Thu 23 Jul |
Inverness Seaport Marina to Whitehills |
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We exited the canal through the Clachnaharry Sea Lock in the late morning, after waiting for the tide to rise, and were accompanied down the Inver by a lone dolphin. We turned the corner at the mouth of the estuary and headed east for Whitehills on a dead run. The wind was variable from zero to force 3 to 4 and we employed all combinations of motor, mailsail, genoa, cruising chute and chute set as a spinaker, to keep a steady 6 knots.
The famous Bow & Fiddle rock and the rail viaducts at Port Knockie made interesting viewing; our passage taking us close to the shore.
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Paul baked a superb fish pie for supper which we all enjoyed with a bottle of white wine sitting in the cockpit on a lovely Scotish evening. We arrived in Whitehills, a delightful little marina surrounded by massive stone harbour walls, in time for a quick trip to the local pub, where we exchanged yarns with very friendly local fishing folk.
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Day Run 61nm
1253nm |
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| Fri 24 Jul |
Whitehills to Peterhead |
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We awoke to discover a very special yacht lying astern with its support vessel alongside. We had been told by the Harbour Master in Howth to look out for a young lady who was sailing around Britain just ahead of us, but going around the top. Her specially designed yacht was controlled by her quadaraplegic, solo sailing skipper, using just a couple of mouth activated controls.
She had arrived in the marina at 0400 hrs. We were most disappointed that we had to leave the harbour before she had returned from her well deserved night's rest, as we were all hoping to meet her.
As we looked into the clear marina water we could see large lobsters between the rocky harbour walls.
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Our passage started with a good breeze. The cruising chute helping us to exceed 8 knots for much of the time. Bright sunshine was replaced by overcast skies and torrential rain as we arrived at Peterhead. The previous hour and a half had seen the wind disappear and we had to motor.
Graham's cousin, Bruce is one of the marina Harbourmasters. We hope to see him before we leave in the morning. He was on leave today.
We were delighted to welcome aboard Alan, Chappie's older brother. He has previously cruised with us on Colette and will complete the rest or our voyage with us. |
Day Run 38nm
1291nm
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| Sat 25 - Sun 26 Jul |
Peterhead to Amble Marina |
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We met Bruce before leaving and then set off to return to English waters. This was to be our longest leg so far. We made good speed for several hours under cruising chute.
We passed the ruins of the once magnificent Old Slanes Castle.
The wind eventually headed us and strengthened; overnight requiring double reefs as we beat through the night.
Things had calmed significantly as Chappie's brother Stephen was at the helm with a beautiful sunrise lighting the Firth of Forth.
The weather deteriorated and our view of the coastal features, including Lindisfarne or Holy Island was spoiled by poor visibility. The strong currents against us and head winds required several hours of motoring. We reached the marina at Amble some thirty hours after leaving Peterhead. The weather eventually cleared providing a pleasant evening.
Paul produced a fine Chilli supper before we all took an early night. |
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Day Run 168nm
1459nm |
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| Mon 27 Jul |
Amble to Whitby |
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Our ambitions were lowered by the adverse inshore forecast; however we hoisted our sails as we left the Amble entrance. After negotiating the shallows and numerous lobster pots, we headed south still enthusing over our excellent localy smoked kippers whose robust smoky flavour stayed with us for the entire passage.
Blyth, our original destination was soon abeam and our spirits were raised due to the favourable winds. We pressed on and rapidly reached the Tyne. The delights of Newcastle were surpassed by the prospect of continuing south in pursuit of two yachts that Paul was determined to overtake. We achieved this as we passed our next revised destination of Sunderland; but never mind as Hartlepool was clearly achievable.
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The sky cleared to a magnificent azure blue and we were achieving our best speeds for the day (10 knots+); no stopping us now. So Whitby it was. We entered the narrow entrance and enthusiastically encouraged the Lady Oars of Whitby who clearly had anticipated our arrival! |
Day Run 65nm
1524nm |
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| Tue 28 Jul |
Whitby to Grimsby |
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Having enjoyed an excellent supper at Mr Chips, the award winning Yorkshire fish & Chips restaurant the previous evening, we were prepared for today's passage past Flamborough Head and Spurn Point and on into the busy Humber.
Graham and Alan took Colette through the swingbridge for the 0820 opening in order to pick the 'shoppers' up from the pontoon on the seaward side; thus saving a wait for the next opening.
Sails were hoisted as we passed 'Grimsby Rock' just outside and to the South of the entrance. The course was close hauled in a good breeze; making swift progress towards Flamborough Head and beyond. We were keen to sail as far as we could but eventually had to turn to engine.
The strong tide meant slow progress but we had interesting entertainment. An Air-Sea Rescue helicopter was requesting ship Captains allow them to practice lowering a man to their deck. We were close by and watched the whole excercise.
It was dark by the time we entered the Humber entrance. Having established contact with Humber VTS, we proceeded, staying south of the channel. The number of ship movements was high as we found our way to the Meridian Marina in Fish Island Dock. The passage through the harbour took an hour or so and the lights were difficult to find against the brightly back-lit shore. |
Graham was to return home by train, leaving Chappie and his brothers Alan and Stephen with brother-in-law Paul to complete Colette's last couple of East coast legs home.
Strong winds kept them in port for Wednesday. The log will be completed on their return. |
Day Run 75nm
1599nm |
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| Thu/Fri 30/31 Jul |
Grimsby to Lowestoft
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Wednesday brought strong wind forecasts and we decided to stay the day – and what a miserable day it was- it didn’t stop raining until well after dark. The wind blew a houley that night but moderated the following morning to allow us to leave around noon.
As we motor-sailed out of the Humber, we saw the unusual sight of a supertanker moored to a buoy in the middle of the estuary and connected to a pipeline to pump its cargo ashore.
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Out into open water, we hoisted all sail and made good progress well out to sea across the entrance to the Wash. As it moved into night, the course hardened up and we passed between north Norfolk and the Hapisborough sands. This was an extremely busy route for commercial shipping and on several occasions we had a ship each side overtaking Colette and another each side coming in the other direction. – all this in a channel only about 3 miles wide. The AIS system showed its worth and we were able to predict the path of each ship looming up in the dark.
As dawn broke we hardened up onto a beat and finally motored the last few miles into Lowestoft, arriving at 6am. After a shower, some sleep and a walk around the town, we had fish and chips and a pint at the Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club – known locally as the ‘Nobs and Snobs’. |
Day Run – 112nm
1711nm
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| Sat 1 Aug |
Lowestoft to the River Orwell |
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On Saturday, Stephen left to fly home and the rest of the crew had a very interesting look at a Lowestoft Diesel trawler preserved as a floating museum. We had a personal tour guided by on old fisherman and he and Alan (a former sea captain) swapped tales of the sea.
Again we left around noon and we started making very slow progress tacking against an adverse tide. As the afternoon progressed, the tide turned south and we started to get nearer to our intended destination. We had a fish pie supper but, soon after, it started raining and the tide turned against us again. We dropped sail and motored into the Harwich Haven. The lights of Felixstowe Dock are a fantastic sight and we finally anchored just into the Orwell at 11pm.
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Day Run 60nm
1771nm |
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| Sun 2 Aug |
River Orwell to West Mersea |
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A 5am start to catch the tide and as we raised anchor, plenty of other yachts were already coming down the river. In fact we saw more sail that day than since we left the South Coast weeks ago,
The wind had moved north a bit enough to allow us to sail the Wallet on a single tack. It was very satisfying to catch up some of the yachts that had left ahead of us. Past the entrance to the Colne, we tacked across the Blackwater in bright early morning sunshine and picked up our mooring at about 10am with 1800 nautical miles logged; amazingly to the nautical mile of our original estimation.
A fantastic end to a most enjoyable adventure! |
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Day Run 29nm
1800nm |
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