Yet another weekend of hovercraft and sunshine. I travelled down on Friday after work taking the Dullville! By the time I got to furnace it had gone from mild to extremely warm. I had limited storage on the bike, luckily had left a float suit at the log house which turned out to be used purely as a beach mat. John had a spare life jacket which turned out to be way more comfortable wearing a float suit in the sun!!
Saturday was clear with a slight breeze and after cleaning up the Otter of bird poo and half a trees worth of leaves and twigs plus topping up the header tank water we headed off towards Lachlan castle. After a short stop there we carried on down to Otterferry with at most some mild chop, passed the source of the best scones in the world (Oystercatcher) stopped on the sand bar for John to check his shaft/bearing alignment (all good). I topped up the header tank on the Otter, there is a small leak in the system that will be hunted down and fixed shortly. It's nothing too severe, just needs keeping an eye on.
From the sand bar off down to Kilfinan bay for a laze around. As the water wasn't very smooth we turned back up the loch to go to the Oystercatcher for lunch. The Otter is particularly good at smoothing out the bumps, the swivel and damped chair is luxury compared to my Vanguards chair. The 'on wiper' screen washers a much better at distributing water than conventional nozzles, these will be added to my craft soon.
We had a leisurely lunch with a local chap and his friend outside. We left with some children who thought the hovercraft were 'cool' even as the prop draft from the Explorer blew them around which added to the fun!!
Going back towards Furnace we stopped at beach in Union bay near Minard for another laze about. From there it was up to Newton bay for a short stop and then on up to Inveraray in search of ice cream. The shop was closed as it was getting late so we walked over to the chip shop that sells ice cream but the queue and the heat drove us out and round to the co-op for a Magnum. Magnum eaten we took a leisurely and relaxed cruise back to the log house. It was so nice cruising along I could have kept going all the way back down the loch, round Arran down and on and on.......reality kicked in so the log house it was :-)
Sunday took us on a reasonably early start to the top of the loch and the brewery where sheep shearing was being done. The brewery owner was leaning on the gate to the shed, we had a short chat with here about 'fleeces’ before a drink in the brewery bar out the sunshine with swallows and very tame/cheeky house sparrows providing entertainment.
From the brewery on a high tide we went round to collect some more pre-cut wood stashed on the shore line opposite Inveraray. Chopping wood in the heat was ......HOT. I took a couple of the bags in the Otter as John had parked a little way along the beach.
From there conditions on the water worsened to high wind and metre waves, after a short stop for a rest from the bumping we stopped again at Newton bay where a family were enjoying the sun next to their motor boat. A quick dash over from Newton bay to the log house and my hover weekend was over.
I really enjoyed the use of the Otter, thanks to John for lending it over the weekend. Looking forward to the next one back in the Vanguard.