Away with the fairies and an unconformity on Arran!

Ahead of us, the Cock of Arran suddenly emerged into the sunshine from the thick mist of early morning.

All was grey looking back along the north shore of Arran.

High above us, the mountains were still wreathed in mist.

 We now paddling west past beaches dominated by giant boulders.

This part of Arran is known as Fairy Dell.

It was seen as the entrance to another World, a World inhabited by

Run out of line but in line with the code, on Ailsa Craig!

We had landed on the north side of Foreland Point on Ailsa Craig, near the old pier.

This old wooden boat had had a rougher landing than we had. Only its transom was showing above the granite boulders. She had clearly seen better days.

We had landed near one of the old quarry workshops. It was here that they cut cylinders of granite from the quarried rock. These were exported to be made into

We came to Kames in the Kyles of Bute.

 Rounding Ardlamont Point, we left Loch Fyne and came to the sheltered waters of the Kyles of Bute.

Unlike the rugged west coast of the Cowal peninsula, the countryside was much gentler, fertile farms and woodlands came right down to the shore.

We arrived at the settlement of Kames and  a large sign caught our attention...

...so we decided to land and investigate further.

On the way up to the

Swanning about in Oban.

Back in Oban harbour we came across...

...FV Lady Evelyn. Sadly she has seen better days. But possibly there is hope that she might see the high seas again.

We were now nearly back at our launch spot below McCaig's Folly and the Oban Distillery.

 No sooner had we arrived, than we were closely inspected by the local customs inspector...

...in case we had any contraband luncheon left. Only when

Toberonochy, what's the story?

As the glassy calm waters of the Sound of Shuna slipped astern, we came across some scattered houses on the Luing shore.

We had come across the little village of Toberonochy which nestles round a small harbour.

Crystal Waters, a former Banff registered trawler (BF 209), was leaning against the harbour wall. She was decommissioned under the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland) Scheme

Sardines and showers in Tobermory.

On landing in Tobermory our first priority was not the Mishnish Bar but the  Fishermans Pier Fish & Chip Van. This has a considerable reputation for a decent fish supper. It was recommended in the Independent's top 50 fish and chip shops last Saturday and even has a  "Les Routiers" award. The fish is cooked to order (as are the frozen chips) so there is a short wait, which always carries the

Bowling down the Clyde in the Comet's wake.

From Erskine we crossed to the north bank of the Clyde yet again. In the mid distance, Dumbarton Rock stood out darkly against the snowy mountains of Argyll beyond.

We were bound for Bowling at the entrance to the Forth and Clyde canal. The canal opened in 1790. We had to keep a high ferry angle as the ebb tide was fair bowling us along.

There are two sea lock gates but this one is no longer

Better days in Corpach.

Arriving in Loch Linnhe we almost immediately came to a large pier that runs for nearly 500m out to the deep water channel. It was built to service a large wood pulp mill which operated her from the 1960's until it closed in 1980. At its peak 900 people worked there. There is still a paper mill and a saw mill on the site.

Fort William and Corpach have reinvented themselves as the UK's outdoor

Better days for some in Oban harbour.

Leaving the NLV Pharos and Pole Star, the next vessel we came upon in Oban harbour was the RNLI lifeboat. She is the RNLB "Mora Edith MacDonald". The number 14 on her hull tells she is a 14m long Trent class and 23 that she is the 23rd of the class. She is capable of speeds of up to 25 knots. She entered service at Oban in 1997 and since then has been called out on over emergencies saving almost