A trip to Scotland on Tarantelle, May 2022

Bill_Rayner · 2023-04-22 11:36:40

Thursday 5th
Departed Brough @ 21:15, fearing that if we left it any later there would not be a big enough tide to leave the haven.

Motored down to Brickyard and anchored at 20 past midnight.

Friday 6th
Weighed anchor at 09:30 in southerly light airs and motored and sailed and motored out of the Humber at noon in bright sunshine.

14:45 wind shifts to NW and we were sailing gently past Hornsea @16:10. Raining as we passed Flamborough, and we were motoring again with lamb chops for tea whilst avoiding lobster pots off Filey Brigg.

All fast alongside visitors pontoon in Scarborough @ 21:30, just in time to wander up to the Leeds Arms for a welcome pint.

Saturday 7th
Left Scarborough at 07:30 motoring, cold and grey with light head wind and a foul tide. 11:00 we were passing familiar scenery @ Whitby High Light and all fast in Whitby marina by 11:40 with hazy sunshine. T’was good to catch up with old friends from Whitby days of long ago.

Sunday 8th
Sunday morning saw us leave the Marina and drop down to the waiting pontoon below Whitby Bridge. Gary and Bill had just enough time to attend the morning service @ church in Flowergate before we left Whitby with a brisk SE wind.

With only the genoa set we sailed the 48 miles to Amble in 10 hours. The wind having eased and Tarantelle having a chart plotter we confidently sailed through the passage inside Coquet Island. The following wind having eased in the evening. A route I would never have considered with only a paper chart!

Monday 9th
Midday Monday we left Amble with a fine wind SE4 and sailed inside the Farne Islands. Clearing Emmanuel Head on Holy Island the wind died and veered to a SW3, dull and grey. A bit of a change from the bright sunshine we were beginning to get used to. It turned out to be a fast passage across Tweed Bay arriving at Eyemouth Cardinal Buoy @ 1900 with 3 reefs in and it blowing SW6-7. Very pleased to be back in the shelter of Eyemouth Harbour and a walk into the village for a meal ashore.

Tuesday 10th
Tuesday morning Richard caught a bus to Berwick and train to Hull for a prior appointment covering the sale of his house.

Bill and Gary walked along the coast path to Burnmouth dodging showers and the strong south westerly wind and caught the bus back to Eyemouth.

Wednesday 11th May
Bill and Gary caught the bus to Berwick to meet David Woolston in from London. I first met him when we were both single handed sailing round Britain in 2010. He heard me calling up the lock keeper on VHF, we were both leaving Inverness. I went to chat with him in the lock and we have had sailing adventures at odd times ever since. We arranged to leave his bags in the hotel near the station. After a swift half and with plenty of time before the next Eyemouth bus, walked down over the ancient long bridge to Tweedmouth Dock.

A new Harbour Master works wonders. What had been an entirely commercial dock had new visitor pontoons, new harbour office, new tarmacked car park and pleasant and welcoming harbour staff, very promising.

Back to Eyemouth and then ashore again!

Thursday 12th
Thursday saw very strong winds persisting and we caught the bus to explore Dunbar. A delightful small Scottish port that we had not visited for about 20 years.
Looking out for sights of interest we came upon the childhood home of John Muir, the man who persuaded the President to create the YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK to preserve it for future generations to enjoy. A very novel idea in late Victorian times! This came as a pleasant surprise to me. I had read a book about him the year before and completely forgotten that he came from Dunbar.

Friday 13th
Still very windy but Saturday looks like a change in the weather, so we caught the bus to St. Abbs in time for lunch outside the pub by the beautiful little harbour with notably crystal clear water, a great attention for divers. Walked the cliff path back to Eyemouth and then in the town again!

Saturday 14th
07:00 Saturday SW 3-4, departed Eyemouth, chasing other visitors, Dutch and Belgian yachts we had got to know during our stay there. Arrived Arbroath inner harbour @ 15:00 just in time to get locked in before they closed the single pair of gates and left the outer harbour to dry out.

A pleasant sunny afternoon spent exploring ashore. Arbroath has changed little since my last visit in 2010, still a welcoming and pleasant small fishing port but with signs of past industrial poverty which are hard to hide.

We decided to turn round here since all the next weeks forecast were for fresh SW winds which would have sent us very nicely up to Aberdeen, Peterhead or Inverness but would have made returning difficult.

Sunday 15th
We sailed at 11:00 hours with an E2 wind freshening through the day to 5-6 off Elie then easing to E 4 as we approached the Forth Bridge. We arrived at Port Edgar@ 20:00 hours, dead low water, and promptly found the mud near the entrance. Got clear again, cautiously felt our way into what we thought was our allocated marina berth. We had failed to identify the correct pontoon and berth number in the gathering evening gloom.

With the freshening easterly wind driving in a persistent swell we had a bouncy uncomfortable night.

Ashore we walked into South Queensferry agreeing to go into the first door open. This turned out to be a fairly up market Indian restaurant, good food but rather expensive.

Upon returning to the Marina we thought that a visit to the “temporary” toilet block, an ageing portacabin with a damaged combination lock would be a sensible idea. We needed help from a passer by to make it work.

Monday 16th
Monday was a rainy day. Breakfast ashore in the Canadian Themed Café – all right if you like American style food, then to the Marina office to pay our dues.
I said we had a rather uncomfortable night and was told I was nowhere near the allocated berth and that she would never have given that one to a visitor and also we could not have the allocated berth, much further up the marina, for our second night because they were putting layed up boats back in and needed that berth for one of them.

Caught a bus into Edinburgh to explore in the rain and hid for a while in the Art Gallery and then visited a large ancient city pub, a favourite of Gary’s friend Bob.
After a good meal in a pub in the Grass Market we walked back over the Castle Hill and down the Royal Mile and along Prince’s Street to our bus stop for home.
Back at Port Edgar, the new Forth Road Bridge illuminations are really dramatic as it strides across the Firth towards the North of Scotland. Still raining and still can’t operate the toilet door lock.

Tuesday 17th
Tuesday morning, I decided to have a shower in what turned out to be the only facilities available to visiting yachtsman. After 9 failed attempts to operate the combination lock, a visit to the public loo next door followed by a further 5 minutes struggling, I finally got in and had a mediocre shower. By this time I was feeling very frustrated and disappointed because I really like the situation of Port Edgar and its dramatic setting in the scenery and its historical naval port.
I went to the marina office to complain, we had been charged £35.75 per night.

Unfortunately, this English man picked the wrong choice of words in a Scottish Marina Office. I said I was disgusted with the facilities and from that moment on there was no way back. I got the very defensive reply that if that was how I felt I could always leave.

Jane was already on the train to come and join us and after breakfast I went back to ask if we could please stay another night.

“No you can’t” was the immediate reply and “you may like to leave before noon and don’t come back”.

No matter haw politely we pleaded, since we had crew joining us later there was no change of heart. I had really blown it.

We left and motored down to Granton stunned and perplexed. Jane joined us there and in a beautiful sunny afternoon walked down the seafront to view the Royal Yacht Britannia in her berth in Leith Docks.

Wednesday 18th
Departed Granton at 06:50 just set half a genoa and we were away down the Firth of Forth in a beautiful clear bright morning. 08:15 and with the wind freshening towards SW 6-7 we hear PAN PAN on Channel 16. The motor cruiser “You’ll never walk alone” has lost power off Burnt Island. That means he will be being blown towards the north shore of the Firth. It took what seemed like ages for the coastguard to insist that the casualty spell out the boat’s name phonetically. Of course the boat had been blown into shallow water by the time they decided to call out the Kinghorn Lifeboat which was then unable to get near them.

All this was happening many miles to windward of us and it was frustrating to hear the Coastguard calling the casualty every half hour to find out “ how much water was now in the boat”. Unfortunately we never were able to find out how this little drama ended.

We made a fast passage inside of Fidra and then Bass Rock. There seemed to be lots of gannets diving into the sea but we already new that their numbers are now very much less than in previous years due to Avian Flu.

Dunbar looked very different from the sea from when we were there only a few days ago.

It was still blowing freshly as we rounded St Abbs Head accompanied by a school of dolphins.

And so into the shelter of Eyemouth Harbour once again and a friendly welcome from the pleasant and helpful Harbour staff.

Jane set off for a cliff top walk and Gary, Dave and Bill for a wander around the town and a beer in the “Contented Sole” Hotel. Later it was fish and chips in The Ship restaurant

Thursday 19th
Next morning Gary had a yearning to revisit the Waterfront Café for breakfast ashore followed by a shopping expedition and ice creams at Giocopazzis Emporium where we posed for a group cornet eating photo. Free ice creams after our consent to be used for internet promotion of the establishment.

We sailed at 13:00 hours and a fresh SSW 5-6 saw us in Tweedmouth in less than two hours.

A long dutch yacht was taking up a lot of the new marina pontoons and we layed outside of a fishing boat and another yacht. The harbour master apologised and said he would get some boats moved around. I said it was all ok but he insisted but couldn’t do it for 2 hours, so we wandered off to explore Berwick upon Tweed.
A walk along the town walls for Jane and I and a coffee in the afternoon sunshine outside a hotel in the high steet.

After a “moving the boats around” session in the dock we got a berth alongside the new pontoon. Dave cooked the gammon and eggs with all the trimmings and we wandered over the long medieval bridge to a delightful if noisy evening in “The Barrels” with other visitors and locals.

Friday 20th
I went to pay the harbourmaster for our overnight stay and he said “no charge” because of the inconvenience of having to move boats around yesterday. What a guy!

We motored down the Tweed and breakfasted under way in cool but settled conditions with a steady SW 3-4. We were around Emmanuel Head and anchored in Holy Island Sound by 11:20. Inflated the dinghy and away ashore for a pub lunch, a wander around the village and along the lane to The Castle which was closed.
We weighed anchor @16:50 and set sail to Amble. The wind backed to SSW @ 20:00 hrs with rain showers and near Boulmer the tide started to turn against us, so we motored into Amble @21:00 and found we were just too late to buy a meal anywhere.

Saturday 21st
Today, Gary left us here to catch a bus & then a train back home to York. Jane Dave and I walked along the road and river into Walkworth on a bright sunny afternoon and bought lunch in the Masons Arms.

We left Amble Marina @ 1800 passed inside of Coquet Island again and arrived in a rather crowded Blyth Marina @20:50. After tea Dave and I were the only visitors to the delightful wooden lightship which is the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club.

Sunday 22nd
08:40 saw us away from Blyth with a SW4 wind which gradually diminished through the day.

When we called Hartlepool Marina they said they were closed due to maintenance work on the lock gates so we finished the day motoring steadily past the very familiar cliff scenery down to Whitby @18:50 where for us it always feels like coming home.

After an excellent curry in “A Passage to India” we left the waiting pontoon and passed through the Bridge into the marina @21:15.

According to the log this was our first warm evening of this trip.

Monday 23rd
On Monday morning Jane and I walked with Dave to see him off. The bus to Scarborough then train to York & London.

We spent a happy day re visiting familiar favourite corners of Whitby and an evening meal ashore catching up with old friends.

Tuesday 24th
Tuesday morning saw us through Whitby Bridge and out in a lumpy northerly swell with very little wind from the NW. We motor sailed all the way to Scarborough and were all fast alongside in the marina by 12:45.

By 14:30 I had seen Jane off on the train to York as she had to be back home that evening.

The next three days passed surprisingly quickly, shifting marina berth, doing some minor electrical repairs, shopping and exploring in a few sunny corners of Scarborough I had not visited before.

Chris Nash came to join me on Friday morning and we dined at his favourite beach café, then walked to Peasholme Park for a small train ride in the afternoon. That evening we met up with John and Tim, friends we know through the Albert Strange Association, in the pub near the Spa Hotel called “Scholars” and a convivial time was enjoyed by all.

Saturday 28th
Richard White joined us @09:00 and by 09:30 we were away to sea with a beautiful northerly wind 4-5 and a following sea. We rounded Flamborough at 12:15 and were beating into the Humber under shortened sail when it freshened to NNW 5-6.

At 19:50 we were safely anchored off Hawkins Point and cooking our evening meal.

Not very much sleep that night as we wanted to catch the new flood up the Humber.

At 02:15 we set off up the river in the dark. Once again, the chart plotter really came into its own because the lights on the channel buoys are very hard to see with so much background lighting from ships, wharfs and refinery flare stacks near Immingham.

The morning gradually got lighter by the time we motored past Hull. With a light North Westerly wind we decided to concentrate on the navigation and not bother to sail this part of our voyage.

We arrived back in Brough Haven one hour before high water @06:25 and just in time to catch an hour back in bed.

Brough to Brough via Arbroath and Edinburgh was 559 Nautical Miles total.

Bill Rayner
Tarentelle

Charles_Grossie · 2023-04-29 11:36:37

Hi Bill.
A nice account of your cruise on the east coast of England.
Can you provide us with more detail on your beautiful Victoria 34?
Text and pictures?

Many thanks.

Charlie.

#1 2023-04-22 11:36:40

A trip to Scotland on Tarantelle, May 2022

#2 2023-04-29 11:36:37

Re: A trip to Scotland on Tarantelle, May 2022

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