Lindisfarne

After more than a month in Scotland, Bonita is now back in English waters and our Scottish courtesy flag has been folded away till whenever it might be needed again. This morning we turned Bonita around in her berth with help from Edgar towing the bow round with his dinghy. We then left Eyemouth shortly after low water. The narrow entrance channel was completely blocked by a dredger at work, but we called him up and he seemed happy enough to stop work to let us pass by.

We had hoped to be able to sail but found a light head wind so motored the 20 or so miles to Holy Island (Lindisfarne). Of the Gaffers, Barbarossa, Onward,Recipe and Hilda are here too. You have to anchor inside the island and when we were here 10 years ago we had the greatest difficulty recovering the anchor as it had fouled an old mooring cable. We put a tripping line on the anchor today and hope things will be better when we go tomorrow. D and I rowed ashore to have a look around and see some of the reminders of the earliest days of Christianity in England and stories of the exploits of the early saints.

The picture shows D with St Cuthberts Isle in the background where the saint lived for a couple of years.  We also managed to get fish and chips in the Crown and Anchor, at a time in the evening when most pubs have stopped serving food. 

The pictures show Barbarossa, Onward of Ito and Bonita at anchor off Holy Island, all with a black ball in the rigging as the daytime sign that we are anchored.

The last picture taken at dusk shows a calm sea and our riding light lit and hoisted in the rigging in case any other vessel should arrive in the dark. Most boats today have electric riding lights-or none at all- but Bonitas riding light is a proper parrafin hurricane lamp that is of unknown age but certainly many decades old. As darkness comes we are surrounded by the sounds of the many seals calling to each other as they go noisily about their business.

Lindisfarne

After more than a month in Scotland, Bonita is now back in English waters and our Scottish courtesy flag has been folded away till whenever it might be needed again. This morning we turned Bonita around in her berth with help from Edgar towing the bow round with his dinghy. We then left Eyemouth shortly after low water. The narrow entrance channel was completely blocked by a dredger at work, but we called him up and he seemed happy enough to stop work to let us pass by.

We had hoped to be able to sail but found a light head wind so motored the 20 or so miles to Holy Island (Lindisfarne). Of the Gaffers, Barbarossa, Onward,Recipe and Hilda are here too. You have to anchor inside the island and when we were here 10 years ago we had the greatest difficulty recovering the anchor as it had fouled an old mooring cable. We put a tripping line on the anchor today and hope things will be better when we go tomorrow. D and I rowed ashore to have a look around and see some of the reminders of the earliest days of Christianity in England and stories of the exploits of the early saints. We also managed to get fish and chips in the Crown and Anchor, at a time in the evening when most pubs have stopped serving food. 

The pictures show Barbarossa, Onward of Ito and Bonita at anchor off Holy Island, all with a black ball in the rigging as the daytime sign that we are anchored.

The last picture taken at dusk shows a calm sea and our riding light lit and hoisted in the rigging in case any other vessel should arrive in the dark. Most boats today have electric riding lights-or none at all- but Bonitas riding light is a proper parrafin hurricane lamp that is of unknown age but certainly many decades old. As darkness comes we are surrounded by the sounds of the many seals calling to each other as they go noisily about their business.

Eyemouth

After days (or weeks) of wind that was too much, too little or in the wrong direction, today was better. We had a westerly, force 4 to 5. We started the day in Tayport, and there were a further 8 or so gaffers in Arbroath a few miles up the coast, all waiting for an opportunity to make progress South. We left at 5.30am to get the tide down the river Tay. The Arbroath contingent had to wait for the lock gate to open at around 11am.

Everyone had an excellent sail though there was quite a lot of swell crossing the Firth of Forth. We are now in Eyemouth, so this busy fishing harbour has had the benefit of a sudden influx of gaffers.

All the boats seem to have made a very quick trip, but some of the speeds quoted by enthusiastic owners sound as though they might possibly be a  bit hopeful. Everyone had a good sail though.

Eyemouth is a bustling little town with plenty of history. We were here 10 years ago and the dockside area has been developed and improved since then.

The picture shows one characterful Eyemouth resident: this huge seal is kept well fed with scraps thrown by the fishermen. He is said to be blind, but he is still quick enough so that he usually gets to the fish scraps before the seagulls do.

Discovery in Dundee

This morning we went by bus to Broughty Ferry where the local lifeboat station was having a day of festivities to raise money for the RNLI. Among other excitements was the rescue of a dummy that had jumped - or maybe he was pushed- off a bridge into the sea. It was all well organised and there were plenty of children looking at the exhibits. 

In the evening we went to Dundee where the Gaffers had a private guided tour of the Discovery. This is an antarctic exploration ship, built in Dundee in 1901 and occupying a prominent position between the station and the river.

The Discovery had a very successful career and was used in several important expeditions. She has massive wooden construction and is enormously strong. Unfortunately it is hard to prevent rot in heavy timber construction, but we were impressed by the efforts being made for her preservation. We enjoyed looking round her, though I think our volunteer guide struggled a bit with some of the Gaffers more technical questions.

We then had supper in a gallery overlooking the ship. 

This is the culmination of our visit to Dundee, ably organised by Alison and Julian Cable, who  also arranged our very successful visit to Oban earlier this month.

Yesterday's stormy weather seems to be passing on, and we hope soon to be able to make progress heading south.

Tayport again

The picture shows some of the very many dolphins that accompanied us into the River Tay yesterday. The tides are very turbulent in the entrance to the river and maybe that makes it easier for them to find fish.

This morning we woke up to a moderate breeze, but the forecast was a bit grim - easterly gales and plenty of rain. We thought it would be wise to move the boat at high tide to the sheltered harbour of Tayport on the other side of the river. Our old friends Edgar and Else on their lovely steel yacht Windbreker are here too and they went into Tayport just ahead of us. They were with us on the 2013 round Britain cruise, and on our trip to Holland in 2014: it was lovely to see them again and admire the many improvements to their boat. 

In the evening it did indeed blow hard, with a gale from the east and plenty of horizontal rain. We had a curry in the excellent Bell Rock restaurant and on getting back to the boat were grateful to be moored head to wind in a secure harbour.