The Kyles

Kyles of Bute
[Maryanne]All of a sudden there is more than one Kyle in my life, we have finally reached the Scottish Kyles. In the Scottish language Kyle means a narrow channel of water between two islands or between an island and the mainland; a strait or sound, and we are sailing around in several "Kyles" now

[Kyle]Our forecast for the sail out of Kilchattan was not the best. Rain was forecast during midday, with occasional breaks at other times. For the tides, it was necessary to get underway at 7:00. When we got up, the bay was as flat as a millpond under gray skies but it hadn’t started raining yet. For the first ½ hour or so, there wasn’t enough wind to bother with putting up the sails so we motored along in the still dewy air with the Clyde all to ourselves. After a while, the wind started filling in and we unfurled the sails, shut off the racket of the engine and had a nice quiet, peaceful sail up the Clyde at between 2 and 4 knots. We hugged the east coast of Bute, splitting off from the Clyde and joining East Kyle. The hills got closer and steeper and more rugged on each side. It started to rain lightly. Traffic increased as the Cal-Mac (Caledonian MacBbrayne) Ferries started their first runs out of Rothsay, Bute’s capital.

The rain increased, but the hills steered the wind so it was directly aft. It still made for nice, placid sailing, although a little wet. We saw a few sailboats heading the other way fighting both wind and tide. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of nut-jobs would go out sailing in this, the day was only supposed to get worse. Then I remembered what I was doing and stopped thinking about it.

At the north end of Bute, the waterway splits three ways. From the East Kyle, where we were, Loch Riddon lies to the right and West Kyle is to the left. At the meeting point, there were about a half dozen pretty little islands of tree and heather topped granite. (Bute is divided geologically, with the southern half being sandstone and limestone lowlands and the northern half being granite highlands) The winds converged at the northern tip of the island and the nice tailwind we had been enjoying turned into a direct headwind. We dashed out into the rain to furl the sails and then motored past the pretty little village of Tignhabruaich, to the village of Kames and picked up a complimentary mooring in front of the Kames hotel. Kames is exposed to the southeast, the direction of the wind and the anchorage was pretty choppy. We hunkered down inside for the next few hours as the wind, seas and rain increased. Yuck!

By late afternoon, the rain had tapered to a drizzle and the wind abated somewhat. We headed ashore and landed the dinghy in the surf on the steep, gravel beach and then heaved it up to the high tide line. We had a little walk around town to orient ourselves (mostly for the next day), and then headed to the hotel pub for a nice meal and a dram, conveniently escaping the next rain shower, before launching back through the surf to get home.

[Maryanne]As you pass by the Northern end of Bute and look upon the hill side, there are many scattered boulders. One boat skipper in the early 20th century noted that two particular rocks looked like two old women, but he could never persuade his passengers of the likeness; frustrated he sent a deck hand ashore with paint to give them clothes and faces, somehow the paint job has been maintained for over 90 years and it is (supposedly) a mystery who does it! We still think they are stretching the point though - you can decide for yourselves.


Maids of Bute

We've had a LOT of rain lately, and the only good news about that is we are keeping our water tanks topped up with fresh rainwater. With the cooler temperatures (despite it being technically summer) we are also getting lots of condensation on the boat so we are having to sleep with hatches open and doubling up on our quilt/comforters to keep warm. Despite the great scenery and whisky, we do find ourselves occasionally pining for the tropics at each downpour.