A splash of sunshine and a splash of rain

 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 Stonehaven at around 7.00 p.m and rafted agains a Dutch catamaran.  Getting ashore required the climbing of two ladders, one onto the catamaran and then from there up an iron ladder on the harbour wall.  To be honest had we been staying there long, the lure of a pint in the pub would have tempted me, but I stayed put and tidied the boat after our sail. 

Dinner was an Alan special boat curry, and was as good as ever.  It was early to bed, ready for a 5.30 a.m start today.  Our aim was Arbroath (home of the Smokie) and the harbour is protected by a lock, which today was due to close at 13.52.  We safely met the deadline and are now happily moored at our berth. I have come to love these small fishing harbours - the facilities are not as luxurious as a marina on the Solent but they are colourful and interesting and the harbour masters have without fail been friendly, helpful and welcoming.  We will be here for at least three nights, possibly four.  The fleet is gathering at Tayport for dinner on ‘Discovery’ on Saturday night and our plan ‘a’ is to leave Arbroath on Sunday for our next stop at Eyemouth.  However strong winds are forecast for Sunday so we may be here for at least one more night - I’m learning that no plan survives the first encounter with the wind and tide!

Photos of leaving Stonehaven at dawn and Arbroath Harbour



Peterhead to Stonehaven        37.3 nms

Stonehaven to Arbroath        29.5 nms

Comments

  1. RickJuly 19, 2023 at 12:17 AM

    Love the pictures! Hopefully your seasickness passed quickly and will not return.

    ReplyDelete

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