Sunday 24 June (Crinan Canal)

Before 0800 two other yachts were clearly preparing to hit the first lock into the canal, so we quickly got our act together in order to have as much help with the locks as possible. There are 14 locks and three bridges along the 9 miles, ascending to the summit and then descending into Crinan, and it would be a Herculean task to go through with just two of us. The crews of Myline and Tigh Soluis were incredibly helpful and efficient, especially Dan and Ken (serious racers in Tigh Soluis, a J109 ), who ran ahead at the double, took the lines, and did all the hard work on the very heavy lock gates, quite different from what we had encountered in our previous trip on the Regent's Canal. Even so, handling all three boats together in the locks was no easy task, and latterly was made even harder by another generous sample of the West of Scotland horizontal rain. Despite all that, we could really appreciate the beauty of the canal as it wound up to the summit and descended through deep gorges and lily-lined banks to the final, manned, lock into Crinan basin. We bought a couple of rounds of drinks for the crew of Tigh Soluis by way of thanks, and enjoyed their company (amongst the 3 men and two girls were a retired dentist and a Consultant public health physician, formerly from Bart's!) for an hour in the bar of the Crinan Hotel. Cath and I returned to the hotel later for a superb meal in the bar (scallops and halibut), and then watched the sun setting behind the many islets, with the Paps of Jura visible in on distant horizon. The 2310 weather forecast from the Clyde Coastguard on VHF did not sound at all promising, with winds up to 7 and possibly gale force 8 tomorrow, so we retired making contingency plans and to await the early met office report tomorrow morning.