Soleis goes to Scotland: Day 13 Stranraer to Troon via Ailsa Craig and Arran

Ailsa Craig

We departed at the same time as two ferries bound for Larne in Northern Ireland. It took about and hour to exit from Loch Ryan and lo and behold we had wind that enabled us to sail for almost two hours, before subsiding so we put on the motor to help keep up the speed but then motor sailed until well past Ailsa Craig. Ailsa Craig is home to 80,000 gannets and it was very spectacular to see them wheeling about, but unfortunately we never saw them diving for fish. Probably because there were so many fishing boats around that there were no fish left to take! We all remarked that we had never seen so many boats fishing is such a small area. All seemed to be trawling and we had to change course on several occasions to avoid their trawls.

We continued on to Arran with the intention of staying a night before going to Troon. We attached ourselves to a bouy in Lamlash harbour between Arran and Holy Isle and enjoyed lunch under a heavy sky and slight rain. The plan had been to anchor close to Holy Isle and go for a walk, but the weather was becoming threatening so we decided to carry on to Troon. Troon is a large well equipped marina with very good facilities and excellent restaurant.

Good wifi enabled us to book Tim's train ticket and print out the train details so he could leave on Friday Morning. David will leave after lunch on Saturday and John Lofts returns later in the afternoon.

Remember you can click on all pictures to enlarge.

PS: Been more careful with the typing and reviewing!!