Bangor to Troon and home (12th July - 14th July)

The last leg of the Four Nations Tour was from Bangor to Troon via the Isle of Arran

As we left Bangor we saw Cunard's, luxury cruise ship Queen Elizabeth. 12 Deck, 900 crew, 1043 cabins. 90,901 tonnes, with a top speed of 24 knots. I'm not sure but I think she may have altered course to get a picture of the good ship B; 1 deck, 2 crew, 2 cabins, 4.7 tonnes, with a top speed 6 knots.

A few hours out from Bangor and Chris spotted what we think was a Northern Bottlenose Whale ... this photo shows what we saw ...

This photo shows what we thought we saw!

By lunchtime, we were sailing past Ailsa Craig. I don't know why I really love this island but I do. It's just charming.

... and by early evening we were sailing up into Lamlash Bay on the Isle of Arran

The good ship was soon snuggled up on a mooring buoy in Lamlash Bay

A great supper and a few pints at The Pierhead Tavern followed a really great sail over from Northern Ireland

The following morning we took a trip to the brand new Lagg distillery. It's so new they don't actually have any whisky but strangely the tour was the best I've had. You can really see how they have designed and built it from a blank sheet of paper. Well worth a visit.

After our trip to the distillery we were off again for our final sail from Lamlash to Troon and what an amazing sail. The sun was out, a beam reach and a calm sea except for one wave that had 'Chris Perkins' written all over it. This snap was pre-impact.

The spinnaker up again and we stormed along. It was awesome and a very fitting end to a great 2 week sail.

The approach to Troon. Last time we sailed in here it was at the end of the infamous Scottish Isles Peak Race - a monstrous affair.

So, there you have it. An hour or so later we were tied up and moored in Troon Marina. The following day we caught the train home. 6 hours to cover what had taken us 2 weeks. An awesome little sailing adventure that puts us in a good place for next years passage north.