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Wednesday, 21 July 2010

The final legs to home

We left Ramsgate on Monday and shortly reached the "white cliffs of Dover" which are always impressive from the sea!
Despite the weather forecast of F3 and 4, the wind never reached more than 4 knots apart from about 20 minutes of 11 knots (on the nose of course!) as we passed South Foreland - so we motored all day (again!)
A few minutes later we crossed the first entrance into Dover harbour - which is very busy. With the help of our AIS we managed to work out which ferries were a danger to us but this one suddenly appeared out of the harbour - and as you can see it passed rather close to our stern!
The original plan was to make for Eastbourne but half way there we decided to make for Brighton instead to shorten the final leg into Portsmouth. A quick check of the tide tables led us to the conclusion that we would make it into Brighton marina by around 9 and we actually tied up at 9.45 - shortly after dark! We were the fourth boat out in one of the many visitor's rafts - it was amazingly full mainly with Dutch, French and Belgian yachts - plus us of course!
We never went ashore apart from a visit to the harbour office to pay the dues and departed at 6 the next morning for the final 40 miles or so into Portsmouth.
The forecast was "variable F3 or 4" but the strongest wind recorded in the log was 6 knots so we motored the whole way (yet agin!!)
It was a welcome sight after so long to see the Sand Horse fort at the entrance to Portsmouth harbour and......
even better to reach the Mary Mouse at the entrance to Haslar after refuelling at Gosport Marina - only another 88 litres this time!
Moira R arrived shortly after we berthed to deliver John R's car for the journey home. John G is planning to return tomorrow (Thursday) to start the clean up and also bring back all of his clothes and other stuff which we couldn't get into John R's car - Moira should have driven down in her horsebox!!
A few statistics for the whole journey
Total days away = 79
Engine hours logged = 324 (and yes we are supposed to be a yacht!)
Litres of Diesel used - 753 (that does include the heating!)
Day's sailing = 54 (we had a lot of R&R!!)
We will be posting a few further "blogs" over the next couple of weeks to conclude our "epic voyage" (!) so please keep a lookout.
Thanks to all of our regular readers - and we know there are many of you! - it has been fun to keep the blog going for the past almost 3 months........


{GMST}50|47.50|N|1|07.00|W|Brighton to Portsmouth 20 July|Gosport{GEND}


{GMST}50|48.53|N|0|06.38|W|Ramsgate to Brighton 19 July|Brighton{GEND}


Sunday, 18 July 2010

Almost on the South Coast!

Regular readers of our "blog" will know that we haven't done much sailing on this trip (!!) - mainly motoring with no wind or motoring into the head on wind when we have been making long passages. Today we left Queenborough and actually sailed for almost 4 hours before the wind moved right into our nose as we passed North Foreland leaving us yet another 2 hours of motorsailing to Ramsgate. These are some of the forts which are still standing in the Thames Estuary which we passed alongside Whitstable where John G's ex boss, Matthew, was trying to spot us in his binoculars. He thinks he saw us!



We arrived in a very bumpy Ramsgate in the early afternoon - it is still bumpy in the outer marina where we are moored. As you can see from the pic on the left, the place is very busy with loads of visiting yachts - a lot from Holland, Germany and Belgium. Flying our British ensign, we feel a minority!

We haven't "hit the town" yet - the nearest we got was the shower block shorthly after arriving - our last showers were in St Katharine Docks on Friday morning!! We are planning to visit the Royal Temple Yacht Club this evening - maybe for dinner if their restaurant is open - the club

house overlooks the inner marina which has a lock - it looked somewhat less bumpy than where we are but we didn't want to be constrained for departure by getting through the lock.
Tomorrow we are planning to get to Eastbourne - another long day - 60 miles and probably 11/12 hours.
Both of us are looking forward to a night in a real bed (John R had one at his flat in London on Thursday - John G is jealous!) - plus a decent roast meal - plus not having to do our own washing - no particular order of preference although the bed bit seems good!!


{GMST}51|19.51|N|1|25.50|E|Queenborough to Ramsgate 18 July|Ramsgate{GEND}


Friday, 16 July 2010

Unexploded Bombs!


A postscript to the earlier blog on our trip up the Thames. Just outside the Medway is this wreck which we didn't realise until we surfed the net just now is the famous SS Richard Montgomery - a US liberty ship which sank in 1944. We passed quite close to it on our way out of Queenborough without realising that it is the one which is still full of explosives which are deemed too dangerous to remove! I will definitely give it a wider berth on our way back!!


A couple of days in the "City"


We left the Medway at 8 on Wednesday and it took almost 7 hours to get up the Thames to Tower Bridge. Amazing amount of large shipping at the lower end of the river but they disappear as you get closer to London when the river narrows. This is a view of the barrier after we had passed through it - it's quite narrow in the small craft entrance and a little daunting when the tide is running at 4 knots - we managed to avoid hitting the piers!


Just around the corner is the infamous dome (now the O2) - as you can see we passed quite close to it as we approached Canary Wharf - where Robert G was at the CW Pier to greet us and he also took some photographs as we passed - unfortunately we couldn't figure out how to download them off the mobile phone!
Here is the entrance to St Katharine Docks - where we waited for almost 30 mins to get into the lock. We had to tie up to a waiting buoy outside which was a challenge with a 4 knot tide and passing river taxis setting wake across us! We eventually managed to pick up the buoy but not until after we had broken the mooring boathook - we have another challenge when we get back to the Medway since we also need to take a buoy for the night - not easy without the special boathook!
As you can tell this picture of the main basin was not taken on the day we arrived - spot the blue sky compared to the dark stuff on the day before!
June G and Moira R joined us on Wednesday evening for dinner - first time we had seen them for 11 weeks or so! We had intended to leave this morning (Friday) but the weather is still a bit too windy so we are staying another day.
Yesterday John G caught up with some of his old City contacts and friends who popped in at various times for coffee, beers or whatever was dictated by the time of day!
John R's godson Michael also joined us yesterday evening for dinner. This is the famous Dickens Inn in the basin - a pub which John G frequented almost 30 years ago when he was "something in the City"! It was so windy yesterday that the marina staff tied the main pontoons together with huge ropes (no piles at the end of the pontoon which is the "norm" in marinas)
Not quite sure what we are doing today except trying to find a chandlery near here who can supply a new halyard for the jib furler - the old one has got so stiff that it is jamming!
The 2 Johns are now on their own for the trip back to Portsmouth - David had to depart for something called "work" - we didn't understand that!!
We are planning to get to Ramsgate on Sunday before turning the corner into the Channel for the last stage back home. Watch this space for further rivetting stories!


Wednesday, 14 July 2010

We're back to West of Greenwich!


A quick update because we couldn't send the usual blog yesterday.
Yesterday we found our way across the Thames Estuary from Harwich down to Queenborough which is just inside the Medway at the bottom of the Thames - a night on a buoy for a change but very convenient for catching the first tide this morning up to London.
We'll post a blog on St Kathrine Dock tomorrow but this was the view from the cockpit whilst we were awaiting entry into the lock this afternoon to prove that we made it! It was nice to be able to wave at my son Robert when we passed Canary Wharf and he took some pictures of us for the scap book!


{GMST}51|30.36|N|0|04.35|W|Queenborough to London 14 July|St Katharine Dock{GEND} 


{GMST}51|25.81|N|0|43.93|E|Harwich to Queenborough July 13|Queenborough{GEND}


Monday, 12 July 2010

Lowestoft to Harwich (Shotley)

A somewhat shorter hop today - it took only 6 hours to reach Harwich from Lowestoft - heavy rain at the outset which cleared until we reached the lock at Shotley when the heavens opened like a fire hose. We got absolutely soaked whilst we were filling up with diesel and have all of our waterproofs in the "heads" with the fan heater going full blast. Hopefully everything will be dry in the morning!

Friends from Hythe Marina Village will be amazed that we have spotted yet another ex Hythe boat - Soma Haze - which is moored directly next to us at Shotley
This is the lock - we actually entered on free flow which saved a lot of hassle.

The marina is directly opposite the main container terminal and we are not sure what else is around since it has only just stopped raining and we haven't wandered far - David is actually on a "pub hunt" so we may have a report later! There is a restaurant/bar here called the Shipwreck but it doesn't look madly inviting - unless the rain returns - in which case we will go there tonight!





We are off in the morning to Queenborough at the bottom of the Thames and have booked a berth at St Katherines for Wednesday and Thursday - hopefully to meet up with some friends and maybe the spouses!


Long Haul - Whitby to Lowestoft


We eventually escaped from Whitby at 1300 on Friday and arrived in Lowestoft at 1700 on Saturday - 28 hours which was not amazing since there was no wind for 25 hours of the journey and we had to rely on the engine (again!) We did get one great pic of the sunrise around 4am as below

David Watson joined us late Thursday evening and I apologise for the out of focus picture!

The journey was uneventful except that we had to cross the gasfields in the pitch dark - spooky seeng huge platforms lit up like Christmas Trees in the middle of nowhere! We also encounted tens of tankers at anchor awaiting entry into the Humber - thanks heavens for AIS!

We hit a really foul tide for the last six hours into Lowestoft and were extremely glad to tie up in Hamilton Dock

This is the view from our cockpit across the dock - we were sharing it with a gasfield "hotel" which we think was being refurbished.

The Yacht Club had a regatta week and couldn't give us a berth. The main marina is way up from the entrance and we would have waited for the bridge to open for some time. This is the main windfarm just outside Great Yarmouth - the picture looks harmless but the size of the vanes is quite scary when you are close!

Although we stayed in Lowestoft for a second night (too tired to move on after the journey here) we can report nothing of any interest whatsoever - close to basin on the north side of Lowestoft.

However about 15 mins walk through the indusrial area we found a small pleasant park area. This contained the Maritime museum and also somwhere for a drink and a light lunch.

The south side of Lowestoft is a complete contrast and is a holiday resort which was very popular with a good beach and all the usual facilities.

An early start on Monday for the next passage to Harwich.




{GMST}51|57.06|N|1|17.77|E|Lowestoft to Harwich 12 July|Harwich{GEND}


{GMST}52|28.31|N|1|45.39|E|Whitby to Lowestoft 9 and 10 July|Lowestoft{GEND}


Thursday, 8 July 2010

Fish and Chips?


Greetings from Whitby - seemingly the Fish and Chip Capital of the Universe! There are literally hundred of F&C shops here and they even have competitions for annual winners - the place on the left won something in 2009 - wow!





Another of the major tourist attractions are donkey rides on the beach - unfotunately the weather was a bit damp and cloudy so the donkeys were rather unutilised today!
And here is another of the world famous attractions - a steam driven bus! They have other buses which trek around the town all day for the trippers. We didn't get around to joining them because we had to wash our hair!
I couldn't resist taking this photo of the headlines in the local newspaper (The Whitby Gazette) so as you can appreciate major things happen here!
We are looking forward to the 160 mile sail (well probably motoring!) to Lowestoft tomorrow - we are planning to leave around midday when we can get through the swing bridge. David Watson is joining us this evening for the trip home - we have been sitting in this area of paradise for 4 days and cannot wait to depart!
From Lowestoft we are planning to depart to Harwich on Monday after some R&R in Lowestoft and then to Queenborough on maybe Tuesday and then up the Thames to St Katherines Dock on probably Wednesday - John G is hoping to meet up with some of his ex City colleagues and we are both looking forward to maybe meeting up with our spouses for the first time in two and a bit months
Watch this space for the next major excitement!


{GMST}54|29.65|N|0|36.78|W|Hartlepool to Whitby 6 July|Whitby{GEND}


Monday, 5 July 2010

Here we are in Hartlepool!


We arrived here quite late on Friday to get through the lock (tidal constraints in the channel outside the marina) and had to wait for almost half an hour to refil the seriously depleted diesel tank - whilst a gas guzzler was filling up in front of us!
The marina is somewhat similar to Port Solent - loads of restaurants and bars - the pic here was taken on that evening. Very lively!





We had an excellent dinner at "Krimos" right next to the lock - run by an Algerian who owns two other restaurants close by. We said we would give them a plug! www.krimos.co.uk


We had always intended staying here for a few days - we are basically killing time waiting for David Watson to arrive on Thursday in Whitby. Saturday was great weather but Sunday produced a F8 gale - it was pretty bad inside the marina also since it has little protection from the elements!


At least the sun shines on us sometimes - had a great sunset on Saturday night
We visited the Maritime Museum this morning but it's not very impressive - seems to be set up mainly for children. There is also a "Hartlepool Maritime Experience" next to the museum but it was filled with the contents of 5 coaches of school kids and we decided to give it a miss. Might have been interesting - they had a couple of old ships alongside the quay..............but not sure what else!

We noted that ASDA had a deal on Fray Bentos Pies this morning - we didn't get any since we have not used the ones we brought with us from Gosport! Good deal at £1 each - John Apps may be interested to pop in here on his way home from the Jester Challenge!!
Nothing madly interesting to report - we are off to Whitby in the morning to await David - as well as getting the diesel serviced - see earlier blog on that fiasco!
We will post another "blog" at Whitby before departing on a long haul (155 miles) to Lowestoft hopefully on Friday...


{GMST}54|41.26|N|1|11.90|W|Sunderland to Hartlepool 2 July|Hartlepool{GEND}


Thursday, 1 July 2010

Heading South

We motorsailed to Amble yesterday but had to keep the speed down for a change because we couldn't get over the marina sill until quite late in the day - reminiscent of the Channel Islands! We left quite early this morning for the same sill reason and didn't get around to taking any photos there - but don't worry you haven't missed anything! The main town of Warkworth is apparently about a 20 minute walk but we had been on the go since 6am when we left Eyemouth - and neither of us could be bothered to walk there! So nothing of interest to report from Amble!

We arrived in Sunderland mid afternoon and were pleasantly surprised when we entered the marina - the old harbour outside is pretty run down although we did spy a couple of (what looked like) dredgers on the way in. Another very narrow entrance but here we are. John G popped ashore to book into the marina and took these two pics of the general area. I expect that we will take a few more when we go wandering later today. They have clearly created a marina village - along the lines of Port Solent although it seems a bit deserted at the moment - maybe it "hots up" in the evening.

Close to Sunderland we passed a disused lighthouse (Souter at Lizard Point) which promptly set off 3 exctremely loud fog horn blasts at us - there were also 3 yellow marker buoys across the bay which looked similar to the ones at the Lulworth firing ranges. Nothing on either the paper or electronic charts so we called Humber Coastguard who assured us that there were no exocets coming in our direction which was a welcome relief! The fog horn was being used by a BBC film crew - not quite sure why although maybe they are doing yet another detailed re-run of "Coast"!!

We decided that due to excessive amount of motoring so far plus a quick check of the diesel manual that we needed an oil change. JG spoke to the Yanmar service people in the Solent and they confirmed that we needed to do something and also obliged us with the details of the main service people in this area - they are based in Amble which was by then several hours behind us - shameI didn't call the Solent people yesterday! We are trying to contact an engineer in Hartlepool but he hasn't answered his phone so far!

Nothing else to report at the moment - maybe another "blog" from Hartlepool in the next day or so.


{GMST}54|55.23|N|1|21.15|W|Amble to Sunderland 1 July|Sunderland{GEND}


{GMST}55|20.37|N|1|34.25|W|Eyemouth to Amble 30 June|Amble|{GEND}


Tuesday, 29 June 2010

Motoring on!

We left Arbroath at just after 7 when the lock opened and motored the whole way to Eyemouth with winds approaching 5 (miles per hour - not Beaufort!) I am glad that we are doing our bit to help the new government with collecting excise duties!

The trip was uneventful although we did get close to a tanker (overtaking us - so theoretically at least it was our right of way?!) but the AIS said it would miss us by just over half a mile - and it did!




Eyemouth is a relatively pretty place - the pic above shows the main channel (we are moored off to the right out of the pic. The pic below shows the narrow entrance - 17 metres - G4 is 11 metres long and 4 wide so it would be a challenge to come in with something else coming the other way!
Immediately in front of us is what could be described as a "project" - an old fishing boat being converted for private use. I spoke to the owner who said they had removed 20 tons of hardware (cranes and winches etc) and needed some ballast to make up for the loss of weight - I thought they were building a rockery - see right below! They have loaded almost 15 tons of rock into the
bilges so far.
Chris is returning home tomorrow but was not too happy when we told him we had to leave at 6am to avoid the incoming fishing fleet - and have sufficient water under the keel - it gets somewhat shallow here!
David Watson is joining us but not until we reach Whitby which is several days ahead so the crew is short handed for the next few days - just the 2 Johns!
Finally Happy Birthday to June G today - it's a big one!
Our next stop is Amble (Hamble without the H!)


{GMST}55|52.52|N|2|05.29|W|Arbroath to Eyemouth 29 June|Eyemouth{GEND}


Sunday, 27 June 2010

Anyone for a "smokie"?!






We left Stonehaven this morning and (as usual) motored almost all the way with a wind directly on the nose to Arbroath - home of the Arbroath "smokie"
It seems that the Spink family have tied up the town for fish - this is one of three places we have seen walking around the town run by various members of the Spink family!
The inner harbour is "locked" and we had to arrive before the gates closed but we arrived in plenty of time

Here we are moored in the basin and just look at the sky - real blue stuff plus sun!










As you can see above the entrance is somewhat narrow and we had quite strong tides and wind on the approach but we did miss hitting the wall - the picture to the left is a warning on the coast road about waves!
On arrival we discovered that we couldn't get out tomorrow until 1300 or so but we had planned to sail to Edinburgh to meet Alan Cunningham (an old colleague of JG from Hitachi and Renesas) - departure at that time would make us seriously late getting into Edinburgh so we have changed plans (again!) and now are going to Eyemouth on Tuesday morning when we can leave between 7.15 and 7.45 only - due to spring tides. We had hoped to depart Monday around 6.00 or so but there is nowone on duty to open the gates! It was never like that at Hythe! I am hoping that we can meet up with Alan here in Arbroath on Monday..........
Arbroath seems to be mainly closed on a Sunday although there are a few pubs and restaurants plus a couple of supermarkets which are open for business. We have spent the afternoon basking in the sun (T shirts only which is a sudden change!)
One quirk of the place is that for the first time on the trip we are being charged for water - you have to buy a token. However we did find a hose which appeared to be permanently switched on that is used by the permanent bertholders. The hose just reached the boat to allow us to refil the tanks and hose off the decks - it is amazing how much dirt gets on the boat when you are moored on a wall as we were last night in Stonehaven.
The dongle works here but again no analogue or digital TV so we have to make polite conversation instead!
We plan to update next in Eyemouth on Tuesday night.........



{GMST}56|32.98|N|2|34.21|W|Stonehaven to Arbroath 27 June|Arbroath{GEND}


Saturday, 26 June 2010

Working our way South










We left Wick and headed for Peterhead - it was a convenient port of call but majorly unexciting. The above pictures show the scenic trailer park on one side and the even more scenic chemical storage on the other. Enough about Peterhead! The whole trip took 13 hours and we actually managed to sail for 4! It is probably no surprise that we needed to refil with diesel this morning before departing to Stonehaven!


To be honest we thought that Stonehaven would be another Scrabster - the pilot books didn't reveal much apart from the fact that we would be hanging on another wall for the night - see left!
The town is actually quite a pretty place - we are in the outer harbour but there is an inner harbour which dries (see above) and the pic on the left below shows the view from our wall!
We didn't have much time to check the town out. John G went to the local supermarket on arrival but forgot to take the camera whilst the light was good. Hopefully we'll have some time in the morning to take some better pics for the family album.
We are off to Arbroath in the morning (famous for "smokies") so watch this space for the report!


{GMST}56|57.56|N|2|12.02|W|Peterhead to Stonehaven 26 June|Stonehaven{GEND}


{GMST}57|29.81|N|1|46.42|W|Wick to Peterhead 25 June|Peterhead{GEND}


Thursday, 24 June 2010

The fearsome Pentland Firth!

With trepidation we departed Scrabster into the Pentland Firth - the almanacs and pilots books put the fear of God into us but frankly it was easy! To be fair there was precious little wind and we left at excactly the right time - Scrabster LW plus 1 hour. The route was quite simple athough we had to dodge a few large rocks (great to have the chartplotter!)

We passed quite close to John O Groats and sailed close to the shore to take this picture - we found out today that the large hotel building is actually empty! It lloks more lively than Lands End which we passed in early May and is free to access - unlike LE







We then passed through the overfalls at Duncansby Head which is at the most North East corener of Scotland and towards Wick. A few minutes after I took the photo, we saw a guy in a kayak miles from anywhere. It didn't look that he was in trouble so we carried on - the kayak was in quite shallow water so we couldn't have got close enough to speak to him anyway.






When we went ashore this morning we discovered that the kayak was also on a circumnavigation of the UK mainland (starting from Falmouth in April) and this is their support vehicle. They are collecting for charity so if you are interested in adding to our donation, their website is http://www.gonepaddling.co.uk/


When we arrived last night we found an excellent harbour facility (opened in Sept 2009 by Princess Anne) and were met by the harbour master (see last blog) Malcolm Bremner who saw us approaching the harbour and came over from his home to let us have the access keys. How nice! We also discovered today that he is the local Danish Vice Consul (too long a story for the blog!) as well as Vice Chairman of the Boat Section of the Wick Society who have a museum close to the harbour (www.wickheritage.org) which is well worth a visit.

Sorry Malcolm for the bad photograph taken in the harbour office this morning!

Anyone coming around this area MUST pay a visit to Wick - it's really nice and is close to the main town for shopping and restaurants/pubs etc

We spent ages this morning cleaning the boat and also flushing through the water tanks to get rid of the rubbish stuff we picked up in Kinlochbervie earler this week - the tea and coffee tastes OK now!!



The society have also restored an 1890 fishing boat called Isabella Fortuna which is moored almost next to us in the harbour (see left) and the website for more details - we promised to do a shameless advertisement for them!!

We found a strange bar this morning (see below) but it's not the sort of place that Julian Cleary would frequent - it is to commemorate where the troops camped prior to a famous battle (but we forgot the name!!)We are off South tomorrow but not quite sure where yet! Could be either Whitehills or round the next corner to Peterhead if the wind is favourable (fat chance with our luck!)