Round Britain Adventure on Indian Runner

 We’ve had a very good stay in the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club.  The staff are very helpful, the surroundings rather beautiful and the food is excellent. There are many worse places to be stormbound.  We haven’t been idle, on Saturday Roger, Alan and I did the Lowestoft park run (park walk run for Alan and me) which was very well attended and a lovely route. In the afternoon we went to see the film Oppenheimer.  We were glad we did this although we found it quite depressing. The horror of the bomb and the ease with which governments and large institutions discredit those they wish to destroy is deeply troubling.  Alan and Rachel have had the fantastic news that their house and village is safe from the wild fires. This is the most tremendous relief. Rachel didn’t feel very well on Sunday morning but Alan and I went to St Peter’s and St John’s for the morning Eucharist to offer thanks. The service was excellent - a non-fussy catholic liturgy and a deep sense of prayerfulness. On

 We had made all our preparations for a long sail the evening before, fuel and water replenished and sandwiches and drinks in thermos cups prepared.  We worked a watch system, three hours on and three hours off, with each couple taking their turn. Rachel and Alan have done a lot of overnight sailing and the key advice from them was to start the system in the morning. This meant that we all had times of rest during the day so we didn’t begin the evening watches already tired.   Sailing through the night was a memorable experience along this part of the North Sea. We sailed through many very large wind farms, which at night are lit up in white and red. The sky was clear and the stars were quite beautiful.  We also spotted satellites, a shooting star and flashes of phosphorescence in the waves by the boat.   Dawn was beautiful but can be quite cold!  The extraordinary sights are not limited to night time of course. This video shows a feeding frenzy by gannets and gulls.  We arrived at Low

 The thing I have learned from these months on the boat is that you can’t make definite plans and schedules.  Tide times can be researched in advance but the wind direction and strength often isn’t clear until 12 hours or so in advance. Our next destination was Whitby. We had hoped to spend two nights there to allow us to explore this rather lovely town but it was not to be. The first issue with Whitby is the swing bridge at the entrance to the harbour. This only opens on the hour and half hour two hours either side of high tide. The day we came into Whitby that meant entering at eight in the evening. We arrived at the fish quay at seven p.m. and rafted up to Bonita. We had an hour - just long enough to get some fish and chips and eat supper on the boat. Rachel and Alan climbed up the high metal ladder against the harbour wall and bought back our fish and chips, lowering them down on a rope!  At eight pm we successfully negotiated through the open swing bridge and after mooring up and

 We had intended to leave Blyth on the Sunday but the wind was very strong and we decided to wait and see how things were on the Monday. Our departure time was delayed as the morning went on. The wind was supposed to ease but that was happening rather slowly. We had lunch in the RNYC clubhouse and then could put it off no longer. By the time we left the wind wasn’t too bad but it was too early for the sea state to have improved. There was a lot of swell and the boat was rolling all over the place.  We also had a rather violent hail storm and Roger was the unlucky man on the helm.  As we approached Hartlepool there was yet more excitement. We were called on our radio and a boat asked us for a tow into the harbour as their engine had failed. The boat was being ably helmed by a young woman who took it all in her stride, but I’m not sure her mother was quite as sanguine! It was quite a tricky manoeuvre but handled well by Alan on the helm and team Indian Runner. We later heard that the boa

 Sailing down the East Coast of England has been interesting and challenging. Safe harbours that can be entered at any state of the tide and all wind direction are few and far between.  Our party port at Blyth, was great. The local North East Gaffers had done a fantastic job in organising a welcome for us at the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club and the team at the RNYC were super. The weather was dreadful but we had access all day to the cosy light ship that is the RNYC’s clubhouse and local gaffers stood by to give us lifts to the laundry, the shops, local sights and anything else we might need. A special vote of thanks to Des and Anthea who were simply amazing.  The barbecue was fun and the band was tremendous. Yes, we were outside in the rain with leaking gazebos but that encouraged us to dance and get warm.  A great night. On the Saturday it was lovely to have a visit from Pete, who was my Chaplain and a good colleague.  We were invited to board Barbarossa for a cup of tea and were

 After our lovely evening on Holy Island we went to bed fairly early and very happy, anchored in the bay.  At 1.30 am Alan got up to check all was well and everything was fine, then at 3.00 am Roger felt a different movement on the boat - it had shifted a bit.  He went down to put a jacket on and by the time he got back it had moved a lot.  He went back down to wake up Alan and by then it really was perilously close to St Cuthbert’s Island. I had slept through all this but was now definitely awake and Roger asked me to come up quickly and stand by the tiller - and so I did, in nothing but my pyjamas, with the wind blowing, channeling my inner Grace Darling. The anchor had dragged. Our 7.5 metre chain was hopelessly inadequate.  Rather than spend time trying to anchor once more, we stooged around until 4.30 am when it was light enough to leave without running over the lobster pots.   Once we got over the shock of the early start, we had a rather lovely journey along the Northumberland c

 First a postscript to the last post about the Great Storm of 1881.  Yesterday late afternoon we were told about an extraordinary sculpture in Eyemouth. It is called ‘widows and bairns’ and shows all the women and children anxiously looking out to sea, waiting for their husbands and father to return. Each woman and child is represented and it is incredibly sad and moving.  The first shot is from the back and then the second shows a small section from the front in detail.  At lunchtime today we set sail for Holy Island.  I say sail, but in fact we were motoring again as there was no wind.  When we passed Berwick we lowered our Scottish flag and raised the flag of Northumberland.  It was not long after this when we heard a call from Susan J on Channel 16 to the Coastguard reporting they had rope round their propellor shaft and needed assistance.  We soon heard that a lifeboat from Berwick was coming to help them.  We reported that we were near and could offer moral support.  The RNLI wer

 The weather was kind to us and yesterday we had a fabulous day’s sailing. We feel we have deserved this after two and a half months! The wind was a westerly which allowed us to sail on a reach - the fastest point of sailing. We had up full main, staysail and jib and for one brief moment reached 8 knots (unheard of!) and were at 6 - 7 knots for most of the day. And joy of joy we didn’t need our engine. The final delight was seeing seals in the harbour - there is a colony who live here and one in particular keeps popping up his head - probably hoping to be thrown a fish.  We were expecting to reach Eyemouth at around 10 but in fact got here at 7.00 p.m. There was no room on the visitors’ pontoon ( the rest of the gaffers snuck in before us) so we rafted up against Hilda, who was against a wall.  This was fine and we had a good night.  My only problem was to come this morning, when it was low tide and the climb up the ladder, with the bottom rungs covered in slippery seaweed, did not app

 Here in Arbroath the smokies have to be sampled, so we bought smokie pate, smokie and cheese scones and smokie pie. The scones and the pie were ‘interesting’ but we absolutely loved the pate.  A fabulous lunch yesterday and today.  It is Sunday and we are still here - the winds have been pretty strong and I would say it is fifty/fifty whether or not we get off tomorrow.  The winds look reasonable but the sea state may be too rough for us. We shall see.  We have enjoyed our time here - Arbroath has a fascinating history and we particularly loved the exhibition at the Abbey which tells the story of the turbulent times of Scottish history in the time of Robert the Bruce and the Declaration of Arbroath, which was sent to the Pope in Avignon from Arbroath Abbey. It contains these wonderful lines: As long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be subjected to the lordship of the English. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, bu

 We met up with Alan at the luggage carousel at Aberdeen Airport and then waited for ‘Toothy’s Taxis’ to take us back to Peterhead.  Toothy like so many of the older men in this part of the world had been a fisherman and had now branched out into a new line of work. It was late when we got back to the boat and it was a (small) whisky and then bed.  The next morning Alan and I went up to Aldi to restock on provisions and Roger looked after the boat, water refill, engine checks etc.  We were aiming to be off by 10 and in fact made it by 10.45 which was not at all bad.  The journey to Stonehaven, around 40 miles south of Peterhead was a bit hard. There was a lot of swell and the boat was making a corkscrewing motion.  I am used to feeling a bit queasy sometimes on the boat but to my surprise this developed into proper seasickness.   Perhaps I have been too long off the boat! As the day went on the wind and the swell eased, although we couldn’t say the same for the rain.  We reached Stoneh

 The boat survived the gales well - thankfully not as strong as predicted.  On Monday 3rd we left the boat in Peterhead with fingers crossed that there would be no more big winds while we were away.  We took a taxi to Aberdeen and spent the night there in a Premier Inn - meeting Steve for dinner (he had gone to Aberdeen the night before to meet a friend) and a had a great steak at Miller and Carter - their dripping sauce is a big favourite of ours! We spent the Tuesday sightseeing in Aberdeen.  In the morning we went to the Maritime Museum which was excellent - particularly on the significance of oil and gas to the area. Then in the afternoon we took a walking tour with a delightful young guide who, as well as pointing out points of historical importance, showed us the really interesting street art in the city.  We flew back to Luton late Tuesday night and Isabel kindly picked us up from the airport.  Being home was lovely in some ways, and odd in others. It felt a bit like living in t

 Our exit from the Caledonian Canal felt like ‘speedy boarding’.   They really pulled the stops out and from our first bridge at 8.20, everything else was seamless, locks, bridges, and finally the sea lock, all open for us.  We were safely tied up in Inverness Marina by mid morning. We liked the marina and Inverness very much. The city is attractively built on both banks of the River Ness and we enjoyed a run in the morning and an Indian meal later that night.  We had been intending to aim for Lossiemouth the next day, then Whitehills, then Peterhead but we looked at the weather forecasts and decided we didn’t have the luxury of taking three days as the weather was definitely looking stormy on the Saturday. This has turned out to one of our better decisions.  On Thursday we sailed straight to Whitehills. It was a long day but a good one. We made excellent progress all day and covered the 60 miles in 12 hours, arriving at Whitehills at 21.00.  The entrance to the harbour was magical.  F