Here's a few views of leaving a wet and windy Whitby to arriving off a misty Scarborough castle. It cleared when we got in.  My thanks to the staff at Scarborough for their help and generosity - particularly Andrew and Shaun the Dock Tide Masters and the Harbour Master.  Northern Hospitality.  It was also in Scarborough we came across a German guy named Carl. He was doing some amazing trips in a small motorboat - looked like a small tugboat, about 28ft long. Looked as if it should have a key in the side to wind it up but great boat and great character Carl. We saw him in Whitby; actually met him in Scarborough; knew most of his life story by Grimsby.  An author of travel books who sails his little boat all over Europe - put me to shame

I feel as if I am shuffling south rather than sailing South. We have strong South East winds forecast ( again on the nose) so we are now waiting for the weather in Scarborough; not far from York where my daughter and grandchildren live so I hope to see them tomorrow ( teacher training day). Scarborough hasn't changed much in 40 odd years. Its a upmarket Rhyl with loads of day trippers and some nice places to walk round and see. I was surprised to see the old tripper boat "Coronia" still afloat and working... I remember my dad taking me on that when I was seven.  Helen and I will have to come back with the mobile home and do some walking up here

Here are some of the pictures  I promised, the sailors will notice the absence of a fore sail.... The new halyard parted due to the fact the diverter block at the top of the mast has gone swimming!! The result of this was a trip to the top of the mast with a rivit gun to put a new fitting on the mast head.  Unfortunately I had to climb the mast twice - one extra climb to retrieve my glasses. Very Lucky...

Next stop may now be Scarborough as the wind is due to blow from Thursday night over the weekend.

We are now in Whitby. On the way down from Blyth we saw plenty of sea bird life


and I spent ages trying to get a photo of a puffin with a beak full of

sand eels - no luck they always dive at the critical moment of focus,

leaving plenty of pictures of a blank sea..



We also saw a large but lazy fin which was swiming from side to side

rather than up and down like a dolphin. Handel was convinced it was a

basking shark - it was big but I am not claiming it as a confirmed

sighting. Did look a bit sinister but I know basking sharks are harmless ( unless you run into them)



Whitby is great and we are staying until tonight's tide so we can do a

few repairs - we have had a few rough days but there is nothing

serious that a climb up the mast this afternoon will not fix. I am spending

the rest of my time looking round old pubs and walking the steps past our old holiday cottage

up to the Abbey.



The next leg is the longest so far and we are going to try and reach

Lowerstoft in two days time. I'll confirm when we are there. The

weather still isn't being too helpful and its on the nose again. We

spoke to a guy on another boat who was coming the other way round and

they have had the same????  What is happening to our weather, I have to keep reminding myself its June nearly July.



Up to now it makes 10 boats we've met doing the trip either clockwise

or anticlockwise, surprisingly we ran into (not literally) another

boat from Conwy going round anticlockwise - they set off last August

and have been taking their time but they are now on their way to the Orkneys and are looking forward to seeing friends there.

This is from an internet cafe so no photos until I get a marina connection.

This must be the North of England... Look chimneys with no smoke!!
Have you noticed how its difficult to photo a Puffin - there was one in this shot but its now invisible

A very grey day in a very Grey Tayport. No facilities and a pub that doesn't sell veg with any meal.... Dundee was nice though

Entrance to Peterhead

Night entry into Whitehills

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

The last day of this section involved getting the baot back to Inverness. This involved an early start from Drumnadrochit and a constant bash into the wind and rain to get back to the sea lock and Inverness. We managed to moor at the marina at 18.30hrs - a long wet day.  Home to dry clothes and rest then onto the next bit - the East Coast in earnest , with only one more planned break from the boat to see Helen get her Doctorate on 17th July.

To finish off Helen's visit we climbed a Munro near to Laggan Locks on the canal. Sron a Choire Ghairbh is just a Munro at 3074 ft, and as we climbed from Laggan we were about 100ft above sea level so we had an advantage for this one.   The walk involved a trek of around 8 miles and the climb so we were both tired when we got back to the boat; unfortunately this day was also the day the weather broke and the heavens opened. We were like drown rats and didn't see anything from the top but cloud. Luckily we always carry a compass and an appropriate map as we ended up following our instincts on the way down which got us a little lost. This in turn meant we had to regain the summit and take compass bearings to the path down.  After all these years complacency can creep in if you aren't careful.   Once back at the boat we tried out reasonabley quickly and had a great evening and meal on the Eagle floating Restaurant .  Next day we were joined by Bob and Janet for a trip down the canal and a sail on Lochness.  Great day

Telford suggested planting gorse and broom along the canal banks to hold them together - really grateful for that.  It's been a colourful journey with blue skies (most of the time) and plenty of flowers, flags and peoples from many parts of the world.  Good walk yesterday on General Wade's road up into the hills with views of  mountains to the north still with snow near the tops.  We may tackle one of these tomorrow - weather permitting. At the moment though we will relax with a cold white wine and a salad. Looking forward to the walk tomorrow

On 1st of June Helen arrived and the following day we moved into the Caledonian Canal's eastern Entrance. This was to be a week slowly working our way to Laggan Locks where we would climb another Munro. The weather, as usual was a biting cold North easterly wind which blew directly into the cockpit and cabin. Boats always seem to be cold when you need a bit of warmth.  The canl started to make amends as it revealed a great deal of colour and interest.