Fantastic Scottish hospitality in the Crinan Canal

I have been incredibly impressed with Scottish Highland hospitality, everywhere we have been we have been met by friendly, helpful people. Peter, Donald, Alli and Chris where down to help us through the Crinan Canal. The two young boys were on their bikes and cycled the length of the canal, helping our crew with opening the lock gates as we made our way through the canal. It was fantastic fun, with Luke doing some really good boat handling driving Scarlet off the dock and into the canal. I must admit it felt quite tight, through the first part there were times that there was only about a meter clearance on either side of Scarlet, very much like going down a little country lane. There were passing pools though, but I was quite glad that the only yachts we passed travelling in the opposite direction happened to be in the lock basins where at least there was space to pass by.
The Mid Argyll Sailing club invited us to a BBQ that evening which was delicious. All the crew really enjoyed themselves. Again, a Scottish piper came to play. He was really good – just a treat to be able to absorb the beautiful Scottish culture so much. I hope that Peter and Donald were impressed that our lunch through the canal was Haggis. A huge thank you to Peter, Donald and Hamish from the Mid Argyl Sailing Club for making the Crinan canal such a memorable occasion for us.
We did have and incredible week and everyone just seemed to be having such a great time. We were also blessed with some periodically beautiful weather, and I think we got off reasonably lightly from the midgies (although, they were still out in force a couple nights). Luke, Raechel, Fran and Gareth also braved the outdoors and slept outside a couple nights, but it was particularly pretty in Caladh Harbour anchorage without a cloud in sight. It was a rare sight but beautiful to see all the stars out.
Skandia were waiting for us on our arrival into Largs. This was a great event with around 80 people turning up to wave us in, and again, the BBQ that they put on for us was really good. Bart Simpson was around again to chat to the crowd and the kids, who were quite impressed with his gold medal (adult kids included).
After the BBQ it was off to a field for the final night of leg10 sporting events, but having given up on the Ashes series, we took to rugby and played a game of older vs younger touch rugby. Frank and Simon joined in, but even with all our seriousness and competitiveness, the younger crew still managed to run circles round us, which was hilarious.
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our new friends again, although, it is definitely a see you later as opposed to a goodbye. Such a great crew – well done all of you on a fantastic leg!

So here we are in Largs. We now have the crew of Leg 11 on board, all of whom have come over from Northern Ireland. We have Molly, Aidan, Aimee, Clodagh and Rob on board, with Angela as our volunteer from NICFC, and John from Skandia. All our crew are from Belfast or nearby… I hope we don’t have any nationality sporting competitions on this week as I might not do too well – I am a wee bit outnumbered!!
The weather…. Is being the weather again and giving me a bit to think about. Looks like we might have a window in the otherwise grotty looking forecast, and hopefully we might be able to get out and straight over to Ireland tomorrow night. I can’t believe it – we’re on our way to Ireland after an incredible 6 weeks in Scotland.
Thank you to everyone in Scotland for making our time here so special and unforgettable – we really have loved this part of our adventure and I must admit I am a little sad to be saying goodbye…