#Helmsdale

Helmsdale was formed in the 1800’s as a new town to house the displaced crofters that had been evicted to make way for sheep farming. Many of these decided to emigrate rather than taking jobs an fishermen. Helmsdale is still a fishing port to this day although nothing on the scale that it was.

We are killing time a bit now, having rushed round the top, we are pre-booked into the Caledonian on the 16th July, still a week away and we only have about 40 miles to go. We’ll stay in Helmsdale another couple of days, before moving on to Inverness.

We have been for a few walks along the coast and up the river and searched for gold on the beaches. Helmsdale has in the past had a goldrush when a gold nugget was found in the river in 1868. No luck there!

The nearest lifeboat to Helmsdale is Wick over an hours rescue time away but the support here is strong with a great display outside the Harbour offices.

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We set off from Wick in bright sunshine, very little wind and a flat sea. On leaving the Wick estuary there was a surprising swell coming down from the North, maybe 1.5m giving us an undulating roller coaster ride. The weather forecast stated a F4/5 Westerly wind and we were looking forward to sailing but as the wind filled in it was from the south and later the South west. Smack on the nose.

Then all of a sudden it was blowing around 30 Knots and the sea was building. The combination of wind, waves and tide soon had us slowed right down to about 3 Knots over ground and what was to be a pleasant 4-5 hour sail became a 7 hour slog. Again! We arrived at Helmsdale around 5:30pm and came straight in without calling up. To our surprise the Harbour Master was waiting on the pontoon to take our lines, they normally knock off at 4:30pm. He looked relieved that we had arrived, and even congratulated us on making it. Was there something we didn’t know?

As an aside we noticed on the local news, that one of the larger Pentland ferries had run aground last Tuesday. MV Alfred is about the size of the condor ferry. News Link here

The wind is even stronger on Friday so we are staying in Helmsdale for at least two nights.

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4 Kidneys and a Wonky Leg

Sailing around Britain

Day 71- 72. July 8-9. Helmsdale.

Day 70 June 7th. Off to Helmsdale.