Paul & John’s Round Britain Log.
June 2008.

FOR MORE PICTURES CLICK HERE.

Day 34.  Sunday 29th June.  

We woke up to a very pleasant morning.  The other boat, Stormdancer which is with us this week, had gone out the night before and was coming back for us to leave at 08.00 and so we had an early start and were out the showers by the time they opened at 07.00.  Sally and the rest of the girls were now feeling a little bit better having had a good nights sleep, a shower, and with the beautiful scenery, they appeared to be quite looking forward to the day.  Unfortunately, it was going to be fairly windy with a 5 to 7 and so we had decided that we couldn’t go round to the West side of Mull as it would be too rough. 

Stormdancer, with the others on board, finally arrived at 09.15 rather than 08.00 and, having got water on board, we left Tobermory at 10.15 and proceeded back down the Sound of Mull.  We had winds up to about 32 knots but the sea was reasonably OK and so we had a good and exciting sail.  We went down to Loch Aline and proceeded to the head of the Loch where we moored with the intention of going ashore to look at a house and some gardens.  The weather was so appalling, and because everybody was quite tired after their first day at sea, we ended up sleeping for a couple of hours and then heading back down the Loch to moor in a very sheltered area near the mouth.  By that time the wind had dropped a bit and it was beautifully glassy smooth.

Dinner tonight, roast fillet of beef with Bernaise sauce, new potatoes and baby corn, followed by baked apples and cream.

Day 33.  Saturday 28th June.

Ron, Dick and Mick got off at 07.30 and John and myself, having gone round to the hotel for a shower, started the provisioning and the serious cleaning required to the boat before we had our first contingent of ladies on board!  Having bought up most of Tobermory and scrubbed the boat from top to bottom we then disinfected all loos and got two bottles of champagne in.  Richard and Jenny, Sally and Lisa arrived on time at about 17.30 but were obviously very tired after a long day. 

We had dinner on board, roast chicken followed by cheese and biscuits and the two bottles of champagne. 

Six on board is a little bit cramped!

We turned into the Sound of Mull and proceeded up it with good winds for most of the time, although they did die for an hour or so.   We arrived in Tobermory at 15.00 hours.  Ron took us to the pub for a farewell meal as Ron, Dick and Mick were leaving the next morning.

Day 31.  Thursday 26th June.

We left Puilladobhain at 08.45 and sailed up to Oban where we took a buoy in order to get a little more shopping in the town.  We left Oban at about 13.30 and proceeded up Loch Linney to Eriska which is on Loch Creran.  We have gone into a beautiful little bay which is reasonably well sheltered from the strong South West winds we are having and have found an empty buoy which we have taken.

Dinner tonight will be roast pork and treacle tart, possibly with custard and probably with cream.

Day 27.  Sunday 22nd June.

We had a leisurely start at about 10.00 and then proceeded up through the range of locks which take you up to the summit of the Crinan Canal.  We were plagued by midges which at one stage were almost completely covering us.  We also had some problems with one lock which was broken and had to be fixed before we could go through.  We moored up by lock 9, which is the first of the locks to take us down the other side.  We are in the middle of typical Scottish countryside with a little loch or lake to the right of us and pine trees and hills all around us.  It really is very, very beautiful.

Dinner tonight is a bit over the top.  We are going to have shellfish bisque made with the shells from the crabs, the lobsters and the Dublin Bay prawns followed by beef curry and self saucing chocolate puddings.

For dinner tonight we had the seafood that we had bought from the stall at Loch Tarbert, namely lobsters, crabs and Dublin Bay prawns with homemade mayonnaise, new Jersey royal potatoes and salad followed by cheese and biscuits.

We tied up at the visitors pontoon and then decided to go and explore the beautiful town, at which point it started to pour with rain and so we went to shelter in the lee of the fire station.  The door opened and one of the firemen told us to come inside and then told us all about the town while it was pouring with rain and we were sheltering.  Very, very friendly and lovely.  We found that there was a large shellfish stall and so have bought some lobsters, crabs and Dublin Bay prawns which I boiled this evening and we will have for dinner on Saturday night. 

We went out to a restaurant for dinner which was very nice, and then on the way back we passed a lovely little pub with a live band going and so we went in for a couple of pints.  It was just like being on the West Coast of Ireland.  Excellent!

 Please note we are now on second time round for many of the recipes I can do!

Day 23.  Wednesday 18th June.

We stayed in Campbeltown awaiting Dick Steel and Ron Griffiths’ arrival which gave us a chance to provision and get more wine on board.  The weather had improved enormously.  Having been pouring with rain yesterday it was now lovely and sunny today. 

Howard has booked into a bed and breakfast but will be dining with us on board which will be rhubarb fool and either roast chicken or roast pork.

Day 20.  Sunday 15th June.

We left Strangford Lough at 09.00 in the morning which was a bit early as we still had a couple of hours of very strong tides against us as we went down the Lough.  We motor sailed managing 3 or 4 knots against the tide which at times was running at 5 knots.  By 10.00 we had cleared the Southern Cardinal and headed off up to Bangor Marina.  We entered Belfast Lough at about 15.20 and proceeded up arriving at Bangor Marina at 16.20.  It was a fantastic Marina with wonderful facilities.

Dinner that night was roast lamb and rhubarb crumble.

We then had a wonderful run back to Strangford with the wind behind us and bright sunlight.  We arrived back at Strangford and found that our visitors buoy was still vacant and so we went back onto it at 17.30.

Dinner tonight will be sausages, probably with onion gravy and I do not know yet what the pudding, if any, will be. (Turned out to be Rhubarb Crumble).

At 15.45 we were approached by a large Fast RIB with Coastguard written all over it which turned out to be the Customs.  They came up alongside us and asked us various questions before wishing us a good holiday and disappearing off.  At 16.30 we arrived at the small town of Strangford which is at the top of The Narrows and found a convenient visitors buoy where we tied up for the night.

Dinner was roast fillet of beef with bearnaise sauce and new potatoes, French beans and roasted peppers, followed by a rice pudding which went horribly wrong.

Day 17 Continued.  Carlingford Lough.

We remained in Carlingford Lough for the day which enabled us to go for a walk, get some provisions and get some of the washing done.  We then went out for an evening meal to a really superb small bistro where we had great fresh fish and then returned to the boat.

Day 17, Thursday 12th June.

Because again the forecast was for a 6 or possibly 7 tonight we decided it would be difficult to anchor in Strangford Lough, which is our next port of call, and therefore we have stayed in Carlingford an extra day.  We wandered into the village which was really very beautiful and John Southworth and John Savage have gone for a walk up the mountains.  We will be eating out tonight at one of the numerous good restaurants in Carlingford Village.

Day 16, Wednesday 11th June. 

We left Dun Laoghaire Marina at 08.10 just as there was the beginning of a blockade by the local fishing boats in protest at the diesel prices.  We got out as quickly as possible! 

As usual the wind was pretty much on the nose and so to begin with we motor sailed.  It then improved and came round more onto the beam and we sailed well for about four hours by which time we were nearing the entrance to Carlingford Lough and so we took down the sails and followed the main shipping channel which is well marked with buoys.  The wind had now sprung up to a good 5 and there was the threat of slightly stronger winds over night and so we decided to go into Carlingford Marina, the entrance to which was about 2 feet wider that the boat and the wind was blowing straight across it!  Anyway, we got in without any mishap, moored up at the end pontoon and went to the Marina office.  We then moved the boat to a different pontoon and settled down for the evening.   

There was a very nice bar attached to the Marina where we went and had a few drinks and then came back for roast stuffed loin of pork with vegetables and bread and butter pudding with brandy soaked raisons.

Day 15.   Tuesday 10th June.

We are staying at Dun Laoghaire and going into Dublin for the day where we will eat and  therefore will just have snacks when we return in the evening.

The tide was very much in our favour and the wind picked up slightly so we sailed for about one and half hours.   We arrived at the mouth of Dublin Bay about 15.00 and proceeded into the Bay and into Dun Laoghaire Harbour where we tied up at berth NV7 on the visitor’s area of the marina which is absolutely huge.    

Dinner tonight was roast chicken and apple pie.   We had met up the day before at Arklow with Tim Banks who was sailing part single handed round the U.K., although going through the Caledonian Canal.  He came on board as we were preparing for dinner and we invited him to stay and had a very pleasant evening with six of us around the table.   Having a guest of course meant we had to be fairly generous with the wine !

At 18.00 hours we arrived into Arklow and went up the river to moor on the visitor’s pontoon.  It was very, very shallow and we only had half a metre under our keel.   It was also one of the smelliest rivers we have ever seen and raw sewage was being pumped into it from an outlet not very far up from where we were moored !   Dinner was fish pie with vegetables and cheese and biscuits.

We arrived in what is known as the South Haven on Skomer and anchored at 18.50.   It was absolutely beautiful, we were completely surrounded by thousands and thousands of puffins and Stuart, who is local, said he had not seen so many in the area for many, many years.   We put down the anchor angel and settled in to cook the evening meal which was roast beef with vegetables and apple and raspberry crumble and home made custard.   It was nice and sheltered and we had a very relaxed evening.

We had to alter course once to avoid a large tanker but apart from that it was a relatively uneventful journey.  We saw a couple of dolphins but they only stayed with the boat for a very short space of time and so we got no chance for pictures. 

We arrived at Milford Haven entrance at about 18.20 and proceeded up the Haven towards Milford Dock and Marina and phoned the Pier Head for entry into the Dock.  This was duly allowed and we came in through the lock and tied up at 19.20.  Another good long passage under our belts.

Dinner this evening Hungarian Goulash with rice and self saucing chocolate puddings washed down with wine and a very nice Sauternes with the chocolate puddings.  We then went ashore to visit John’s cousin who is joining us for the next few days of the trip.

The weather was clear but with some rain later during the morning.  Once we had rounded Land’s End we set off up the North Cornish Coast.  The wind at this stage was really quite good and we were able to turn off the engine and sail at 5 to 6 knots against the tide for about 3 hours.  We contacted Padstow and  confirmed that they would be opening the gate to the Harbour at approximately 16.45.  It was now raining reasonably heavily and we motor sailed up to the entrance to the Camel River and spent some long time in discussion on the rather tortuous entrance into Padstow Harbour itself.  Once in the Camel River the tide was running at probably 4 knots or so and made the passage into the small channel quite tricky.  We had radioed the Harbour and been given useful advance regarding the passage, especially as to how close we had to keep to the starboard side when coming into the Harbour itself.  We came in and were met by the Harbour Master and tied up alongside the Custom Quay which is right opposite the pub which could not be more convenient. 

Dinner tonight, roast chicken followed by chocolate bread and butter pudding and clotted cream and, because of the exhilaration of having achieved something none of the four of us had achieved before we definitely drank too much wine. 

 Tomorrow, Day 10, will be a rest day here in Padstow enlightened by lunch at Rick Stein’s.

Near Land's End.

Dawn Near Land's End.

Longships Lighthouse.

Off Lizard Point.

Day 8.  Tuesday 3rd June. 08.30 left Helford in a lovely sunny day, quite cold but weather beautiful.   Wind 15 – 18 knots from the West.   Came out of the Helford and had a wonderful sail down to the Lizard which we rounded at 11.00  having been making up to 8 knots over the ground.

Tied Up In Penzance.

The sea state round the Lizard became relatively confused and rough and we found we were unable to make our heading to Penzance, so tacked again and finally decided for the last couple of hours we would need to motor sail in order to get our course, which we did, and we arrived at the visitor’s buoys outside Penzance harbour at approximately 14.45.   We tied up had some late lunch and waited for the dock to open which it duly did and we went in and rafted up alongside a lovely old wooden boat and will be here until about 03.45 tomorrow morning when we will be leaving to go round Land’s End to Padstow. Dinner was sausages and onion gravy and because of the early start small amounts of wine.

The three fins we saw were its dorsal fin, its tail and the top of its nose with its gaping mouth.    Got some good pictures.   At 13.30, for the second time  in seven days we were approached by the Range Safety boat as the Navy were yet again to commence live firing.   We altered course for two nautical miles to 300 in order to clear the area then resumed our course to Helford.    Twenty minutes later we lost the GPS signal to our Raymarine Navigation equipment, minor panic, reverted for half an hour to the tried and tested methods of using the charts and a hand held GPS and then after some fiddling managed to re-boot and get the signal back again.   Wind has still not picked up so although we had sailed for a small amount of time we continued to motor.   Arrived at the Helford river at 16.10, having done 45 nautical miles and tied up on one of the visitor’s buoys.   The weather was beautiful with clear skies and in due course a wonderful sunset. Dinner was fillet of beef with new potatoes and bearnaise sauce ,caramelised oranges, cheese and yet more wine.

Basking Shark.

Evening At Yealm.

Sunset At Yealm.

The sun was shining and we had between 8 and 20 knots of wind during the day and had some great sailing.   Played around with the spinnaker pole on the genoa which improves things enormously and enabled us to get into the Yealm ahead of four other yachts, thus securing the last available alongside berth on the visitors pontoon.    John, Jeff and Richard took the dinghy ashore to get some fruit for the evening meal which is to be Sri Lankan fish curry, apple and blueberry crumble, cheese and biscuits and copious bottles of wine hopefully!

Moored at Weymouth

Portland Bill

Entering Dartmouth

 Day 3.  Thursday, 29th May.

We left Weymouth early at 5.10 am.  It was very misty with only a little wind.  We motor sailed out to Portland Bill.  Races and over falls were not very bad.  We took the in shore passage very close to the Bill and headed off towards Dartmouth.  The weather brightened and the wind got up and we got our first really good sail.  The wind was from behind or occasionally slightly on the beam and we were sailing about 7 knots in 15 knots of wind with the sun on our backs.  It started to rain about 10.30 and rained for a couple of hours before clearing up ready for our entrance into Dartmouth.  The wind also backed round to Northerly and freshened to about 15 knots, again giving us a fine sail into the mouth of the Dart.  We went in and moored on A21 on Darthaven Marina, a great berth for us to have the official start on Sunday.

Day 2.  Wednesday, 28th May.

Left Yarmouth early at 5.30 for a run with the tide down through the Needles Channel and out past St Alban’s Head and into Weymouth, the journey being some 35 nautical miles.  There was a storm warning for the middle of the day and again very little wind and so we motor sailed and motored all the way.  Also we had to get through the range at Lulworth quickly as they were about to commence firing.  We arrived at Weymouth just after midday.

 Day 1.  Tuesday, 27th May.

We went down to Portsmouth to collect the boat, Freebooter.  Everything was fine with the boat.  We then went to power up the marinized computer.  Instant fiasco! Major malfunction meaning that the computer with e-mails, dictation and backup Seapro Navigation was not working at all.  Having got over the shock we got all our gear neatly stacked and set off from Portsmouth to Yarmouth.  We left at approximately 4 o’clock and had the 17.6 nautical mile run down to Yarmouth with the tide behind, cloudy but reasonable weather, very little wind, and so motored all the way to Yarmouth arriving at about 6.30.