FRUITS OF MY LABOURS FROM 2014

My New Year of 2015 started with a bang.

After being on the road for nine weeks in June and September in Canada and later in Scotland and Iceland, the articles I wrote and the images I took are beginning to be published.

As many North Americans start planning their vacations in the New Year, January is a sought-after month for exposure for tour companies, cruise lines, etc. So as a travel journalist, I'm very pleased with the placements.

So here are the links to the first of my assigned articles about my cruises on southern Ontario waterways and my cruise in the southern Hebrides of Scotland.

Ontario Waterway Cruises
© Photos by Pharos 2014

• River Cruising Canadian Style: the Rideau Canal in Senior Living

• River Cruising Canadian Style: The Thousand Islands and the Trent-Severn Waterway in Travel with a Challenge
• A Small Ship Cruise in the Scottish Hebrides in Europe up Close
  

On board the Glen Tarsan of the Majestic Line
© Photos by Pharos 2014

SMALL-SHIP CRUISING IN THE INNER HEBRIDES (Part 3)

Our safari van

After a quiet night anchored in Tobermory Harbour, everyone went on a full-day island safari with David Woodhouse. He is a naturalist and owns Isle of Mull Wildlife Expeditions. The safari, for that is what it was, lasted from 10am to 5:15pm. Our leader brought lunch (hot soup and sandwiches), and coffee, tea, and cake for snacks.

Looking for otters and seals

David's van is a huge 10-pax Ford and everyone has a window.   David is an

expert on birds and otters. Stopped for sea eagles (3 ft tall) and rare; deer; golden eagles (rare); Red-throated divers, the Great Northern Diver (loon), mergansers, eider ducks; and seals. Sadly the otters did not appear for us.

Isle of Inchkenneth  in the mouth
of Loch Scridain

Around every corner the views are stunning: mountains, lochs, and islands. The north coast is wild and unspoiled (machair) with strong cool winds. The east coast has more trees, thus sheltered and making it feel warmer. A whole peninsula is part of a nature conservancy area and is inaccessible by road. Only hikers can get in. 

The day was a mix of sun and cloud with a cold wind blowing, that discouraged the patience we needed to locate the rarer birds and mammals. We persevered.

Anyone who takes a tour like this needs to be aware that there are no toilets enroute, but bushes work if you can find one. If you are not passionate about birds, choose another tour that focusses on scenery and history. Either way, take thick sweaters, windproof jackets, toques, gloves and scarves. Low cut hiking boots are essential, to say nothing of binoculars and cameras with long lenses.

Mull is too big to tour in one day if you are stopping every five minutes to photograph a scenery or wildlife. 

The glen to the east

We drove south from Tobermory to:

• Loch Na Keal and did both sides
• Though a glen (mountain pass) to Loch Scridain with views of Inchkenneth, Ulva, Staffa, and several smaller islands.
• Northeast via another glen to Duart Castle and Craignure.
• Hence to Tobermory where the tender met us and took us back to Glen Tarsen.

That night the crew put on a huge, surprise birthday party for two passengers complete with decorations. The table groaned with seafood — lobsters, oysters, scallops, etc. all caught this morning. The chef even produced birthday cake with candles. The Victoria sponge with butter icing was demolished at one sitting.

IMAGES: © Photos by Pharos 2014. All rights reserved

SMALL-SHIP CRUISING IN THE INNER HEBRIDES (Part 2)

Steaming out of Loch Sunart

Today was my first full day on the Glen Tarsen. Weather was mostly cloudy with sunny spells and a cool breeze. One sharp shower. We sailed soon after breakfast, cleared Loch Aline, ran northwest up the Sound of Mull, and then turned to starboard just past Tobermory, Mull. We steamed up the twenty miles of Loch Sunart to its head. Clouds were lifting as we anchored for lunch.

The loch's banks here are covered with trees (deciduous and evergreen) right down to the water’s edge. Behind these are some barren, rocky hillsides of machair (short  native grasses and heather).  In front of an impressive white house was a herd of red deer grazing in the parkland. 

On the banks of Loch Sunart

I spent most the time reading up about the Western Isles and getting to know the other pax better. They are all, but two,  younger than us with impressive professional backgrounds. The couple older than us were Ontarians and the rest from UK. One English couple lives in Toulouse, France. Many good discussions ensued and much humour.

 

The chef, Andie, in
her tiny galley

My first lunch was a vast cold collation with hot baked potatoes and a big slice of coffee-walnut cake.  Everything served is local, fresh produce and our chef bakes bread every day. Most passengers retired for a nap. I did not!

Instead I visited the wheelhouse and learned that this very sea-worthy vessel was originally an Irish trawler, which explains its deep draft and tubby appearance. It was built in 1975 and later sold to the Majestic Line in 2005. Then she was gutted and rebuilt as a 12-pax, 4-crew cruise ship.

The cabins are a good size, but the ensuites are only twice the size of a plane washroom. They do have a shower and lashings of hot water. We have twin beds pushed together but made-up separately. The bulkheads (walls) have many hooks to hang things on, a small closet, and shelves. There is a cubby under the bed where our baggage is stored. Beds are very firm though. Half the cabins are down below, and half are on the middle deck forward of the dining/lounge area. No Internet, very spotty cell reception, and no TV. 

A birthday buffet

We eat long table style and move where we sit so we can talk to new people at every meal. Well-stocked bar — choice of beers, wines, and some very good whiskys.

The Glen Tarsen is heading out of the sea loch as I write this and will spend the night at Tobermory on Mull anchored in the harbour.

The tender took us ashore to wander around the waterfront of this pretty town behind the harbour. Houses are multi-coloured and give hints of Norwegian style. As it was Sunday the shops were all closed, as well as the distillery. Probably just as well as I fell for a pair of earrings that were 114 pounds!

Appies and dinner were again superb, but the Highland steak was cooked too well for my taste. Lemon pot for dessert. Pax have bonded well and the meal was filled with laughter.

Tobermory harbour

IMAGES: Photos by Pharos 2014. All rights reserved

SMALL-SHIP CRUISING IN THE INNER HEBRIDES (Part 1)

The Isle of Col

After a four-hour ferry ride from Tiree to Oban on the mainland of Scotland, we joined our home for the next week.  The ferry stops at the small island of Col and then wiggles through the islands, down the Sound of Mull, into the harbour of Oban. We had only twenty minutes to get to the meeting place in a resto on the waterfront.

Oban is bigger than I remembered it in the late '60s and felt full of tourists. Attractive waterfront. The crew took all our baggage out to the ship first and then gathered up

The Glen Tarsen in Oban

five passengers at a time for the ride out to the ship in a small tender. Just missed a sharp shower. The Glen Tarsen is one of two ships in the Majestic Line. She accommodates only twelve passengers and four crew in comfort.

After a quick briefing from the skipper and chef, we sailed. Loved the view of Duart Castle, clan home to the Macleans, which we hope to visit at the end of the cruise.

Fresh Langoustines caught off
Mull this morning

We anchored in Loch Aline, a long narrow inlet with a scattering of houses near the water’s edge clinging to steep slopes that drop into the loch. Flat calm and late day sunshine. Soon the appies arrived. The chef produced a huge bowl of Mull langoustines perfectly cooked and two canapés. I’ve never tasted better anywhere.

Dining long-table
style on board

Dinner was wild Scottish salmon wrapped in proscuitto with a pomodoro sauce and asparagus. I had halibut instead and looked with envy at the salmon. Again perfectly cooked and presented. This is going to be a foodie’s cruise. Free red or white wine with dinner! Desert was a chocolate/caramel tart, which was very French to me. Followed by a cheese board — four local cheeses. The chef told us that we will have a cheeseboard every evening. Also we will never taste the same cheeses again. Different every night. Bliss.

IMAGES: Photos by Pharos 2014. All rights reserved.

RIDEAU CANAL CRUISE - DAY ONE

Today we sailed through seventeen of the forty-nine locks we'll negotiate on the Rideau Canal.

I'm cruising with Ontario Waterway Cruises on board Kawartha Voyageur, a small specially built ship for the waterways of southern Ontario. We joined ship in Ottawa and this cruise takes five days to Kingston.

Forget the typical idea of cruise luxury and loud entertainment, casinos and dancing — this is a 45-passenger vessel without stewards and pools and midnight buffets! Instead, we sail along tree-lined banks, life is quiet and relaxing. Except for a hard-fought game of bocce after the first dinner aboard. We do have amazing home-style meals, three significant snacks a day, and drinks.

I enjoyed seeing osprey fishing and then feeding their young, Great Blue Herons by the banks, and many red-winged blackbirds in the reeds in the wetlands.

Locking through our first lock brought all the passengers out onto the top deck to watch the process. This was Hog's Back Lock just south of the heart of Ottawa. The ship only just fits into the locks, but to do so has to raise it's bow. There's not much clearance on all sides — a matter of inches — and it takes skill to manoeuvre the ship in and out. The photo on the right, taken from the port side of the bridge, shows us approaching a lock . It was a glorious morning and everyone had their cameras at the ready.

The majority of passengers are repeat cruisers; one lady I spoke to had done eleven before this cruise and another had done twenty. They keep coming back because it is so restful and the customer service is second-to-none. They dislike crowds and appreciate being moored alongside at night. The ship is quiet then without the engines running.

 

We also experienced our first flight of locks, three in a row at Long Island. This is a particularly pretty spot with a chatty lock keeper who rattled off the statistics of water flow, lock capacity, and traffic through per year. Here too is one of the original arched masonry dams built in the late-1820s when Lieutenant-Colonel John By, a Royal Engineer, managed the huge project. The dam is 31 feet high and 700 feet long. The locks lifted us up 25 feet.  From here we went down the Long Reach, the longest lock-free stretch on the canal, sailing by huge mansions and modest cottages of the town of Manotick.

As I finish up this post, the sun is down and the Kawartha Voyageur is moored at Burritts Rapids, just below the lock.

IMAGES: © Photos by Pharos 2014. All rights reserved