We arrived in Oban without much ado and wandered the picturesque streets and eventually ended up in the local drinkery… seems to be a pattern. Although this visit had a very special purpose. To test the mettle and steel of one Barry Michael Carbus esq. to ensure his fitness for the impending voyage and establish his moral and social virtues were such as Rose-Marie has has become accustomed too. Thankfully he passed this test with flying colours… more specifically, he bought us beer. We sailed straight(ish) and true on to Port Ellin in an attempt to find safe harbour from the impending storm. We were to be shown no quarter in the coming hours as storm Ali revealed it’s vicious nature. We were ravaged in the tumultuous machinations of our unwanted guest. In the dead of night, whilst being thrown asunder in the storm we raced to the aid of a neighbouring vessel who’s was in danger of losing his boat to the storm. Little did we know that the same peril would befal our very own Rose-Marie the very next day. Causing us to abandon ship and seek refuge… gripping stuff indeed. the storm eventually passed and we continued onwards.

The Caledonian canal was worth the wait. A truly beautiful place. The locks and the people who manned them were fantastic. A highlight was Fort Augustus, a truly idyllic, gem of a place, like something from a fairy tale. We met paddlers and rowers as well as many other friendly faces. We soon got used to navigating the locks, pulling Rose-Marie along the canal side and were impressed by the drops and ascents. When we arived at the top of Neptunes staircase we enjoyed an anchor dram with a pleasant group of Duch chaps and ventured further afield to explore Fort William. Neptunes Staircase was Immensely impressive. We had a lot of friendly banter with the tourists who gathered to watch our descent and were curious to our onward destination… and often jealous at our revelations of our grand plans. After the staircase we enjoyed a night in Fort William and arose refreshed and ready our continuing adventures.

We were very excited about the prospect of making our merry way through the Caledonian Canal and all was going well as we neatly made our way into the first lock that would raise us upwards and onwards through this beautiful waterway of Scotland. However it was not to be, as suddenly we lost all power to our motor. We feared the loss of our propellor and had to be towed back to Caley Marins and Rose-Marie taken out of the water for inspection. Our worst fears were unfounded however when we found out that our propellor was intact and the previous repair was rock solid. The issue belonged to 4 bolts which had been incorrectly fitted by a previous owner and had managed to shake loose, disengaging our prop shaft from our engine. A simple repair… however the part was unavailable locally. This meant a few days longer spent in Inverness than expected. We took in the sights, sounds and beers making the most of our unintentional stopover and made a few new friends and picked up an additional crew member to replace Sverre who had to escape back to Norway and the monotony of ænormalæ life… He will be missed. Finally our part arrived and we were on our way again… But not for long! High winds on the Canal and Loch Ness halted our progress yet again… But that’s sailing for you. Were bunkered down and will be on our way through the canal as soon as the high winds pass.

Our lay-off on the way to Inverness and the Caledonian Canal was uneventful. An anchor dram and decent cheap pub grub was the highlight. We decided to forego the night life.

We had a dramatic entrance to Orkney. In bad weather our Genoa refused to retract so Sverre went forward and wound it in manually doing his best Tom Cruise impersonation. We were rewarded for our efforts when we found out that the Orkney Rock Festival was in full swing as we disembarked. Naturally we took full advantage of the Scenario and rocked into the night… and day… and night, before moving onward towards Wick.