We had left Kip Marina on a
Friday night in September to a
very ‘iffy’ forecast and headed
for Millport. It wasn’t a very
pleasant passage. The drizzle,
the nasty chop, the wind not
being very friendly and it was
cold and very dark.
Somewhere around 2100
we got round the south end of
the Big Cumbrae and thought we
had nothing to do then but get
the sails down, the engine on,
pick up the red leading lights
into Millport and then the
George for a welcome pint.
Wrong! The
Illuminations were on. Have you
ever tried to pick up leading
lights when the esplanade, the
pier and practically everything
else is festooned in
fairy-lights. It is practically
impossible.
We traversed back and forth
across the bay and slowly moved
shorewards dodging the Clach and
Spoig reefs, then tentatively
made our way between the Spoig
and the Eileans islets with the
uncomfortable feeling that we
were closer to the southernmost
off-lying lump of hard stuff
than we should have been. When
the Wee Cumbrae light flashed,
it either gave a weak glow
shorewards, or blinded you for a
couple of minutes – depending on
which way you happened to be
looking at the time.
Eventually and thankfully
enjoying our pint and a ‘wee
goldie’ at the George, we heard
from the locals that the
innermost leading light had been
extinguished for a couple of
days, which certainly hadn’t
helped our approach through the
blinding myriad of twinkling
fairy luminosity.
Bill Mills