Loch Goil and Loch Long

Happy with my half dozen fish, I then decided to have a look down Loch Long. I was aware there was a slipway at the village of Ardentiny on the Cowal Peninsula so decided to visit it. But first I headed to the little lighthouse on Dog Rock at the northern junction of Loch Goil and Loch Long. Last year I spotted some porpoise in this area but I was out of luck this time. Not that I wanted to fish for them or anything like that, I just wanted to catch a photograph of them playing on the surface. They are a lot smaller than dolphins and perhaps a bit shyer too ?



I took this photograph as I changed direction and headed south towards Ardentiny. The entrance to Loch Goil looks much narrower from this angle.



I was enjoying my journey south when I got that strange feeling that I was being watched ? Looking across to the other side of the loch I saw a stationary boat. It seemed to swivel in the water as I passed by, as if its bow was always pointing at me. I got the binoculars out and had a look.

Yup..it was watching my every move. It was the Police Launch that patrols the water in front of Coulport, the nuclear submarine base. It started its engines and followed my path as I headed south but on the other side of the loch. I didn’t want to antagonise the situation by taking photographs so left my camera in its bag.



Once I cleared Coulport it stopped, so I got my camera out and snapped the eider ducks on my side of the loch. I could feel the police binoculars on my back but they didn’t follow.



A little later I took some photographs of a bunch of Herons. They looked quite unusual to me as they were perched in the trees rather than wading in the water’s edge. That’s when the wind blew up a bit and the waves started to rise.



I wasn’t far from Ardentiny and could see the slip in the distance but Loch Long opens up at this point. I decided to turn round and run with the waves on my stern, back to the sheltered waters of Loch Goil while the going was good. The patrol boat watched my every move and again followed me until I cleared the naval base.

I enjoy Loch Goil, but I wont bother too much with Loch Long.. the MOD are welcome to it. By the time I got back to Lochgoilhead, the tide was full in so my timing was good. A short pull with the winch soon had the boat back in the car park and I was heading for home. Another good boating journey behind me.