On to Oronsay

-

On Friday 15th July, we set off from Craighouse at 08:20 in heavy rain to head south for the Sound of Islay (the stretch of water between Islay and Jura) with its fierce tides of up to 5 knots.

Approaching the Sound of Islay

Luckily, the rain soon stopped and we found ourselves in a blustery NW F4-5 wind with bright sunshine.  We expected to have to beat through the Sound, so we had again hanked on our No. 2 jib for this work.

We turned to starboard, hard on the wind and prepared for a fast ride through the Sound on the back of the strong spring tide, despite the fact that we would be tacking all the way through.

Beating through the Sound of Islay with the Jura bank ahead of us

At the fastest point, we were logging a speed of 10.5 knots on the chart plotter.

Now, it may have been sunny but we were well wrapped up, despite this being the start of a heatwave in the UK.  The air temperature was about 16C but the wind made this feel even colder.

Keeping warm in the Scottish heatwave with a warming cup of tea!

After we had left the Sound, the wind started to die down and we had to motor-sail to push us through the heavy swell and tidal races as we headed towards the lovely island of Oronsay.  We needed moderate winds for our next anchorage in this remote spot and luckily, this is just what we were getting.

Our anchorage at Oronsay - called Caolas Mor

We consulted Bob Bradfield's chart of the coast here and chose a place to anchor where we would be best protected from winds and where the surrounding rocks would help to keep the swell at bay.

We had fond memories of this place, having visited here during our Scottish trip in 2018 and as then, we were invited aboard the only other yacht here for a "wee dram" after dinner.

The following day, with the weather looking stable, we ventured ashore to look for the abandoned Priory on Oronsay that is said by some to have been founded by St Columba.  However, it is also said that St Columba, when he left Ireland, vowed never to settle within sight of his native country and as you can see Ireland from the top of Oronsay, he and his holy friend Oran beat a hasty retreat!  However, Oran had the honour of having the island named after him.

During our previous visit, we had somehow failed to find the Priory but had spent our time instead bogged down in the machair (the dune grassland unique to Western Scotland) being plagued by biting insects!  However, our friends on the other yacht had informed us how to find the Priory and so we had no problem getting there this time.

The road to Oronsay Priory

Found it at last!

The Priory is an interesting historical site and was probably built in about 1325.

A chapel building at Oronsay Priory

Monuments on show inside the chapel - including carved grave slabs

We were informed that the stone carvings had been made by a mason from Iona who had then set up a masonry school here on Oronsay.  

Carved arches around the quadrangle

We had a nice walk back to the boat across the ancient fields, now used to graze sheep and with the mountains known as the "Paps of Jura" in the distance.

Oronsay with the distant Paps topped by cloud






 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Highland Beauty

-
Image
Tuesday 16th August and a big event in Sandaig Bay; the sun came out!  We went out into the cockpit and had a warming whisky to celebrate.  It's so lovely to have clear weather after all the fog further north, where the (reportedly) glorious views were lost in the murk. Has Summer Arrived in the Highlands? Loch Nevis astern was bold and beautiful but the cool temperature in the strong breeze soon sent us back down below. Loch Nevis from Sandaig Bay Next morning the anchor came up cleanly yet again (I am not keen to swim for it around here.  Although the water is lovely and clear it is only about 13 degrees and shaving off my beard for the mask is not easy).  We then had a lovely sail up the coast, although the wind sometimes faded, so Yanni the Yanmar was used for short periods. Sunrise Over the Mountains The Small Isles showed to Starboard as we cleared the end of Skye. The Isle of Rum Beyond Skye Ardnamurchan Lighthouse Rosie predicted that a perfect shift of wind ...
Read more

Conclusions - Rosie

-
Image
 A few conclusions about this year's sailing odyssey 😀 The Scottish coastline is huge and mountainous - I never got used to just how big it is! Island people are welcoming to us travellers and it's great to talk to them and find out about their lives. We met some interesting and wonderful people on other yachts, especially where there were fewer boats around and this brought us closer together. The Orkneys are great and we especially loved meeting the ever-so-friendly people of Long Hope. The new Scapa Flow museum is magnificent and it was lovely to see that such important history is now safely gathered into this wonderful building. Stromness was as lovely as we had previously found it to be. Travelling through Scottish waters later in the year than when we were here in 2018 meant that we saw more seabirds on the water than before (when they had mostly been at their nesting sites). We were mesmerised by the way they flew seamlessly between the water and the air. Taking the Cal...
Read more

From West to East!

-
Image
On Saturday 23rd July, we were joined by our son, Dan and our daughter-in-law, Andrea who will be our crew for the passage through the Caledonian Canal over the next week. They stepped off the train at Oban into the dark and shockingly wet weather as we walked them round the harbour to meet the last ferry across to Kerrera Island. Next day, it was still raining and we set off under a lowering sky at 08:45 to sail the 40 miles up Loch Linnhe to the west sea lock at Corpach, near Fort William. Passing though the Corran Narrows Just before the Corran Narrows, we hastily put 2 reefs in the main and wound in lots of genoa as the wind had increased.  We also had to tack quickly as the Corran ferry had no plans to avoid the only yacht passing through this morning!  Dan and Andrea were having a rapid introduction to life at sea. Approaching Fort William along Loch Linnhe Later, the wind moderated and the rain showers became less frequent as at 15:00 we reached the sea lock into the ca...
Read more