Mull and The Small Isles - UK Wayfarer Association
Mull and The Small Isles - UK Wayfarer Association
Mull and The Small Isles - UK Wayfarer Association
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Oban - here we come<br />
CGatting ready<br />
It does not seem to matter<br />
how much time we have for<br />
preparation, at the last minute<br />
things are always a bit of a<br />
rush. For any trip there are a<br />
few basic things that are essen-<br />
Oban. I am surprised that so<br />
few peopie seem to start from<br />
Oban. It has supermarkets <strong>and</strong><br />
all kinds of shops, ch<strong>and</strong>lery.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is an excellent campsite<br />
a couple of miles out of town<br />
at Gallanach <strong>and</strong> a perfect<br />
<strong>Wayfarer</strong> launch site just over<br />
rough road surface on this bit<br />
of the M6.<br />
wheel nuts on the M6<br />
And then it came to me * what<br />
I had forgotten to do after ad-<br />
justing the trailer wheel beartiai<br />
- like sails, rudder, tiller,<br />
<strong>The</strong> secret here is to always<br />
leave them in the boat, then it<br />
is impossible to forget them.<br />
And for a short trip most other<br />
things you can manage without.<br />
But for a long cruise in a<br />
fairly remote part of the country<br />
leaving an important bit of<br />
equipment or clothing behind<br />
is not a good start. It was not<br />
so much a question as to what<br />
we had forgotten to bring,<br />
more a question of what I had<br />
forgotten to do....<br />
1600hrs <strong>and</strong> we were away,<br />
heading for Scotl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
the road from the campsite at<br />
Puffin Dive Centre. I like to<br />
settle into a long cruise with a<br />
day or so to make sure the<br />
boat is sailing okay <strong>and</strong> just to<br />
acclimatise. Oban lets you do<br />
this. Rather than having to sail<br />
straight out into the wide<br />
opnsea a day or two to<br />
gmake down the Sound of <strong>Mull</strong><br />
gives a nice gentle start to the<br />
holiday,.td.Adornx<br />
<strong>The</strong> trailer seemed to be rather<br />
noisy this time, was the boot<br />
closed properly? Was there<br />
something rattling in the car ?<br />
Oh well I guess it is just the<br />
ings - tighten the wheel nuts.<br />
We were lucky. three nuts<br />
were still on though they had<br />
worked loose. <strong>The</strong> wheel itself<br />
work ed as all thees<br />
was knackered as all the holes<br />
were enlbargd,y aond thestd<br />
whnere alhbdl worl n. Weht<br />
chngedu the whreelnt <strong>and</strong> tgt<br />
headed into Stafford looking<br />
for a 4th nut <strong>and</strong> some new<br />
i flc<br />
studs. And our next bit of luck<br />
was it was only 5pm <strong>and</strong> we<br />
found a Rover dealer still<br />
open with spare mini wheel<br />
nuts <strong>and</strong> studs. So we lost an<br />
hour but averted what would<br />
have been a nasty accident.<br />
It was about 0200hrs when<br />
we arrived at the campsite at<br />
* ~~~~~~~Oban. within 5 minutes the<br />
<br />
#- - II<br />
^<br />
/<br />
* 2 tent was up <strong>and</strong> we were in<br />
our sleeping bags, it was cold<br />
<strong>and</strong> I was regreting not taking<br />
our winter bags already.<br />
Kerrera/ .<br />
{ / ~campsiite<br />
,_/Zp - r ban<br />
Gallanachmore campsite<br />
overlooking Kerrera Sound<br />
4
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