Rothesay - 22 June 2006 (day 33)

Yacht Gothik

Rothesay Harbour

Rothesay

Isle of Bute

Argyll & Bute

22 June 2006

Click here to see a map.

Logged distance: 14M

Chart distance: 12M

Time under way: 3h15m

Thursday 22 June 2006

The wind had dropped but was still blowing a force 6 from the north west. Our original plan was to sail through the Kyles of Bute, into Loch Fyne and on up to Adrishaig but the conditions were not favourable. The Kyles of Bute are mountainous on both sides and with the current wind would be terrifically squally. It would also mean a set of long and arduous tacks up the East Kyle and in Loch Fyne. We were really ready to leave Largs today, the three of us being somewhat fed up with it, but unsure what to do. It would be a shame to miss out the Kyles of Bute - the scenery supposedly being very good. In the end we decided to make a hop to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute and try to make passage up the Kyles tomorrow morning and onto Adrishaig.

The distance was only 12 nautical miles on the chart but this would increase with the need to work to windward. Even so, it was still a short hop and after taking tides into consideration the departure time was a leisurely one o' clock whereupon we shot out of Largs with a double reefed main and a good sized chunk reefed out of the Genoa. Both sails were trimmed pretty flat to reduce power. Mentally we were ready for a bit of extra work and a stiff wind posed no problems whatsoever. Keith is pictured above concentrating at the helm, Ben is obviously enjoying himself.

The wind backed in our favour to the west. Prolonged gusts allowed us to work further to windward and the sailing time ended up only being two and a half hours. The only downside to the day was losing some more fishing tackle - we must have been going too fast!

The town of Rothesay was quite run down. It was sad really, there were some lovely buildings but it had many rough edges. The sun did come out for us though. The harbour however was quite pleasant. Part of the old fishing harbour having had some berths provided for yachts - one of the few fishing harbours I've seen so far with enough depth for keel boats.

One of the highlights of Rothesay were the Victorian toilets on the quay. At first I was a little surprised to be charged 30p to go for a quick pee, after I was surprised to be charged only 30p. The toilet block was a veritable museum - one with working exhibits. Take a look at the cisterns in the photo - clear sided! The pipework was pretty impressive too - successively smaller bores of pipe divided evenly ensuring an even flow of water - you don't see any of that stuff nowadays. The vending machine in the corner seemed a little out of place, obviously Bute Victoriana thought so too...