12 July 2016 at Coll and Iona

Date

July 13th, 2016

Category

Scotland 2016

Written by

Richard Farrington

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By Richard. Posted on July 13th, 2016 in Scotland 2016.

56 20.4N 006 21.7W

Today we had to get Julie back to Edinburgh for some salary earning, so we left Salen in Loch Sunart at 0715 and motored in light airs (no drizzle) to Tobermory where we dropped her at the new yacht pontoons.  She caught the bus to Graignure, a ferry to Oban and then drove to Edinburgh.

John and I had a cup of tea and then set off for Coll for lunch.  The breeze gradually filled in to a Westerly F3 and we had a very pleasant sail across the Tiree Passage to Coll.  The skies lifted and the sun came out.  Coll looked glorious and after picking up a visitors buoy and lunch onboard, we ventured ashore to buy a postcard (euphemism).  Everywhere was shut.  However, we did manage to extract a cup of tea and a fruit scone from the Coll Hotel before returning onboard and executing a sharp departure on the last of the south-running tide towards Iona.

A gentle reach took us through the Treshnish Islands, passing close to Fladda, then down to Staffa to view Fingals Cave (more Kingfisher memories) and finally into the Sound of Iona just as the haggis and neeps came on to boil.  Fortunately it was Neap tides, so we were able to nose our way into Bull Hole and anchor in around 4m in glorious evening sunshine.