Eyemouth
16-18
Jun
Our original plan after Blyth had been to get to the Holy
Islands, just off the coast. These
aresupposed to be quite interesting,
with a good anchorage, but we were a bit short on fuel and the weather
was looking like it would be good for only one day. So, we decided to head for Eyemouth, which
was a bit further, but supposedly had a harbor we could get into, and fuel, as
well.
Eyemouth was not a bad place to stop, except that we were
there from late Sat nite till Monday AM.
Very little was open, except for restaurants, and it was Father’s Day in
the UK. It also rained and blew a good
bit. We were glad we were not out on the
sea. Even the fishing boats that came
and went all night were tolerable, compared to the alternative.
Arbroath
18-21
Jun
Monday, at 0500, we were awakened by what seemed to be the
entire fishing fleet of Eyemouth returning to port. They wanted to dock and discharge their
catch, at the wall we were sitting on, so we decided it was time to go. The weather was good (i.e., not stormy), we
had fuel, so it was off to the north again.
We had quite good
wind for the first part of this leg, and sped north at about 8 kts for 3
hours. Then, the wind just died, so the
rest of the trip was spent motoring.
We had originally planned to head into the Firth of Forth,
and stay at either the Port Edgar Marina or the Granton Marina, outside Edinburgh. Our friend Robin was flying into Glasgow, and
was supposed to meet us at one of these marinas. However, given our weather experience to date,
the thought of bashing our way into the Firth, and then bashing our way out,
did not seem to be reasonable. Time for
a change of plans.
Looking at the charts, Arbroath appeared to be a harbor NE
of the Firth that had good train connections and was positioned well for our
journey, so we headed there. We made
quite good time, which was important because the gates into the inner harbor at
Arbroath only open 2 hours each side of high tide. We made the gate opening time with time to
spare, and settled in to wait for Robin.
We had arrived 2 days earlier than Robin was due, and this
allowed us to take the train into Edinburgh for a day, to do some sightseeing
and meet up with Patsy and Ray, who are going to meet us in Scotland in late
July. We had a nice lunch and a visit,
and a good tour of the town.
Unfortunately, it turned out that Arbroath was further out from
Edinburgh than we had estimated, so it took nearly 2 hours each way to make the
trip by train!
Luckily, we also found out that it would be faster for Robin
to head directly to Arbroath from Glasgow, and bypass Edinburgh entirely, so we
contacted her to change plans, and we all got together as planned.
Arbroath is another SE Scottish fishing town, and is well
known for its “smokies”, which are smoked fish.
There are many producers in town, and one was located right next to the
inner harbor where we were berthed. So,
we made the obligatory visit and discovered a great delicacy. One of the harbormasters swore that they were
best served hot, with lots of butter. We
didn’t get to try the butter bit, but can certainly say that we will search
them out when we come back to Arbroath.
We even loaded up with a bunch for lunch further along the way.
It was also in Arbroath that we discovered the first two
significant equipment problems of the trip, so far. First of all, the water-maker seems to have
become clogged, as it is not producing at its expected rate. It may need to be cleaned, for the first time
in 4 years. We think that it was not a
good idea to try to run it as we left Dover and crossed the Thames estuary,
where the filters filled with fine particulate, and we may have left a good
deposit on the membrane, as well.
Also, the battery charger appears to have died. No lights of any sort, the fuses are fine,
but no charging from shore-power. We
still have the main engine alternator, the solar panels, and the windmill, but
until this is fixed, we will be on 12v rationing in port. The genset has also been acting up, and this
is likely due to some part of the circ-water impeller still lodged in the
cooling system. It cannot be fixed until
the dinghy is dropped. The battery
charger will have to wait till we get back to France. And the water-maker will get cleaned once we
reach a harbor with good clean seawater – nowhere on the East Coast of
Scotland. Until then, we will be on
marina water and flush the water-maker every 5 days.
Our departure on June 21st was in doubt for a
while, because the gates were only scheduled to be open for 3 minutes(!) in the AM. We didn’t want to have to wait till
mid-afternoon, so a chat with one of the harbormasters confirmed that they
would indeed open, since we needed to leave early, subject to the weather not
disturbing the tide levels too much.
The weather cooperated, so we left at 7:00 AM. It was also a good thing that one other boat
wanted to come in at the same time, so the gates opened a few minutes early,
and we all made the passage.
Not
entirely without drama, however.
As we were leaving the outer harbor from Arbroath there
appeared to be some sort of black line dangling in the water from one side of
the entrance walls. Rxc throttled back,
think that maybe someone had left a line adrift across the entrance, but once
we were in the entrance itself, the “line” revealed itself to be a water hose
that was led from one side of the entrance to the other, where some workers
were using it, probably for a pressure washer.
The hose was floating, and we could not stop, so we merrily ran over it
and pulled it out of the pressure washer into the harbor. We did not see what happened next, but the
boat that was coming in would have had to run over it as well, because of the
way that it was trailing. Why anyone
would think that they could run a hose across a harbor entrance is beyond
us. Luckily, it did not foul and props,
and we do not think that any damage was done other than to the connector.
Off we went, into the North!
Peterhead
21-24
Jun
From Arbroath north there are not many useful harbors for
yachts. Aberdeen is right where you
might want a port, but it is filled with oil-rig support ships, and yachts are
just barely tolerated. There are NO
facilities for yachts – you lie along the fishing boat wall.
So, Aberdeen was out as a stop, and we decided to head to
Peterhead. This is also an oil-rig
servicing port, but it also has a major fishing port, and a marina for
boats. We sailed for about an hour, but
then the wind went to the NE, so the motor came on. The winds did not rise above force 3-4, occasionally
5, but the seas mounted considerably.
This was Robin’s first day at sea, and unfortunately, the North Sea was
not kind to her. We rolled quite a bit,
slammed a bit less, and were generally uncomfortable. The entrance into the harbor was very much
like the entrance into Whitby, but on a grander scale. Lots of high waves, with the boat wandering
back and forth, strong cross currents at the mouth of the breakwater, and then
into a mill-pond of a harbor with great protection.
We made it into the marina easily, tied up,
and had a good meal to unwind from a trying day.
We spent 3 nights all together in Peterhead, because yet
another low decided to come up into the North Sea. It was a good and nice walk into town, with a
great view out over the harbor, and with many birds and seals. We found a nice restaurant for lunch the
second day, and a good butcher, and generally spent the time preparing for the
next stage of the trip.
Lossiemouth
24-25
Jun
On June 24,it looked like we would have another window open,
so we headed out, and actually did some
sailing for a while, until the wind backed into the NW, and the seas started to
build again. It was another long day of
motoring in unpleasant conditions till we reached Lossiemouth. This is a small harbor about half way from
Peterhead to Inverness, along the south coast of the Firth of Moray. It used to
be a fishing port, but is now catering more towards yachties. The water at the entrance is a bit thin
during LW springs, but when we arrived there was plenty, so we threaded our way
in, and after some other nice yachties mover a bit, we settled down for the
night. Only one night, and the town was
pretty closed up, so we ate on board.
After this second night, we were wondering whether Robin was
reconsidering…
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