Gigha to Bangor via Glenarm

We set out for Glenarm at 06:00 on Friday, with the option of continuing onto Bangor if we felt up to it. This seems to be the way of sailing, to head TOWARDS something, noting that the destination really is up to the weather.

There was a covering of low cloud as we left Gigha, but the sun soon burnt though this as we made progress towards the point of the Mull of Kintyre. The sea became choppy as we rounded the headland, and there were more outfalls as our SOG rose up past 8kn again. It was a smooth sail across the Northern Channel, avoiding the TSS ( Traffic Separation Scheme ) even if we saw absolutely no traffic in sight of us or the AIS.
The tide was with us all the way from Gigha and turned against us a couple of nm outside of Gigha, so we pulled in at lunchtime to wait for the fair tide.

We did not see very much of Glenarm as I caught up with some sleep, but we did notice a lot of Union Flags on the seafront. A great place for a stop-over.
The tide turned in our favour at around 18:00 and we progressed down the coast, but into the wind until we arrived at Bangor Marina, where I found something worth crossing the Irish Sea for - A BATH - it was wonderful. I bought some bubblebath, a magazine and my radio4 radio and had a fantastic soak. Showers are fine, but I always prefer a real bath.