Up the creek!

 

So we get to Ardrossan about an hour after our friends Tony and Anne who we last saw two years ago.  Did some catching up and then off to dinner . I had mussels and for my main Sea food linguini.Sally had fish stew.  Back to the boat about 2200 and crashed.

Wednsday July 5/17.

 Up early and decided to get the outboard ready. One of the mounts was seized solid! Tried wd 40, other lubricants a wrench,Then a bigger wrench and that broke the end off! Things are not looking good at this point. Then vice grips. They didn’t work either. So next I got the torch out and had Sally standing by with the fire extinguisher! I figured an open flame around an old oily Outboard might just lead to a conflagulation. Otherwise known as a big fire. After some judicious application of a lot of heat to a strategic spot the stuck bolt loosened! Hooray no fire we still have our boat and it’s sunny out. A lot to celebrate. Went looking for a replacement bolt. (What do you think the chances are of finding a replacement mounting bolt for a 1973 Johnson 9.9 hp outboard motor in Ardrossan Scotland?)

By now Tony was ready to put his main sail on so we went over to his boat a Catalina 34. And helped thread the foot into the boom bag and then thread the whole thing onto and into the track on the boom. It went all together finally and then I noticed we hadn’t attached the end slide! So we did it all over again this time attaching said slide. Once that was done we hoisted it up the mast and put in the battens. (The plastic or wood or fiberglass thingy’s that stiffen the leach of the sail. All went well.

Thursday(also known as Thors day). July 6/17

 We got up early had a shower and then and got a Geo Cache. Paid our bill and then over to the fuel dock where we had to wait for an hour and a half for someone to show up and turn the pump on. Not impressed! We finally got underway at 1330 and turned the engine off at 1355 and tried trolling under sail. It worked but didn’t catch any fish! 1540 The engine was back on and we motored the rest of the way to Rothesay arriving at 1700.

Got squared away on the pontoon . Then Tony and Anne on Sea Pilgrim arrived. Sally Anne and I  went walk about and managed to get 3 geocaches. We have finally broken the 300 mark! Anne is now hooked!! Whoopee time to celebrate. Rothesay is a nice tourist destination on the Island of Bute that has preserved most of it’s Victorian buildings and even has a castle with a moat right down town. The castle was attacked numerous times twice by Magnus barelegs who got his name for wearing a kilt!

Magnus also got a chunk of land on the Kintyre peninsula by bargaining with an Engish King who agreed to give him what land he could sail his boat around! Since the peninsula is not an Island the English guy figured he had outsmarted the dumb Viking. Ha. There is a long fjord that cuts almost the whole way through at Tarbert. Magnus got his trusty crew together. They were in the pub so not hard to find. Got some rollers and dragged their Ship across the narrows and Bob’s your uncle he got a whole bunch of good property that he didn’t have to fight for or steal. The moral of the story, There isn’t one really just thought I’d throw that in. Back to Rothesay.

Friday July 7 2017. Rothesay.

0800 we drag ourselves correction I drag myself out of bed put the kettle on make the tea,when it’s steeped I gently wake up Sally. Oh I havn’t told you all yet Sally is. Got you!!! She has lost her voice somewhere between Ireland and Scotland.  She has sent for a replacement. (I hav’nt mailed the letter). In consequence it has been a very quiet trip.

We have our tea say syonara to Sea Pilgrim fire up the trusty beta and off we go put put put out of the harbor then vroom vroom up to our cruising revolutions of 1900 rpm giving us 6 knots and we motor all the way up the river Clyde to Glasgow.