Douglas

 The trouble with leaving the boat and going home for a few days is that you get involved with all sorts of important things that make it hard to go back. However John and I managed to find a day between strikes when the trains were running and on Thursday made the scenic but rather lengthy journey from London to Pwllheli.

The next morning we extricated Bonita from the marina berth she had been in for the last ten days. I had been worried about the tides inside Bardsey Island on the southern tip of the Lleyn peninsula. All the guidance agrees this can be a very disturbed piece of water, sometimes dangerously so, and is best transited at slack water. There does seem some difference of opinion in the books as to exactly when slack water is, however. We left Pwllheli about 2 1/2 hours before local low water and that seemed to work OK, The picture shows John, with Bardsey island and its turbulent sound safely behind us.

Originally I had planned to go to Holyhead, but  before we got there we found that progress was so depressingly slow against the tide and a head wind that we had a change of plan. We motor-sailed through the night with a light NE wind and by morning were off the Isle of Man. This is the start of TT week on the Isle of Man, and I had heard that all the harbours might be full. As soon as we had radio contact, I called up Douglas harbour, to be told they had several free berths. These berths were all taken during the course of the day, however. We locked into the inner harbour and after a great deal of slow speed manoevering with John busy with fenders and boat hook, we were snugly berthed up.

The TT does dominate the Island at this time. Quite apart from the competitors, there are motorcycles and motorcycle enthusiasts from many countries everywhere. There are people in 'leathers' ( now Kevlar I believe) in all the clubs and bars, which have extended their opening hours. Its clear dry weather so it should be a good year for the TT.