maybe Rathlin – maybe Sanda…… and get up towards Loch Feochan for the end of the month.