Well it has been an interesting week ( only a week, it feels a lot longer). I returned to the boat with Handel Phillips - ex Staffs Pol.
We started off from Inverness and sailed into strong headwinds, the
intention of going for Peterhead was ditched after 12hrs and we
managed to get into a small harbour called Whitehills.  I mean small  when I describe just managing to get through the entrance. But it clean and very friendly.  The following
day was initially  again one of strong head winds but they gradually
came round and we sailed into Peterhead.
This was a commercial harbour with a mile walk into town - we did walk to the town pub which
was horrible. The only thing that was missing was the sawdust on the
floor; any detectable atmosphere ( other than smell) and any other customers!!!.

After Peterhead we sailed down the coast to Dundee - Tayport.  Dundee
is nice but Tayport is a grey dull place. I've come to the conclusion
that the east Coast of Scotland is a place not to re visit. The only
redeeming feature was the generousity and friendliness of the people.
The place and the weather is awful - Handel ( my current crew suggest
that they could start by painting their houses to cheer up the place -
its all dull and grey - unlike the West Coast which seems a lot brighter.  Handel did point out that this is the world of Gordon Brown - explains a lot.

In Dundee we went round the Survey Ship Discovery and the local
museum. Both are worth visiting - Shackleton and Scott are featured in
them both. Dundee is an amazing place of talent - even Thompson
magazines came from here, Desperate Dan, Minnie the Minx and Dennis the Menace from the Dandy &  Beano period all came from Dundee.  The museum also showed all the different industries and innovation that came from here - from Jam to Jeans!!

After Dundee we sailed across the Forth to Eyemouth - the forecast was
for a Westerly 4/5 what we got was a 7 gusting 8 and a ringside seat
in a Mayday rescue.

When we reached Eyemouth the Life boat was just
returning from the rescue of a yacht called Dancer so we followed it into port ( bad Mistake) Eveyone seemed to be lining the harbour and thought we were the yacht the lifeboat had
been out to rescue. Even the local paper was there taking photos of
the boat (Buffer) in the dock. Our protests that it wasn't us seemed to fall on deaf ears and I have no doubt our pictures will be in the local press.

Today was an easy sail down from Eyemouth into English waters and
Blyth. The Scots courtesy flag came down today and we are on to Whitby
tomorrow.  Blyth is an industrial harbour but its also the home of the
Royal Northumbrian yacht club. The club house is an old Light ship
decked out beautifully inside . They have a restaurant where a roast
meal costs £4.50 - I kid you not .  We were also relieved to find they
served the meal with veg, not something the Scots seem to do.


I eill try to get more updates on the blog but email internet opportunities etc seem limited here on the east Coast