Scotland NW to Med via Ireland W Coast

[Bobcat]

Wondered if anyone has tried to get to the Mediterranean from NW Scotland by sailing West of Ireland ... preferably, without ending up in Madeira, the Canaries or the Azores en route! Naturally, it would be necessary to get an appropriate weather window and to avoid getting caught on an Irish lee shore.

On the other hand, it might be possible to take the scenic route ie to day sail/coast hop down the West Coast of Ireland but then the Bay of Biscay might prove problematic!

Interested to hear your thoughts on this possibility, especially if you have actually sailed this route without crossing the Atlantic or worked your way down the West Coast of Ireland. Thanks for your input.

[Bobcat]

Hope to do this in a small cruising catamaran 2016/17

[jalfrezi]

Hi . We've got a J120. We sailed Westport to Corunna, with victualling in dingle on the way. 70 hrs Dingle to Corunna. 2012 Don't be anxious about west coast of Ireland. It's brilliant. Loads of really sheltered a anchorages. In fact I reckon apart from the rain it's the best crusing I've ever done. And it's in the Lee of the West Indies.
We then returned to uk. But then coast hopped all the way from Plymouth to Sardinia 2013 only 2 overnighters, Royanne to San Sebastián and Minorca to Corsica.
Happy to give more info. Good luck. Gareth of Jalfrezi


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Gareth Thomas

[Hydra]

Bobcat,
If you find a suitable succession of weather windows, yes it's possible to go from Scotland to Spain by sailing west of Ireland. I agree with jalfrezi, the cruising there is superb and there are plenty of anchorages. It's my favourite cruising ground. But I would not be there in winter, mainly because of the seastate off the headlands.

I strongly suggest you install a Navtex receiver, to get long term weather forecasts (wifi or mobile Internet don't work everywhere on Irish coast).

Alain

[jckb]

Originally Posted by Bobcat

Wondered if anyone has tried to get to the Mediterranean from NW Scotland by sailing West of Ireland ... preferably, without ending up in Madeira, the Canaries or the Azores en route!
<snip>

I had a plan to take the boat from Oban to the Mediterranean over a year's sailing - via W Ireland, Scillies, NW Brittany, A Coruna, Lisboa, Lagos, Cadiz, and into the Med.

The plan went beautifully wrong. Scotland was captivating with it's hundreds of anchorages, wildlife and magnificent scenery. It took 2 months to escape - and a vow to return next year.

West Ireland also took 2 months, then another month for the south coast. What an incredibly hospitable place! The Scillies were a good stop en route to the unplanned destination of Falmouth - and a month in S Devon and Cornwall, with winter layup in Falmouth.

Next season, of course, I went to Scotland and back to visit the places I'd missed first time around - and some of the old favourites. This time we took off from Ireland to A Coruna, since there was a nice weather window. Loved the complete change of culture in N Spain, so worked back along the coast to France . . . then north to W Brittany. Got stuck wandering Biscay for 3 years.

Eventually got to Turkey 10 years after starting out.

Those who rush south to the Med from UK miss some of the greatest cruising in the world, and amazing culture differences between the various Celtic tribes.

Not exactly the greatest weather though!

Most of this written up on my site - just google "jimb sail"

JimB