Largs, Firth of Clyde
After our lovely anchorage at the north end of the Kyles of Bute, we headed back across (southeast) the Firth of Clyde to Largs Yacht Haven for protection from the next bout of heavy weather.
We made friends with a cruising couple from Germany who also owned a Hallberg-Rassy (25-year-old HR!). We kept crossing paths while in Scotland. We had a nice dinner with them in Largs while their son and his girlfriend were visiting.
Glasgow (again!) & Southampton Boat Show
We left Hokukea in the marina at Largs and went by train to Glasgow for two days. One of my high school classmates alerted me to a “mural trail” of over 30 murals in central Glasgow. Adam and I checked it out. It was really fun looking for each one — it kind of felt like we were on a scavenger hunt!
And of course, we went to a Whiskey Bar in Glasgow and did some scotch tasting! Adam chose a couple types of scotch to compare, and I chose from the “set” menu. I chose the “Sherry Bomb,” meaning the scotches were all aged in sherry barrels (and you can smell/taste the sherry with the scotch!).
Our two days in Glasgow were enroute to Southampton, England for the Southampton Boat Show. We stayed three nights, attended the boat show for two days, and enjoyed some of the warmest weather of the last 5 months!
Looking out the window on the 8-hour train journey from Glasgow to Southampton.
“And That’s A Wrap!”
Upon our return from the boat show, it was time to prepare the boat for winter storage. We had hoped to visit one more spot in the Firth of Clyde, but MJ had a bad cold and the weather was not cooperating, We decided to stay put in the marina and just prepare Hokukea for winter storage. Storage prep included cleaning and putting away the dinghy; cleaning the boat inside and out; washing and storing linens and towels in vacuum bags; storing clothes to keep on the boat in vacuum bags; packing clothing and other items that we are taking with us for the 5 weeks in UK & France before we head home; emptying and cleaning the two refrigerators; emptying, defrosting, and cleaning the freezer; emptying the remaining food; and emptying the water tanks. The storage marina is located 5 minutes by water from Largs Yacht Haven, but the slipway where the boat is lifted is not protected from the weather. As it turned out, our scheduled day and time for lifting the boat had stormy weather (wind gusts to 44 mph), so we had to leave the boat at the marina in Largs and hire a marine services company to deliver it to storage for us. We weren’t very happy about this, but the owner of the company who will move the boat came down to meet us and to learn a bit about operating our boat. He seemed very experienced.
I felt waves of sadness as I packed up…
Looks like an interesting pack up. Hope you didn’t leave those onions on the counter. 🦋💕🦋 J~
Haha! I actually gave the good remaining produce and unopened food items to the marina office and they were really happy to receive it… Especially the big bag of coffee beans that we couldn’t schlep with us on our travels through England and France!