Pictures from this part of the trip can be found in the Sailing gallery.

Day 17: Sunday, September 14

Julie's cough did not get any better overnight, so in the morning we decided that we had no choice but to find a doctor. At breakfast, we asked Tom (who runs the hotel) where we could go see a doctor. He said that on a Sunday, we would have to go to the hospital. Since there were no other guests, he offered to drive us there so we wouldn't have to pay for parking.

We finished up our breakfast, got our bags packed into our car, and then piled in Tom's bright red Civic SI for the 15-minute drive to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. At the hospital, Tom dropped us off at the Emergency Room entrance, with plans for us to take the bus back to the hotel when we were done.

The ER staff were very helpful. Rather than checking Julie into the ER, they entered all of her information into the computer system and then got Julie an appointment at another facility attached to the hospital, basically what we would call urgent care. We walked over to the clinic and waited about 20 minutes for an appointment with a nurse practioner. In the end, the nurse decided that Julie probably had a bacterial infection, since she'd had symptoms for 8-9 days at this point. So, Julie got some antibiotics. We got everything right at the clinic, for a charge of £50 including the prescription.

Once we were done with the clinic, we caught a bus right from the hospital and were back at the hotel by around 11:00am. Although we had originally intended to do some more sightseeing in Edinburgh, we decided to skip it. We thanked Tom for his help and got on the road.

On the way out of town, we stopped at a mall for more cold medicine and cough drops (thinking ahead to the boat), and got gas for the car, and then we got on the highway towards Glasgow. Once we reached the outskirts of town, we stopped and had lunch at a restaurant attached to a Premier Inn. We also tanked up the car in preparation for dropping it off. Then, we headed into downtown Glasgow.

As luck would have it, we ran into another rally march, this one a "Yes" rally, running along the River Clyde right in front of our car rental place. Navigating through all of those people was nerve-wracking, and Ken was really relieved to finally drop the car off. The car rental place was closed, so we put the keys in the lock box, watched the end of the parade, and then walked back to Anderston Station to catch the train.

From Anderston, we took the train one stop to Glasgow Central, and then waited about 45 minutes for our train to Largs. The trip to Largs takes about an hour, and it's sort of a local train on both ends with a big section in the middle where there are no stops.

In Largs, we walked around a little and then sat down in a cafe to have some tea and a snack. Then, we walked to the Morrison's grocery store to plan our grocery purchases for the boat. We piled the luggage into a shopping cart and wandered around the store trying to find everything for at least two of our lunch and dinner recipes. We settled on ham sandwiches for our lunches, and spaghetti with meat sauce and chicken curry for our dinners.

Once we knew what we wanted to buy, we weren't motivated to walk to a real restaurant, so we sat down in the grocery store cafe to have dinner and kill some time. Around 6:00pm, we went back into the store and started shopping. After we checked out, the nice store manager called us a taxi down to Largs Yacht Haven. We got to the marina around 7:00pm, and our instructor Chris found us not long after that. He helped bring some of our stuff down to the boat, and we found one of the other students (Tom) at the boat on our second trip.

We got settled into the boat and packed away luggage and food while waiting for the final student (Bryn), who was running late on his trip from Glasgow to Largs. Once Bryn arrived and was settled in, Chris started class by giving us a rundown of the internal systems on the boat. We finished up with this around 9:30pm, and went to bed not long after that because we were both exhausted (although Bryn, Tom, and Chris stayed up longer).

Day 18: Monday, September 15

Sleeping Sunday into Monday went really badly. First, it became clear that the nurse in Edinburgh had made a mistake when she told Julie to stop taking the decongestant. Second, although we didn't realize this until later, the bed in the V-berth was not level. Putting our heads in the obvious place (at the bottom) resulted in everything running up into Julie's head, and her coughing was worse than ever. Julie spent the night sitting up and Ken squeezed himself into any available space, still running a slight fever and now with a sore throat, too. Both of us slept very little, in 15-30 minute chunks. In the morning, we apologized to the others, and Bryn mentioned that it sounded like a plague ward behind our door.

The day went slowly to begin with. We ate breakfast together (cold cereal and bread with jam), and then Chris began by taking us through the remaining internal and external systems on the boat. We also started work on some other parts of the curriculum while still sitting at the pontoon in Largs. In fact, we ate lunch without moving the boat, and didn't leave until around 3:00pm. We students thought that it was going to be a short day of sailing, and didn't quite understand what Chris had planned for the evening.

Upon leaving Largs, we sailed a little way over to Millport, where we tied up to a buoy. Bryn made dinner while the rest of us played with the inflatable dinghy (part of the curriculum). Bryn's dinner was fantastic: fresh pasta with peas and bacon, an appetizer with shrimp, avocado, and snow peas, and a custard with raspberry-bourbon dressing for dessert. It was rather amazing what he created on a little bitty 2-burner marine stove (although he had the advantage that he was able to prep some of it at home before heading to Largs).

After we helped get dinner cleaned up, Bryn went out for a quick jaunt in the dinghy, and then we got it tied back on the boat. After that, the real work began. Chris had planned our first night passage, and it wasn't a short one. We left Millport around dusk on our way to Port Bannatyne, and finally arrived around 12:30am.

The voyage was interesting — everything Ken wanted from a night passage, including lots of lights to identify, and a dark harbor entrance to navigate. However, Julie was coughing continuously and was basically asleep on her feet. Ken only stayed awake by sitting on the bow in the cold wind. Fortunately, Bryn was driving.

When we reached Port Bannatyne, Chris asked Julie whether she wanted to park the boat, but she told him that she was exhausted and couldn't (smart move) and Bryn did it instead. We all piled out of the boat, used the bathoom onshore, and crashed in bed.

Day 19: Tuesday, September 16

Both of us slept a little better Monday night into Tuesday. Julie now had two pillows, which she had gotten Monday morning from the same place in Largs Yacht Haven that had rented us the waterproof gear and the sleeping bags. We also rearranged ourselves to be sleeping with our heads toward the bow (tight, but doable), and Julie was taking the decongestant again. So, it wasn't a great night's sleep, but it was much better than the night before.

In the morning, we all got a shower at the shore facilities after having breakfast, and then we headed out for the day, sailing up the Kyles of Bute toward an anchorage at Eilean Dubh. On the way there, we worked on various parts of the curriculum, like man overboard procedures, but the day is basically a blur for both of us in our memories. We do remember taking a lot of tea breaks during the day, though — something that held true on the other days, too. Tom always had a nature lesson for us too, since he was able to point out all of the different birds and was often the first to sight a porpoise or a seal in the water.

The anchorage was really pretty. We got there before dusk, so we had time to settle in before making dinner. Tom went out in the dinghy to explore while we started making dinner, our curry chicken recipe. The food turned out ok, but the curry powder for Morrison's was not our favorite, and the boil-in-the-bag rice turned out to not be quite as convenient as we had hoped. However, all in all it went pretty well.

After dinner, we got things cleaned up and spent the rest of the night chatting both inside and outside the boat. The sky was clear and the stars were out. It was a beautiful night.

Day 20: Wednesday, September 17

Tuesday night into Wednesday, we both slept a little better. The antibiotics (or something) were beginning to kick in, and Julie was coughing less and sleeping for longer at a time. Ken still woke up with some regularity, a few times in panic (probably because of the cabinet a few inches above his nose in the bow of the boat).

For Wednesday, our plan was to sail to Tarbert during the day, and then to make a short night passage from Tarbert to Portavadie Marina after dusk. We got to Tarbert mid-afternoon, just as the sun came out for the day. It was beautiful, warm enough for Ken to take the legs off his convertible pants and walk around in shorts.

After docking the boat, we all got off and spent some time wandering around Tarbert. We bought some more cold medicine while walking around with Tom, and then the entire group eventually met up at a little cafe for coffee. As dusk arrived, however, things started cooling off quickly.

Tonight was also our night to cook, this time spaghetti with meat sauce. This was a bit of a disaster. We underestimated how much sauce was required, so there wasn't really enough for seconds. At the same time, we overestimated how much pasta to cook, so we actually ran out of water in the pot and had a lot of pasta left over at the end of the meal. But, it tasted good, and everyone did get enough to eat when combined with the olives we put out for an appetizer.

After dinner, Tom volunteered to help Ken clean up while Bryn and Julie took responsibility for the night passage over to Portavadie Marina. (Julie figured that she should do it since she was basically half-asleep for the last night passage on Monday.) Unfortunately, there was no wind, so we motored the hour or so over to the marina. On the plus side, there was plenty of engine-generated hot water for dishes! Tom and Ken went up on deck to watch the departure from Tarbert and the arrival into Portavadie, to get a sense for how pilotage worked in close quarters at night. Somewhere along the way, Julie managed to miss the dark island in the water half-way through the passage. :)

In Portavadie, Julie parked the boat at the bottom of the pontoon, easy as can be. She claims it was mostly luck, but the rest of us were impressed. It looked pretty slick.

After getting the boat secured, we all trooped up out of the marina and spent an hour sitting in the marina's hotel bar, drinking beer and chatting. A fire alarm early in that process cleared the place out, and we had the lobby to ourselves. Portavadie is sort of an odd place. It almost looks more like a casino than a marina, with lots of fancy colored lights. But, it was a nice place to be for the night.

Day 21: Thursday, September 18

Thursday was the day of the referendum for Scottish independence, so it was on everyone's mind the entire day.

By Wednesday night into Thursday, things were beginning to look up, health-wise. Ken's sore throat had gone away, and he only woke up one time in the middle of the night to use the marina's bathroom (Julie and Tom got up at the same time). Ken slept in until Julie woke him up at 9:15am!

Our goal for the day was to sail from Portavadie to Lochranza, to tie up to a buoy overnight. Lochranza is open to the west, so it's not always a great harbor, but our winds were from the east, so we expected it to work out ok.

When we arrived at Lochranza, Ken was driving, so he took the boat into the buoy under sail power. ('Cause that guy behind us was on motor, that's why!) This sort of maneuver felt very much like docking the small boats on Lake Harriet over the summer.

We captured the buoy with no problems (the Scots called this "lassooing the boy"), but no one could reach the loop on top to attach the boat permanently. So, Ken and Tom went out in the dinghy to take care of that.

The motion of the boat on the buoy was a little different than what we were used to. There are hills all around the harbor, and the wind was shifty. This meant that all of the boats were constantly swinging around their moorings. Capella was never stable, and was always moving or rocking. It took some getting used to. Ken's tummy was a little upset, which made him feel a little seasick. Just in case, he took a Bonine tablet, which solved the problem.

Once the boat was secure, Ken and Julie took the dinghy ashore for a "romantic" excursion (at least, that's what the other guys called it). In reality, this was somewhat less romantic than it sounded. Rowing an inflatable dinghy for long distances is a lot of work. When we got to shore, Julie realized that she had left her life jacket on the boat, so she wore Ken's for the remainder of the excursion.

Thursday was Tom's turn to cook dinner. He made a pasta with cream cheese that we all devoured. After cleaning up, we all just sat around and chatted and tried to burn through the remaining wine. (Tony, the school owner, had suggested we bring two bottles with each meal, and we had only used one per meal before this.)

The cabin of a boat at night is a friendly little oasis of light. It's like peering into someone's happy living room. We were sometimes inside the boat and sometimes up on deck, and it was always nice to come back inside to the warmth and the light.

Day 22: Friday, September 19

Thursday night into Friday, Ken slept the entire night through, without waking up once. For the first time in a week, he felt almost normal. Julie was still coughing, but not nearly as often.

By the time we got up, the radio was on and tuned to BBC, and everyone knew that the referendum had failed and that Scotland would continue to be part of the Union. There were mixed feelings on the boat, with some people relieved and some people disappointed.

There was lots of food left on the boat, so Tom and Bryn were in the middle of making bacon for everyone. Julie took some, but Ken stuck to cereal (still fearing for his upset stomach).

Unfortunately, there was very little wind, and our trip from Lochranza back to Largs was the longest of the entire week. We started out trying to beat back to Largs, but gave up when the boat speed dropped below 2 knots. Instead, we motored back to Millport, where we anchored for lunch. Again, there were lots of leftovers, so we had a feast.

By this point, the wind had picked up a little, so we were able to sail back from Millport to Largs. In the marina at Largs, we spent a half an hour working on docking practice — Bryn, Ken, and Julie all worked at it. Ken's practice didn't go that well, so he decided to volunteer to put the boat back into its slip. (No one wanted to crash the $200,000 boat with Tony watching.) This involved backing down the entire length of a pontoon and then backing into the slip. In the end, it went fine. Nerve-wracking, but fine.

We all worked to clean up the boat, and then we had a debriefing session with Tony and Chris before all splitting up to go our respective ways home. Chris dropped us off at the train station in Largs, which couldn't have worked out any better — the train left not even 10 minutes after we arrived.

Back in Glasgow, we got off the train at the Paisley Gilmour station. We stopped by a grocery store to buy some treats for people at home (shortbread) and then walked a few miles to our hotel, which was right across from the airport. We caught dinner at the hotel restaurant, and then walked over to the airport to make sure we knew the route we'd have to take the next morning.

While we were at the airport, we stopped at the on-site Tesco and bought some food for breakfast and some Magnum ice cream bars as a treat. Then we went back to the hotel, re-packed our bags, and went to bed early.

Day 23: Saturday, September 20

Saturday morning, we were up at 5:30am. We showered, and headed to the airport by around 6:15am. Fortunately, it was just a 10-minute walk. We ate our breakfast at the airport after checking in and getting through security.

Our flight to Amsterdam was uneventful, and we had time to get lunch before catching the flight back to Minneapolis. That flight left a little late due to some mechanical problems with the toilets, and Julie had already fallen asleep before we left the runway.

We got to MSP around 4:00pm CT and were home by 5:30pm CT, after picking up Ken's car at the employee lot. When we landed, it was 78 degrees F. By the time we got home, it was 61 degrees F and we were in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. So, we timed our arrival just right.