The week before we set off on the three hundred mile tow up to Laga Bay I broke my left thumb. The Nissan Navara and boat added up to around forty feet in length and half an inch under the legal towing width.
Still leaving home early in the morning and heading for the quiet of Scotland instead of Cornwall meant we would be able to get into top gear as we ran onto the M6 four miles away and cruise at sixty all the way as far as Loch Lomond without changing gear or using the handbrake.
Plan B, pull out of the drive and check the trailer to locate scraping noise. Oops the brake cable is dragging on the floor, lots of fun getting the tool kit out of the boat and trying to adjust cable in the dark with only one good thumb and lots of pointing and laughing from the “I can’t do it myself but why don’t you do it like that?” officer.
Progress smoothly to M6 junction 24 and head north, twenty minutes later stop in traffic queue for Blackpool. Apply handbrake, after several minutes, select first gear, release handbrake and move forwards several feet; repeat ‘til bored.
Many thumb throbs later head uninterrupted to Glasgow. Oops! Here is the real irony, I work on the motorways (50k miles a year) and I forgot about the roadworks for the M6 extension. Repeat the last paragraph.
At last Glasgow. Off to the Erskine Bridge. Oops! Roadworks past the airport. At least I can’t be expected to know about these as they aren’t on my patch. Repeat the paragraph before last.
The highlight of the day so far is the open top MG that cut me up, getting caught in a summer downpour while stuck in traffic.
DO NOT tow a boat that’s 8’6” wide along the west coast of Loch Lomond!!!!
The hull was clipping the hedges and the trailer wheels were on the wrong side of the white line to get round the bends……………and then the coach comes the other direction.
On the way back we went via Stirling which was suitable for wimps like me.
Eventually get past the scary bits into some of the most magnificent scenery I’ve seen since the Andes, pity that I had to watch the road while every one else was giving it “Wow! Look at that!”
The Corran ferry was a great experience and having seen the tide that rips past I understand why they rely on universal thrusters not props.
At last….. only twenty miles to go.
Single track road with passing places, (slightly shorter than Navara and boat). Never got into higher than second gear, lots of hill starts, gear changes and hand brakes.
Got to Laga bay.
WOW!!!!
The place is fantastic. The views can be amazing with the chance of seeing eagles, seals, otters, porpoise and dolphins.
I confess that I love water, all that lives in and all that can be done on or in it. This is the place for me. I digress, more of that later.
We couldn’t work out how to get to the lodge by car so walked down and knocked on the door. Easy, just drive along the beach and in through the gate.
If your car won’t do it Andy Jackson will tow your boat for you in his trusty Landrover.
Sorry for the cliché but it is impossible to describe a Landrover as being anything other than trusty or reliable and reliable sounds so boring.
Car parking as such is above the lodge but Andy let us leave our trailer on his drive while the boat was on the mooring.
If you visit the web site for Laga lodge http://www.ardnamurchan.com you get a fair idea of what to expect but instead of the usual hyperbole this place is undersold. We loved it.
Our boat was new to us with only one launch and about two hours use. Apart from a brief unhappy relationship with an oversized, overpriced, underpowered and disappointing Princess 32, our family boating had been in a seahog shortie with a 21 year old 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke.
The engine was loud and the boat slapped with any sort of sea but it started first time every time (except when I forgot the kill switch). It went anywhere and did everything we asked it, including the Manacles, Corryvrecken and Grey Dog if taken with care. It was also a dream to launch and recover and once I even managed to winch it back onto the trailer off a dry beach when the tractor left us high and dry.
The new boat is a Raider Ultrasport 580 with a 150 hp Verado.
It’s not given us any problems but if you lift the lid you can see you will not be able to fix it with a bit of sticky-back plastic you prepared earlier.
Having said that, how many 150 hp engines can you set a trawl speed down to half a knot at one tenth intervals.
Biggest difference is that you don’t just nudge the bow round with a quick burst. You have two choices 1) carefully caress the throttle
2) fall flat on your arse while the sea gulls scatter.
Our old boat (the Seahog as we won’t discuss the wallowing pig/white elephant in polite company) used to top out at about 22knts. The Raider cruises at that and tops out at 38knts with 6 on board and still uses less fuel than the old Yamaha.
Andy runs a charter boat which does fishing and nature and whale watching trips. He also rents out 16’ self drives with all safety gear, but most importantly he is a mine of information.
Based on what he told us we did two whale watching trips out to Muck and Eigg and saw Minke and Pilot whales on both trips and a sun fish swam within 6 feet of the boat on the first trip.
Got quite a few photos of where the whales had just been but they look suspiciously like empty sea to those who haven’t had the specialist training.
Also caught a few nice pollock to around six pounds.
Funny how reeling in a fish doesn’t hurt half as much as the 98th gear change.
The time we were at Laga coincided with the summer floods in England and the weather showed what it could do, at both ends of the spectrum. We had torrential rain with gale force winds and flat calm seas with a beautiful sunset on the same day.
You can’t do anything about the weather but the set up at the Lodge can cope, hot power showers soon warm you up and a large drying room means your wet weather gear is dry for the next day.
Now would be a good time to apologise to anyone who encountered my wetsuit boots while they were drying, they have since been sent to Porton Down with a view to defence of the realm.
There were quite a few fishing trips, most done on the drift which is my favourite with lots of mackerel and pollock.
When in Rome and all that…. there are big skate in Sunart or so they tell me, they also say you have to anchor up in deep water to catch one.
Our anchor set up is for the Mersey which flows quite quick and has a snaggy bottom (lots of bad jokes available if you feel the need). Anyway, big anchor and ten metres of 8mm chain is fine to pull up from 20m, not half as much fun from 70m. Even less fun with a broken thumb, even less fun than that when “I’ve never done it myself but……” decides we should move after ten minutes.
Would probably trade for a reasonable set of diving gear.
The skate fishing was not a statistical success. No giant skate caught. On the other hand we had dogfish, whiting, mackerel, thornbacks and plenty of hits from spur dogs. While waiting we saw seals, porpoise, sea eagles, herons, an otter and Herring gulls sat on the outboard waiting for scraps.
OK no giant skate but great fun (just out of interest, if I was struggling with an anchor how much fun would a 100lb skate have been?)
I enjoy my fishing but to add a bit of extra interest we always run a species hunt when on holiday. The last night was spent jigging shrimp rigs baited with mussels under the fish-farm jetty. The contest was finally decided with a 4” codling.
This jetty also gave up three thornbacks to 12 lb and 5 dogfish in one two hour evening session, who needs a boat?
A few miles westward there is Mull with the very picturesque town of Tobermory and its user friendly marina, well stocked Co-op (lots of beer), chandlers and excellent butchers.
Andy runs a ferry service if you want to get there and will collect fuel and bits and pieces for his guests. He got fuel for us at cost when it was too rough for us to get there ourselves.
Sunart is long and thin and has several narrows which coincide with shallow sills, with wind against tide over these it can get lumpy (which is why Andy expects his hire boats to stay local) but if you sit and wait for the tide change things tend to calm down. If in doubt don’t do it.
To be honest apart from the whales, sunfish and skuas all the wildlife we saw could be seen within two miles of the mooring and ton up skate have been caught within a few hundred yards of the lodge.
One of the other highlights for me was watching the coming and going of the charter business, I know they do it all day everyday but these guys can handle their boats. The launch and recovery of the rib has to be seen to be believed. For those of us who have to do the hitch, the two hour tow, the launch, the hunt for the parking space etc, look below…
Am I over-egging the pudding? Don’t know, don’t care.
I’ve fished for Marseer in India, caught Marlin off Ecuador and Blennies in Dorset. Even with the weather, this has to have been one of the best holidays I remember and yes in the words of the governor of California “I’ll be back!”
Bet he doesn’t have to try to level the flags of his garden path with a lump hammer (See first sentence).
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Ardnamurchan Charters are Wildlife Safe Operators: 
