#roundbritain – 4 Kidneys and a Wonky Leg

Statistics

Sep 8, 2022Nov 15, 2022luffin22 Comments

Well here we are all done and dusted. but for a final debrief with the WKPA committee and a final photoshoot on Saturday. Immediately following which, we will take Watanga to be hauled out for the winter. The picture below is from my google timeline and shows the places we visited, which is pretty much as we planned it. We have seen the coast of the UK mainland from a perspective that few others can have and lots of wildlife along the way, including Orca Whales and White Tailed Eagles.

On our journey we met many people who were doing tours of the UK, some doing it in stages, and leaving their boats behind to resume next year, some were doing partial circumnavigations, but only two who were doing it in the same manner as ourselves, all in the one season. These were Mike and Jonathan both sailing single handed, but in company together. They did as we did and went the whole way round including the top of Scotland. It was surprising to find that the majority of circumnavigations leave the top part of Scotland out favouring the Caledonian canal route, and leaving the infamous Pentland firth out of the equation.

Having said we were going right round put a certain pressure on actually doing that, and thank goodness the weather was accommodating, JUST. We made it with no days to spare, a day later and we would have been stuck in Scrabster for goodness knows how long. It certainly gives us a great sense of achievement to have done it.

And so to some statistics,

We were away for 126 days and in that time travelled 2218 nautical miles. (2550 statute miles)

Sailing 101 hrs

Motoring or motor sailing 359 hrs

Nights on anchor 24

Nights in marina’s /harbours 102, cost £2365

Fuel 616 litres @ avg £2 = £1232

Gas Bottles. 10 cost £296

Biggest Wind 45 Kts off south side of the Isle of Man

Biggest Sea 3m swells off Lands End

Favourite place Loch Ness (2nd time round)

Money raised for WKPA was £1492 when I last looked. Thanks once again to all who so generously donated.

Fair winds and flat seas

Martin and Louise

Day 119 Aug 27th Salcombe to Dartmouth.

Aug 29, 2022Aug 30, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

It’s now less than 100 miles to home and it looks as if the weather is having the last word with strong easterlies forecast for most of next week. That’s dead on the nose for us, again, so we will keep an eye out for the best conditions to complete our journey. At the moment we’re not even sure whether we will be able to stop in Swanage to unload the boat, but that’s all a week away and things change. (hopefully for the better.)

And so to Dartmouth. The easterly winds were already starting as we motored out of Salcombe, avoiding Wolf rock, out past “Queen Victoria on a dolphin” rock, over the sandbar then eastwards.

As we round Start Point and Dartmouth comes into view, it’s immediately obvious there’s a lot of activity off the entrance. A quick look on the internet reveals it’s Dartmouth Regatta week. This means it’s going to be busy. Will we get in? A phone call to the harbour office confirms it will be OK but rafting may be necessary. That’s a relief I didn’t fancy Brixham for 5 days in Easterly conditions.

On we went, avoiding the race area, where some 50 boats were getting ready for their starts, and motored in to Dartmouth. It was certainly busy, but once past the town quay, where all the regatta activities were centred, it quietened down and we actually got a berth straight on the pontoon.

It was the last day of Regatta week here, so we went ashore to join in the fun, spending the afternoon watching RNLI displays, rowing races, sailing parade, and fireworks in the evening.

With so much going on it feels like we’ve been here for ages already.

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The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin

Day 117. Aug 25th Fowey to Salcombe.

Aug 26, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

We woke to the gentle throb of large engines. It was barely 6am and the Cruise Liner “Europa” was being gently manouvered into it’s mooring just off the end of the pontoons. Just as well the dinghy racing was last night as this thing is right in the middle of the course now.

We had decided to move on to the River Yealm today. Savvy Navvy app anticipated motoring all the way, as too little wind, whilst Windy app was showing F4. We set off at 9.00am in no wind, out of the estuary entrance and turned eastward, a gaff rigged folk boat in full sail ahead of us. There were plenty of yachts around, all with sail up, so not to be the odd one out decided we would do the same. With a tickle of a breeze, we re-rigged the screecher and set that out as well. By 9:30am the motor was off and we were making 5kts. Its sunny, its warm, its a broad reach, happy days.

Over the next hour the wind steadily picked up and a 2Okts changed screecher for genoa, and were now bowling along at 7-8kts. Off Plymouth and an hour earlier than our expected arrival at River Yealm, we decided to make the best of the wind and carry on to Salcombe an extra 15 miles or 3 hours sailing.

We changed course which was a little more downwind and slowly the wind backed to the west and we got to the point where we were goose winged for an hour or so to get us round the headlands of Bolt Tail and Bolt Head.

By 4.00pm we were at Salcombe entrance, sails down and gently motor in. It was manic, motor boats, yachts, ferries, canoes, dinghies, paddle boards and even swimmers, all in the channel. You needed eyes in the back of your head, to navigate safely.

We got a pontoon berth in the bag, and after a terrible docking, (I got it all wrong). We settled down for the evening. One of our most enjoyable days sailing.

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Day 116, Aug 24th Falmouth to Fowey.

Aug 25, 2022luffin21 Comment

Now while I can understand that there is an energy crisis, and the cost of energy is rising, Port Pendennis takes the biscuit on overcharging. £41 per night plus £7 per night for electricity, over the top by a long way. Granted they have a good position adjacent to town and are the nearest marina to open sea, but facilities are mediocre and a long walk from the pontoon. and the marina is right next to a Naval shipyard. Hardly Premium.

So today we move on to Fowey, it’s a mizzly morning and as we motor out of the Fal estuary (no wind) we can see showers of rain here and there, reducing visability to 1/2 mile as they pass over us. Not so much rain as drizzle. For a day with no wind the was a surprisingly large swell, but caused us no problem as it was coming from behind and allowed us to surf a little.

Fowey soon appeared on the horizon, and as we approach we could see quite a lot of boats leaving so we’re pretty sure there would be space. On arrival we were spoilt for choice, with lots of spaces available.

Fowey was it’s usual busy place, lots of people, wandering the shops and eateries. We had an ice cream at Moneypenny Beach while watching the tourists on the beach.

In the evening we went to the Fowey Gallants Yacht Club for an evening meal, whilst watching the Troy class boats racing. We chatted to a couple of club members who were very interested in our trip as it was something they were planning in the near future, I hope we didn’t put them off!

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Day 114 Aug 22nd. Helford to Falmouth.

Aug 23, 2022luffin21 Comment

… Rain has been forecast over the next couple of days and we reasoned it would be better to be somewhere a bit busier rather than watching the water run down the windows for that time. So onward to Falmouth.

A grey drizzling morning, everything damp. Port Pendennis marina was full but put us on a waiting list to get in, we were second in line for a place so a good chance of a place as people left. We started off and made our way toward the entrance of the river the drizzle turning to mist and then to fog. Always a nightmare for boats.

On with the radar and ready to turn back if it got worse we gingerly made our way out. At worst the visibility came down to about 1/2 mile. The sea was flat and the radar was even picking up some of the pot bouys, slightly confusing when your looking for a boat!

It was only a journey of 7 miles and the fog lifted not long after we left the estuary. We had a clear run in to Falmouth and anchored just off the marina to await our invitation to berth.

The mighty 65 metre schooner “Adix” was alongside taking up most of the visiting berths, and when the call came to berth it was virtually underneath the stern of this massive boat.

We wandered into town and did some shopping, replacing my broken sunglasses. Then down to the quay area for a coffee. Watching food being delivered to tables nearby we were soon tempted, and ended up having pizza’s, then to cIear our palettes, some cider.

Back to the boat for a quiet evening, catching up on the blogging.

We’ve booked tickets to the Knight’s tournament at Pendennis Castle tomorrow, can’t miss a good castle now, can we.

Day 112 Aug 20th Newlyn Rest Day.

Aug 22, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

After the long passage down from Padstow we rewarded ourselves a day off, starting with a slap up breakfast at the Duke St Cafe . We went exploring along the sea front where we bumped into Andy and Jackie Barker, that’s three days in a row we’ve seen him. We chatted for a bit before moving on only to meet them again at Frasers Fish and chip shop in Penzance. Small World!

A visit to Morrab tropical gardens, a quick look at Penzance geothermally heated open air swimming pool, a few bits of shopping and a pint in the pub, before returning to the boat for the evening.

Helford River tomorrow !

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Day 111 Aug 19th Padstow to Newlyn.

Aug 21, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

Decision time 8am, looking at the weather forecast for the day it showed the wind at a steady F4 from WNW all day. We could be on our way by 9.00 am with a following tide for most of the journey, the downside was the sea state which showed large waves of 2.2 metres. The plus side was that most of this would be swell with only small wind waves. It wouldn’t be nice but it wouldn’t be terrible. Not going could delay us for another 4 to 7 days until another weather window opened.

So we decided to go. The gate on the harbour was late going down so 40 minutes were lost straight away, 3 other boats were preparing to leave, all going different directions, but we stole the march on them all, and were out of the harbour first. A bright sunny morning, it was good to be on our way.

As we made our way down the channel, along comes Andy Barker in his Osprey to say goodbye and wish us well.

And so it began, we got the main sail up and made our way to Trevose Head where we could start heading SW, but as we turned at the head so did the wind. Unbelievable, straight on the nose yet again! We briefly considered turning back but with tide against us we wouldn’t make the harbour and I didn’t fancy sitting at anchor for 6 hours waiting to get back in.

So we settled into our now familiar 1 hour on, 1 hour off routine, all the way to Cape Cornwall where we could finally use the sails. The speed went up giving us a boost towards Longships lighthouse. Rounding longships the wind died and we were back to motoring, the tide bringing us uncomfortably towards the rocks.

We were now heading East and as darkness closed in we could see a performance at the Minack Open air theatre up on the cliffs. Pot bouys, in the darkness now became Pot Luck. It’s a long time since we had night passaged, and it was a challenge remembering the different lights and what they were!

As we approached Newlyn harbour we picked out a number of dolphins around the boat, leaving trails of bioluminescence as they led us to the harbour entrance, and at 10.30 pm we tied up at our berth.

It was a quick supper then bed. Exhausted, but relieved to have arrived safely

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Day 110 Aug 18th. Treatment Day.

Aug 21, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

Eight o clock and the harbour master is moving boats around to enable us to have a walk ashore pontoon berth for the day. This will allow the nurse easy access to the boat for Louise’s treatment at 9 o clock. Apart from the fact that it was raining all went very well. It was a very nice spot not quite so overlooked as the harbour wall. It would have been nice to be able to stay there, but we were in a private berth which the owners had kindly allowed us to use. Whilst there, a chap came to the pontoon and asked how long I’d had the boat, and who I had purchased it from. It turned out that he was working for Patrick Boyd Multihulls from whom I’d bought it, and was responsible for assembling and commissioning Watanga. We chatted about this and that and one thing led to another and he ended up at the top of the mast replacing my broken screecher halyard. Nice chap.

Next surprise of the day was Andy Barker turning up to say hello, down in Rock for a second week, this time competing in his Osprey. Really nice of him to pop over and have a chat.

Treatment finished, and we had to move the boat again, this time at peak tourist and crabbing time. So a plan was formulated and the execution was luckily almost perfect. Nothing for the tourists to laugh about. We did upset about 6 families that were crabbing off the wall where we berthed, but I suspect that there were one or two parents glad to be given the excuse to take their kids elsewhere.

Having sorted the boat out, we went to have a look at the National Lobster Hatchery which sounds like a huge enterprise but sadly is only a small concern and inexplicably not helped by the government. The potential for this kind of enterprise being sadly overlooked.

We may move on tomorrow, it will depend on tomorrows’ weather forecast.

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Days108 Aug 16th Padstow Its Raining!

Aug 17, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

It rained, I guess you will all know that, as it just about rained everywhere in Britain on Tuesday. In the morning we sat out the heavy stuff from the comfort of the boat, whilst the true grit Brits on holiday continued with their crab fishing off the harbour wall. The seagulls didn’t look too happy either. By the afternoon there was only a light drizzle, on and off, so we went exploring along toward Stepper point for a view of the Doom Bar at low tide.

Then down to Gun point and into Harbour cove, the sands of which form the Doom Bar.

According to local folklore, the Doom Bar was created by the Mermaid of Padstow as a dying curse after being shot. In 1906, Enys Tregarthen wrote that a Padstow local, Tristram Bird, bought a new gun and wanted to shoot something worthy of it. He went hunting seals at Hawker’s Cove but found a young woman sitting on a rock brushing her hair. Entranced by her beauty, he offered to marry her and when she refused he shot her in retaliation, only realising afterwards that she was a mermaid. As she died she cursed the harbour with a “bar of doom”, from Hawker’s Cove to Trebetherick Bay. A terrible gale blew up that night and when it finally subsided there was the sandbar, “covered with wrecks of ships and bodies of drowned men”.

Tomorrows highlight is a a meal in St Petroc’s Bistro, a Rick Stein restuarant.

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Day 103 Aug 9th Fishguard.

Aug 10, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

To go to Milford Haven from Fishguard safely you have to have good weather and get the timing of the tides right. We were given this information by the harbourmaster who gave us a detailed route map describing the whole journey and just about every rock to avoid. It seems that you should leave at HW Fishguard, and maintain a boatspeed of 5knts all the way. Tomorrow HW is 0630, which is not too early, and the weather is just right.

So it was a rest day in Fishguard, the town itself is up on the top of the hill and was quite a climb. We had a coffee and grabbed some supplies from the Co-op. In the afternoon we had a quick lunch in the Fishguard Bay Yacht club, before visiting St George’s Fort up on the headland.

Then a quiet evening on the boat and an early night ready for tomorrows passage.

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Day 100 Aug 6th Caernarfon

Aug 8, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

A day in port, for two reasons. Firstly I had not appreciated that the harbour didn’t work 24hrs and so we were locked in at the time we needed to exit in order to catch the tide out of the southern end of the straits. You are warned not to attempt crossing the Caernarfon Bar at any time other than HW ±3. Secondly, we wanted to visit the castle.

We took our time visiting the castle and the city walls, learnt a little about the British Civil wars from Charles Cordell who was there promoting his book, and stood where Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales. Even watched some re-enactment going on. It was market day and so we bought some fresh fruit & veg, and also a replacement fuel can from the local hardware shop.

Back at the marina we filled said container and others and the tanks, we have a settled few days so there’s going to be lots of motoring!

We treated ourselves to a pub meal at the famous Black Boy Inn, one of the oldest pubs in North Wales built circa 1522.

Back to the boat for an early night, ready for an early start tomorrow.

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Day 99 Aug 5th. Moelfre to Caernarvon.

Aug 7, 2022Aug 7, 2022luffin21 Comment

Only twenty miles to go today but important to get the tides just right for traversing the Menai Straits. Now there’s no denying that the Menai Straits and in particular an area called “the Swellies” can be a dangerous stretch of water to navigate. However, it’s a bit like changing an electrical socket, if you turn the current off then there’s no problem. If you do it with the current on, you could get a shock.

The equivalent to turning off the current is to traverse the dangerous bits at High Water when there is no current, (and of course lots of water depth). The tricky bit is timing but I won’t bore you with that bit. The rest is just following a quite narrow and winding path past all the various rocks, shallows and of course the wreck of the HMS Conway.

The day started cloudy and cool, with an annoying family in a speedboat, water skiing through the moorings repeatedly. The timing of our run through the Straights meant we didn’t have to start until midday which meant some time to catch up on the blog..

Entering the North end of the Strait, past Puffin Island, (a different one) the quite choppy sea flattened as we poottled in still a little ahead of schedule, the sun came out and the rest can be said in pictures.

No real problems, as we leisurely made our way down the 14 miles to Caernarvon marina. If anything, we were a little too early going through as the tide was quite strong against us under the Menai bridge, that said, by the time we were passing Plas Newydd the tide was under us and going into the narrow harbour entrance a few miles later with 2.5 kts of cross tide was quite tricky.

It’s a lovely marina, lots of friendly helping hands, really good showers, and an on the ball, Dockmaster.

We will stay here two nights. Tomorrow we’ll explore the town.

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Day 95,96. August 1st-2nd Douglas.

Aug 3, 2022Aug 3, 2022luffin22 Comments

It is hard to believe that on Friday last, we were in the Crinan Canal. It seems so long ago. Just over 140 miles later and here we are in Douglas waiting for some fair winds.

We’ve spent most of the day cleaning and doing laundry, and we will be here until at least Thursday and maybe longer. Having caught up with our schedule, this will put us back again. Looking ahead there are precious few marina’s in North Wales and anchorages of course are always weather dependant. The alternative is some more long passages or head for the Irish East coast.

For the moment our plan is to head for Beaumaris in the Menai Straits, that’s if we can trust the weather forecast. It will be a last minute decision.

The Isle of Mann meanwhile, is a strange place. It’s early August and half the attractions aren’t even open or only open at the weekend. Douglas has a long, long beach with promenade that’s in good condition. The gardens and flower beds are all well tended, there’s no litter, no dog poo, but it’s empty and soul less.

We did find the Manx museum, which is very well laid out and charts the history of the Island over 10,000 years.

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Day 94. July 31st Maryport to Douglas.

Aug 2, 2022luffin23 Comments

What a night, we barely had any sleep! The light NW wind that was forecast had gone round to the North and was about a Force 4. We had lost the protection of the sandbank as the wind veered, the boat spent the night rocking, rolling and banging about, very unpleasant.

Not a great start, but the sunrise was good. We were soon under way running with the wind with just the genoa giving as a comfortable 6 knots. With the sail up, the boat motion was smoothed and as we took one hour turns at the helm, we were able to catch a bit of sleep in between watches.

The wind built to a steady F5 from the NW a bit earlier than expected, but still a nice sail. We rounded the Point of Ayre on the North of the island, keeping close in to avoid the turbulent waters further out. Crossing Ramsay Bay we put a reef into the genoa as the wind was now at 25-27 knots.

Passing Maughold Head the wind was now getting gusty, being affected by the hills. Regular gusts of 30-32 hit us so in went a large second reef. We were now whizzing along at 7-8 knots in moderate seas with a handkerchief for propulsion. Then it hit us, bang 45 knots sustained, a new record for my sailing experience and a scary one too! Sail down, I was fearful of the sail shedding or the rig breaking, so the last 10 miles were spent motoring,. Entering Douglas the outer harbour was too choppy to moor up, we were already tired and needed a good nights sleep, so we opted for the inner harbour where there was no wind at all. Downside, is we lost our gamble with the wind, but two out of three days is not bad. We’re now stuck here for a few days, but there are worst places to be holed up.

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Day 93 July 30th Campbeltown to Maryport.

Aug 1, 2022luffin24 Comments

An early start of 6am for a long passage of 63 miles. The day started wet as we motored out from the marina waving good morning to the chaps on the Border Control Vessel moored nearby. Out round Island Davaar with it’s lighthouse winking goodbye, we turned south and soon had the sails up with the wind on a close reach. As we made our way south the wind slowly backed, (it should have been veering) and after 20 miles we were heading, off course, toward Lock Ryan and Stranraer. Reluctantly we lowered the sails, the wind was dying anyway, and motored, now headed in the right direction. We passed a couple of pods of dolphins, which paid no interest in us and just passed by.

There were very few boats about other than when we passed Port Patrick, where we saw a yacht go in to Port Patrick and another passed us going the opposite way. The tide by now was against us in a big way, inevitable on a 12 hour journey. Passing Crammag Lighthouse the sea got rough, surprising as there had been no wind for the last 2 hours. We were being tossed around all over the place, and it got worse as we headed for the Mull of Galloway. Then the engine coughed, I knew what it was straight away, the rough conditions had stirred the tanks and the filter had water and muck in it. Cleaning the filter, brought back memories of my first hip dislocation which happened in similar conditions and doing the very same task. I was very careful!

Once done and the engine restarted, we continued on round into Luce Bay where there was a short patch of very fast flowing water, 5 knots against us, reminiscent of going round St Aldhelms point on a spring tide.

Then all of a sudden it was calm and protected from the Irish sea swell, we motored up to Maryport and anchored off the beach there in the lea of a sandbank.

We went to bed soon after supper, the boat rocking a bit from a slight swell. It had been a long day and would be another long one tomorrow.

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Days 90 and 91. The Crinan and beyond.

Jul 29, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

Its said that the Crinan Canal can be transited in 6-7 hours, well that’s just pipe dreams as far as we can make out! Boat movements are supposed to start at 8:30am, however as you have to wait for the lockeeper on the first two locks, our actual start was 9:30am. Then the next 10 locks you operate yourself, which is a minimum 3 person job, a bit tricky with just two of us. Fortunately we paired up with a french family and pooled our resources. Having lived next to a canal as a child I was always “helping” the lockkeepers, so I had some basic knowledge of what we needed to do, and once we had got through the first lock it all became a lot easier.

By 3:30 pm, even with a stop for lunch we’d completed 10 of the 14 locks we had to get through, but with only an hour and a half before the canal was shut down for the night, we were advised that it would be best to stay where we were. There was a pontoon with water and electric, there were facilities, a hotel with restuarant and bar. What more could you want? After the exertions of the day, just an early night would do.

Next morning was cool to start but soon warmed up as we set off for the final 4 locks. We saw two boats moving onto the lock above us, so made off sharply so as to get in front, and just as well. The final four locks took an age, the last two taking an hour and a half. No explanation, no apologies from the lockeepers. Luckily it was warm and sunny and people were fairly relaxed.

Once through the sea lock, we turned south with the Isle of Arran dominating the horizon. Dropping in at Portavadie marina to refuel before heading for Broddick on Arran. At 4:30pm a strong headwind blew up and slowed our progress considerably, so we diverted to Lochranza where we anchored overnight. We even saw the Waverley passing us south round the north-east of Arran. (Long range photo)

Tomorrow we go to Campbeltown.

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Day 87 July 24th. Oban and a wet farewell

Jul 25, 2022Jul 26, 2022luffin21 Comment

It rained cats and dogs last night. Everywhere was wet or steamed up, but too warm to put heating on to dry things out. Russell & Nicola wanted to see Oban so we caught the first water taxi across. It’s a busy town, and a main transport hub for this part of Scotland. We visited the chocolate shop and cafe, Oban Museum, and several shops, usual touristy stuff. A nice pub lunch, then a walk up to the colosseum, no we’re not in Rome, but there is a colosseum overlooking the town, known as McCaigs Tower.

The structure was commissioned, by the wealthy, philanthropic banker, John Stuart McCaig to keep the local stone masons busy during the winter months. McCaig died before it was finished and it now stands as a public garden.

Back on the water taxi to the boat for Russell and Nicola to pack for their journey home and us to say goodbye 👋. Scotland also bade farewell in typical fashion by pouring with rain. They probably got wetter going from boat to the water taxi than they’d been all holiday.

We spent the rest of the day rearranging the boat back to two person living. ie. spreading out again.

Tomorrow we make the short trip to Oban North Pontoons to enable us to re stock the boat ready for the journey south.

Day 85, July 22nd Harry Potter and Neptune’s staircase

Jul 23, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

We were told the first lock in down Neptune’s staircase would be 8:30am so we were up and ready early. We radioed in early to register our intentions. The call came for all vessels wishing to lock down to make their way into the lock. We were off like a shot and it was a bit of a free for all, 7 boats in all left their berths and somehow we all got in, it was a tight squeeze!

Neptunes staircase is an 8 chamber lock where 1 lock leads directly to the next, with crews pulling the boats through by hand. It’s quite a sight to see and draws plenty of sightseers.

At the bottom of the staircase are two swing bridges one road and one rail. We were told we would have a slight delay as the Hogwarts Steam train came over the bridge. Nobody complained..

And just like that we are in salt water once more, and gently motoring down Loch Linnhe. We took a break for lunch, it had been a busy day so far, anchoring at “Three Mile Water”, then it was on to Kentallen, our stop for the night. We picked up a Hollytree Hotel mooring bouy and proceeded ashore for refreshments, The hotel had a jacuzzi, spa and swimming pool, all for £6.50. Lou and Nicky went fo a swim while Russell and I relaxed with drinks.

Back to the boat for our final on board evening meal, watching seals splashing about in the bay behind us.

The day closed in usual fashion with rain.

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Day 81 18th July. It’s a hot one!

Jul 19, 2022luffin21 Comment

The day started with a flat calm after a very quiet night at anchor in Urquhart Bay. After breakfast we gently motored off past the beautiful Urquhart castle that even at 10 o’clock in the morning was teeming with visitors. Heading down the Loch towards Fort Augustus, we were in no hurry and there were very few boats about to disturb the view.

There were a few interruptions to the peace and quiet as a pair of jets screamed down the glen at low level.

We did spot someone, presumably a sponsored swimmer with a support boat making their way up the loch, rather bravely straight up the middle. I know you can drown in a puddle but this person had 700ft of water below them!

Just as we were thinking of stopping for lunch a bit of a breeze sprang up. A nice opportunity to sail in good conditions, so lunch was eaten on the move, as we raised the sails and turned the engine off. The wind was coming straight up the glen so it did involve a few tacks to get us to Fort Augustus. Well thirteen actually.

Such a difference to 5 weeks ago when we were bashing into 40 knot winds on a murky grey day.

Mooring up on an almost empty pontoon, we strolled into the village and found a small bar/restuarant “The Boat House” overlooking the end of Loch Ness and as mad dogs and englishmen in their various boats came past in the midday sun, we relaxed with a few drinks under the shade of a tree.

It was too hot to do anything energetic for the rest of the day so we relaxed at the boat, reading and chatting.

The pontoons had filled with boats during the course of the day. I’m guessing it’ll be a busy day in the locks tomorrow with no guarantee when we will be able to move on.

Day80, July 17th, Around the world in 80 days.

Jul 18, 2022Jul 18, 2022luffin21 Comment

Philias Fogg made a wager of £20000 to travel round the world in eighty days and of course he won his bet surmounting many challenges along the way. When we started this trip there was no such wager in place, but there was a target for the amount of money we might raise for our chosen charity, the Wessex Kidney Patients Association. We hope that by the end of the Journey in Sept that target of £1000.00 will be reached or even better surpassed. Please share this blog far and wide.

Nuff said. Today we were up early ready for todays trip into Loch Ness. We blagged our way into the first Loch up of the day which was not until nine thirty, with us were four Norwegian boats.

It was first time through the lock flight for all of them, so having done this once before we were the “experienced ones”. We were put in first, not the best position, as the front boat gets all the turbulence from the water gushing in and sure enough it wasn’t good, the boat was pushed around badly and the crew struggled to keep it under control.

There were a couple of large commercial tourist boats in the canal sections which were a bit of a squeeze to get past. Two more swing bridges and a lock later and we entered Loch Ness. The wind either goes up or down Loch Ness and today it was up, straight on the nose as usual, between 25-30 knots. Still, there was only 6 miles to go so we plodded on while the Norwegian boats set sail.

We anchored in 3.5 m of water close to a small wooden jetty, and over the course of the afternoon and evening the wind died to nothing.

It was a lovely quite warm evening as we watched the sun go down before bed. On to Fort Augustus tomorrow!

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Day 79 July 16th Into the Caledonian (again)

Jul 17, 2022Jul 18, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

The first time we entered this lock was 39 days ago, we were on our own and it was a cold murky day. We’re on the way again, weather forecast of F2-3 warm and a bit cloudy. A bit different this time, shorts and t-shirts, were enough and this time we shared the lock with 4 other boats.

With our guests Russell and Nicola as crew things were a lot easier to manage as I could stay at the helm while the others dealt with the ropes.. The short hop to the canal entrance took all of 15 mins and then we had to hold station for another 15 mins while the lock was made ready.

All 5 boats squeezed in, everyone seemed to be fairly adept at the boat handling which always puts you at ease, knowing that you’re not going to be bumped by another yacht. And up we went, 3 metres above sea level, and in fresh, not salt water. All the skippers went off to the office to pick up license’s and keys for the facilites. Then off to the next lock where everyone now was a expert so things went a little faster, and we were soon at Seaport marina where we refuelled and had a lunch break.

In the afternoon we walked into Inverness for coffee, sightseeing and a bit of shopping then later, after our evening meal, we walked back along the towpath for a group photo at the welcome stone next to the Sealock.

An early night tonight ready for the ascent to Loch Ness tomorrow

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Day 75 July 12th Inverness.

Jul 13, 2022luffin21 Comment

With four days to go until we move on, it seemed a little strange to have a lie in and know that there’s no specific reason to get up. However the sun was shining, a bit of a rarity up to now, so we took the opportunity to enjoy it.

We spent a lazy day exploring Inverness once again, lunch at a restuarant called Prime, sitting outside by the River Ness across from Inverness castle. In the afternoon we got down to more serious stuff of restocking the boat with food. A visit to the supermarket and a taxi back to the Marina and the day was gone.

Then around eight in the evening we could hear a helicopter nearby, when I say nearby, I mean just off the end of the marina. Looking out we saw there was a full scale police incident going on, it seemed that just about every policeman in Inverness was here. Sadly it was a search and rescue mission for someone who had jumped from the Kessock Bridge. They searched until dark before leaving, we can only guess at the outcome.

A somber end to the day with the sunset matching the mood.

Day 73, Jul 10th Helmsdale to Rosemarkie Bay.

Jul 10, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

We looked at the weather for the coming week and to avoid getting another on the nose journey we decided to travel most of the way to Inverness, anchoring in Rosemarkie Bay. It looked to be a good day for sailing at least until the wind died just after lunch. We woke to blue skies and it was warm. We left the harbour a 10am and set the sails as soon as we were clear of the rocks at the entrance. We could nearly point in the direction we wanted to go as well which was a bonus. We had a sudden increase in wind strength after about an hour and soon had 3 reefs in the sails, (F4 had been predicted), but no sweat the sea wasn’t too rough and we were making 8-9 kts. We had two separate sightings of whales, probably minkies.

At Tarbat Ness the wind died to nothing in the space of half an hour and we motored for the rest of the way. There seemed to be seals all over the place, popping their heads up from time to time for a look around. We reached Rosemarkie at 5.30pm anchoring in 3 metres of water about 150 metres from the beach. Almost immediately a wind sprang up blowing directly onshore. This wasn’t in the forecast and I was soon checking the forecasts, which had changed, to see if we needed to move. As it turns out it is going to be uncomfortable for a few hours but then as per the original forecast of offshore wind. Hopefully this will be before we go to bed.

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

Jul 9, 2022Jul 10, 2022luffin2Leave a comment

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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Day 70 June 7th. Off to Helmsdale.

Jul 8, 2022luffin21 Comment

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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Day 68 July 5th. Still Relaxing.

Jul 7, 2022luffin22 Comments

We went to the Wick Heritage museum today, a fascinating place describing the history of Wick over the past two centuries or so. Although Wick has been here in some form or other since the iron age, it only came to prominence when the herring industry expanded here. In the 1800’s a harbour was constructed by Thomas Telford, and soon Wick was the largest Herring port in Europe with around 1000 boats operating from the harbour.

Its hard to imagine how so many boats managed to squeeze in and out of the harbour when you look at the harbour now.

At last a day with a bit of sun and warmth, after some lunch we walked south out of town to the Old Castle of Wick a mile or two down the coast. Along the way we were attacked by some terns noisily defending their territories along the cliffs. Walking on, past Trinkie Pool one of two outdoor swimming pools in Wick, a little further on is the old Wick castle at the head of two gorges. It’s more of a tower really, and only half of one at that, but the gorges are spectacular.

Wednesday is too strong a wind to sail so we’ll be doing some more maintenance and the like, before heading South for Helmsdale on Thursday.

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Day 66-67 July 3rd and 4th Rest day, and Orkney.

Jul 5, 2022Jul 7, 2022luffin21 Comment

Having safely sailed through the Pentland Firth, we are now ahead of schedule. Sunday we look a rest day, well if doing the laundry and going for a long walk is resting, then that’s what we did. The weather over the last week and looking forward, didn’t bode well to sail to the Orkneys as part of the trip. However we still wanted to visit.

On Monday we look a trip via the ferry from John O’ Groats over to the islands, where we took a days’ coach tour to various places of interest:-

The Italian chapel, which was built by italian prisoners of war out of a nissen hut during their internment in WW2. Every part of it built from scrounged materials, apart from the nissen hut of course.

Scara Brae. A 5700 year old settlement discovered when a ferocious storm in 1850 washed away the sand dunes that had covered it for thousands of years. Then Skail house, the home of William Watt, the local Laird on whose land Scara Brae sat. Fascinating to see the level of complexity of these very old structures.

We passed over several “churchill” barriers which are a series of roadways joining the Islands around Scapa flow. In October 1939 a german U boat penetrated the Royal Navy’s defences of Scapa Flow and sank the Battleship “The Royal Oak.” After the sinking, Winston Churchill ordered the barricades to be built thus sealing off the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow. The added bonus was that roads were built on top of the barricades linking several Islands together.

Stone Ring of Brodga, Orkney’s Stonehenge

Also a lunchbreak in Stromness and a shopping break in Kirkwall made for a very long day.

But then came the ferry ride back. By the late afternoon the wind had been blowing fresh at F5 all day and the dragon had stirred. As we left harbour we were warned not to take camera’s out on the outer decks because of the amount of sea spray that would be considerable. Sure enough for the first 15 minutes it was rough. The 200 ton ferry rolled badly as it pounded it’s way through the tidal rips of the outer sound, waves pounded the sides and several people not used to such motions were soon looking or being ill. The cabin sounded like a roller coaster with a mixture of nervous laughter and screams as we pitched and rolled. We could see why the almanac paints such a dire picture, it wasn’t actually all that windy. We’re so glad we made it through when we did!

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Day 64-65 Around the top.

Jul 2, 2022Jul 2, 2022luffin22 Comments

The decision for the next two legs was pivotal on the accuracy of the weather forecast. Firstly the plan was to get to Scrabster in one jump, then through the Firth on Saturday, before bad weather hit on Sunday. The calm weather for the north of Scotland was holding and the strong winds decreasing when they arrived on Sunday, so we are making the decision to go.

I will admit to being apprehensive about this part of our journey. If you read the Reeds Almanac and take it’s highly condensed advice about the Pentland Firth, you probably wouldn’t go. It reads– Tidal streams between Pentland Skerries and Duncansby head reach 12 kts at Springs, the resultant dangerous seas should be avoided by yachts at all costs.

It is a notorious bit of sea and in the wrong conditions can be treacherous and advice on forums such as stay away from rocks, don’t go into the tidal rips, don’t sail within 2 days of a Spring tide are not terribly helpful.

Friday.

An early start of 0500, out of Kinlochbervie, and north to Cape Wrath, in time to catch the start of the east going tidal stream. It was a bit lumpy as we approached the Cape and a stream of 3 knots sped us around the corner, not another boat in sight. I would have liked to stop in Loch Eribol, as many of the people we’ve met along the way have expounded on its magnificence, but we had a schedule and a course to keep and sadly that’s one we had to miss. A straight line course all the way to Scrabster took us up to 5 miles from land and so for 7 hours our main entertainment was the wildlife.

We got into Scrabster around 1500 to be greeted by the Harbour Master who took our lines as we berthed. To be honest the facilities at Scrabster were barely better than Kinlochbervie but a helpful HM makes all the difference.

Saturday. Pentland Firth.

Having gleaned valuable information from the harbour master, an ex fisherman, about what time to leave and the safest course to take, we left Scrabster feeling a little more relaxed about what lay ahead. Another early start, we slipped out of the berth at 0615 our breath condensing in the cold morning air. Yes it’s July but I still had thermals and full wet weather gear on, it was raining as well. We headed out to Dunnet head where we reached our most northerly point of the journey, 485 miles from Swanage as the crow flies.

Then on into Pentland Firth, flat as a pancake, no tidal rips, no standing waves, nor whirlpools, in fact the fastest stream we had was 3kts off Dunnet head. All my angst was unfounded, the dragon slept today. As if to take the mickey, we even saw a kayaker crossing from the mainland to Ronaldsay.

We are now in Wick. We’ve made it safely round the top and we are heading south again.

Champange with dinner tonight!

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Day 63 July 28 Loch Inver to Kinlochbervie

Jul 1, 2022Jul 1, 2022luffin21 Comment

We left Loch Inver on a glass like sea, the mist in the mountains and their reflections on the water, quite special. We headed North past Stoer Point with its lighthouse on top and a little further on “The Old Man of Stoer” an impressive sea stack.

We then passed South of Handa Island, and the sea and sky filled with sea birds most of which nest on Handa, which is a nature reserve. There were Guillimots, Razorbills, Puffins, Shags, Fulmar and Skua.

Soon after, a pod of, we think, whales swam past, they were a little way off but the photos show tall dorsal fins.

Finally we reached Kinlochbervie, the west coast’s most Northerly port. A picturesque port despite it being a fishing Harbour. The Almanac telling us there are full facilities for the visiting yachtsman, pontoons with water and electric, toilets, showers, laundry, fuel, what more could you ask for. Well a harbourmaster would be good for a start. Grumpy Gary the locals call him, wasn’t in his office which I eventually found in the fish market, and he wasn’t answering his phones.

So the electric points had padlocks on, the water point was miles away, the shower was in the fish market with the ceiling caved in, with a large sign on the door saying it was forbidden to wash your dog in the shower. It didn’t look like anything had been washed in it for months. Next the Laundry – a broken tumble dryer and an even more broken washing machine held together with masking tape. The toilets were OK, they were built in 1961 according to the plaque. You remember the public toilets at the park, that’s what they were like.

Lastly where do you get fuel. Well in this case you go to the chandlery, which was closed. A passing stranger asked what I was after, and having told him, he went off to the fish market to get Pete! Pete dispensed me some diesel on the quay. How much? Oh go to the chandlers, which is suddenly now open, to pay. Then lugg 40 litres of fuel half a mile back to the boat.

Time then for dinner+ bed. 5am start tomorrow, Rounding Cape Wrath and across the top of Scotland to Scrabster

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Day 60-62 Dunan to Portree and beyond.

Jun 29, 2022luffin22 Comments

Firstly apologies for the lack of daily updates. Lack of internet signal, lack of sleep and some longer passages have kept me from writing.

So to catch up, after another bad noisy night, we went to Portree, Skyes capital, where we found a bouy to hook up to, then promptly went ashore, where we had lunch in one of the many pubs in town. Portree obviously has very little interest in visiting yachts. There is a short pontoon which can be used to take on water, for £5. However if there is a cruise ship in the Loch then you cannot use it. There are no facilities for the visiting yachtsmen or women. Although after negotiation at the Iocal backpackers hostel in town we did manage to get a shower for £4.00 pp.

After the last two nights, everyone was in bed by 8.00pm, but the wind hadn’t finished with us, and yet another noisy bouncy sleepless night was had.

Day 61

Sadly Adrian and Jayne had to cut their stay with us short, to make their way back home, to deal with family issues. I took them ashore, early morning for them to catch the bus back to Mallaig where they picked up their car for the return journey.

Gairloch was our next destination, a five hour journey with a decent wind to carry us along. We stopped at the rather rundown pontoons in the Harbour, and took our Calor gas bottle for a walk to the local garage for an exchange. We put our mooring fee in the honesty box and went off to find an anchorage in Loch Shieldaig. A beautiful spot and… QUIET. There was again no internet nor phone signals, so almost as soon as we’d finished dinner we went to bed. We both slept pretty much 12 hours solid!

Day 62.

There’s a bit of a storm coming! It’s due to hit the very top of Scotland on Saturday/Sunday, but before that there are several days of very light winds. We have decided to accelerate our schedule and are pushing North quickly to try and beat the storm round the top of Britain. It’s not without its risks, if the storm comes in early we could be stuck in port for a long time, unable to carry on, or back.

Wish us luck!

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Day 59 June 26th Plockton to Dunan.

Jun 27, 2022luffin21 Comment

What a night! We had carefully selected Plockton for its position in relation to wind direction. However during the evening there was a change in wind direction and all boats on the anchorage spent the night bobbing up and down in the resulting waves that ran into the bay.

In the morning, after a bright start, it became overcast as we left bleary eyed to find a different safe haven. I chose an anchorage near Dunan on the Isle of Skye which appeared to have enough cover to from the surrounding hills to give us a quiet night. We arrived just before lunch after a comfortable sail and anchored in about 3 metres of water in very good holding.

There were some small wavelets but the wind was due to veer behind the land and reduce in strength. During lunch it rained quite heavily and there was some strong katabatic downdrafts from the surrounding mountains. Far from reducing, the wind just got stronger and the waves grew considerably even though we were only 300 yds from shore. It had turned into a squally evening with huge winds and downpours. We couldn’t see a soul on shore and there didn’t seem to be anywhere interesting to go. Besides getting in a dinghy in those conditions would have been dangerous, so we stayed aboard and played scrabble into the evening as the winds continued to howl.

The hook was holding well, in possibly the strongest winds we have ever anchored in. An anchor alarm was set as an additional precaution. Then just before bed we were treated to a big rainbow and a spectacular stormy sunset.

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