Stonehaven

We left Peterhead at about 8am and started out with a pleasant moderate offshore breeze - unusual on this cruise so far. We were sailing in company with Tony and Sally on Step Back in Time. We were heading for Stonehaven, about 35 miles due south. We passed by Aberdeen, as this port has the reputation of being too busy with oil industry traffic to have much space for yachts. We were surprised to see very little seaborne traffic entering and leaving Aberdeen.though, but we did see lots of helicopters coming and going.

Our pleasant sailing breeze had been forecast as 'variable,', and to prove the point it changed round to being a head wind for the last few miles. We motored into the little harbour at Stonehaven.

The picture shows Bonita tied up to a fishing boat, herself up against the harbour wall, and Step Back in Time outside us. We had a look around the town. It's clear there is much more wealth here than at Peterhead, with more fancy shops etc. Presumably this comes from being an Aberdeen commuter area as, unlike Peterhead, there seems to be no heavy industry. Peterhead has many businesses servicing a large fishing fleet, whereas in Stonehaven the fishing boats seem to be few, small and old. Peterhead has however invested in facilities to attract yachtsmen, whereas the facilities at Stonehaven are fairly basic. We did however find a reasonable quality restaurant close to the quay.

Peterhead

Tiring of the attractions of Inverness, Tim and I were encouraged by a slightly better forecast of westerly winds force 4-6, and so we extracted ourselves from the marina at about midday. The wind proved to be towards the top end of the predicted range, with a bit more added at times. Bonita for much of the trip was running under just mizzen and staysail, and doing more than 7 knots at times. There was a boisterous following sea with a fair amount of spray and water on deck

We covered the 90 miles to Peterhead in about 16 hrs and got in about 5am.

Peterhead is a pleasant quiet town
dominated by the fishing port in the old harbour. There is a large more recent breakwater enclosing a larger area of water. It turns out construction on this was begun in 1888, though not finished for 70 years. Unusually much of the work on building the breakwater was done by convict labour, and a prison was built for the purpose above the harbour. This is no longer used, but has been turned into a museum. I don't remember looking round a prison museum before. Tim bought a souvenir mug.

There seem to have been only the toughest type of prisoner sent to Peterhead, and no doubt many of the guards were pretty robust as well. We heard the story of the triple axe murderer who spent 22 years in the prison, much of it in solitary confinement, who since his release has it seems been a reformed law-abiding character. 

 The harbour the prisoners helped to build is still providing a valuable service today.

  There don't seem to be many dainty fish restaurants in Peterhead, but we had a fish and chip supper in a cafe with Tony and Sally from the lovely Gaffer  Step Back in Time.

Inverness(2)

Tim arrived last night as a very welcome all- weather crew. This morning we woke to light Westerly winds but the forecast was not good - west force 7- 8, maybe gusts of force 9. Its easy to decide to stay in port when the wind is howling in the rigging, but I find it a much harder decision when the weather seems OK but the forecast is uncertain. However after some thought and looking at different forecasts -all much the same- we decided to stay in Inverness today, and later on the wind did indeed blow quite hard as predicted.  Bonita would most likely have been OK running with a force 8 behind her, but entering harbour could be difficult and it seemed an unnecessary risk.

  We looked around Inverness and it's amazing second' hand bookshop.

  We bought some souvenirs......

  We visited the museum and art gallery.

  We went to see an Indiana Jones film -whatever the strengths and weaknesses of Indiana Jones, it doesn't give you much time to worry about the weather outside.

Let's hope for better winds tomorrow.

Inverness

This morning we passed through the last few locks and bridges of the Canal, and made the short journey to the marina at Inverness. We have very much enjoyed our few days in the Canal with its magnificent scenery and changeable weather. I have of course been fortunate in having an excellent crew to help navigate the difficulties with the many locks. We have also been fortunate to have the help of Jay Cresswell, a local gaffer who knows the Canal well.

The picture shows Sian and Ant: Bonita is floating in fresh water in the last lock - the water beyond is salt. The boat in the background is Indian Runner.

We manoevered Bonita into a suitable but rather cramped marina berth with ropes as we never would have done it under engine. We then went to explore Inverness. It is 

 a lively town with lots to see.

We came across this more-than-life-size stature in a park. It represents Faith, Hope and Charity. Despite the labels, Hope is the one on the right holding the anchor. The anchor wouldn't actually be of any use, as it is missing the stock, the horizontal piece at the top. The anchor however is an old symbol representing Hope in the face of difficulty and uncertainty.

Sian and Ant have now sadly run out of time and Bonita stays at Inverness waiting for new crew.

Loch Ness

This morning we worked down a tier of locks in Fort Augustus and entered Loch Ness. We mostly had very light winds and a lot of gentle rain. Even without the monster stories, Loch Ness has an impressive grandeur of its own. Despite their being so little wind today, we were interested to see there were lots of patches of disturbed water on the surface of the Loch without any apparant cause. Presumably these are the result of water moving up and down from the great depths due to fresh water inflow or thermal movements. Or maybe a shoal of monsters.

The picture shows a fairly typical scene today looking down the loch with the hills emerging from the mists.

This is Urquhart Castle on the edge of the Loch. There are lots of ruined castles in Scotland, but this one has been turned into a popular tourist attraction. It occupies a magnificent site with a commanding view down the loch. The castle is  hundreds of years old and was involved in many of the wars in Scotlands history. It was finally blown up and ruined in 1692

This evening we are in Dochgarroch just after the exit from Loch Ness. Usually we have found the locks and bridges stop working at 5pm or even before, but as we approached this lock just before 6, we found two cheerful and helpful lady lock- keepers who were happy to let us go through this evening. 

We tied up just below the lock in company with Indian Runner, Moonriver and Sequoia.