Cruising Scotland’s West Coast
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If you’re like me and don’t much fancy going on a cruise then this is the cruise for you. The Glen Tarsan is a converted Irish fishing boat; put like that it might put you off a little, but don't let it because you will miss a wonderful experience. It is well appointed, has small but very nice cabins with en-suite facilities and as far as food and service goes it is superb. We spent a week on the Glen Tarsan, sailing from Oban, cruising around the west coast of Scotland, and enjoyed every minute of it. The boat is one of two owned by the Majestic Line and they offer cruises throughout the spring, summer and autumn.
We chartered the boat with six friends, but you can book places on advertised cruises and join in with others - it takes a maximum of twelve people. After sailing from Oban we anchored for the night in a bay near Port Appin. The next day we sailed past Lismore Island and on to Tobermory. The next day we had our longest sail, north around Ardnamurchan Point, past the islands of Muck and Eigg, on up the Sound of Sleat and then into Loch Hourn - the loch that borders the north coast of the remote Knoydart peninsula. We anchored at Barrisdale Bay and had a lovely dinner on board (as we did every night) on what was a stunning evening. We then sailed around the Knoydart and anchored near Kylesmorar in Loch Nevis. In English, Loch Hourn is loch of Hell and Nevis is loch of Heaven, so in twenty-four hours we'd been to both – although they both seemed like heaven to us. The next night we spent in Loch Sunart and the last night was in Duart Bay at the south end of Mull.
On that last morning I was the first up and was amazed when the skipper, Tim, shouted, "There's two Dolphins". They were right off the bow of the boat and swam along the side and when they were a few feet from the stern suddenly five of them jumped out of the water together.
Tim's wife Rosie cooked and looked after us better than we could ever have imagined. Neil the engineer and Martin the Boson did sterling work and helped to make our six hights on board truly memorable. Besides fabulous food and hospitality, that couldn't be faulted, what made this holiday so good was the pace of it. Cruising at eight knots allows the world to drift by at a perfect speed. You are very quickly into the rhythm of it all, which makes this the perfect cruise .
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The Majestic Line
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