Sailing short-cut to spectacular views

I have kept my boat Happy Bear, a modified Kingfisher 30, at Rochefort on the river Charente in France for the past 10 years, but thanks to Brexit I now have to bring it back to the UK or face paying import duty and VAT.

I’d previously sailed on the west coast of Scotland for about 20 years but had headed to France for some warmer, drier weather so the prospect of sailing back to cold, rain, gales and midges did not at first fill me with enthusiasm.

However on reminiscing I did have some great sails, especially when the sail included a hill walk – and the west coast of Scotland must be one of the best locations in the world to combine sailing with hill walking.

One sailing and hill walking mini expedition I particularly enjoyed was a cruise into Loch Hourn to climb Ladhar Bheinn (pronounced Larven) a 3,346ft mountain on the south side of Loch Hourn. To climb this Munro would normally involve