Ruach sitting pretty in Arbroath harbour with the excellent Cafe kashmir in the background
The followng morning we woke all bright tailed and bushy eyed in good time for the opening of the harbour gates to let us proceed on with our trip North, 07.15 came and went, the gates remained closed. It was only supposed to be a short opening, from the time the staff came on duty to the time the tide had fallen to the point where they need to close the gates to keep a depth of water in the inner harbour. But on this occasion the high pressure weather system had depressed the tide to a point where we had already missed the critical depth at the gate, so the gates were to remain shut until the tide had risen sufficiently on the next tide about 7hrs later. So we spent a little time refining the boat systems before heading off for my first proper seaside fish & chips of the cruise. Now here's a thing; In Scotland fish & chips are referred to as 'a fish supper'. How come a fish supper? I don't know, but it seems very strange asking for a fish supper at lunchtime. I wonder if you just want a bag of chips do you ask for 'a supper' on it's own?
Following lunch we spent a little time in the recently refurbished signal tower museum learning more information about Bell Rock Light. We finaly set sail around 14.45 heading North East along the coast into a light wind from, you guessed it, the North East. Which means we had to sail along way back and forth (Tacking) to make any progress towards our goal. As dusk fell we were off Montrose, but decided we would press on as Montrose is quite commercial and not particularly yacht friendly. We turned on the engine and motored towards Johnshaven. We were just two miles off when the engine coughed, spluttered and died. At first I thought we had just run out of petrol, but in fact we had some dirt in the fuel. Johnshaven and the next harbour Gourdon both have rocky entrances so are not the places to approach in darkness with a dodgy engine, so on we sailed on doing two hour shifts in rain showers up the coast. At about 11am the following morning we were off the entrance to Stonehaven with the decision to make of do we press on another 35miles to Peterhead, or do we call it a day and head into harbour. With the slow progress we had made and the prospect that the weather was unlikley to improve we gave up the battle and headed into port.
Steve catching a few ZzzzZZzzz following our night of two tacks forward and one tack back up the Aberdeenshire coast
Following lunch Steve took this opportunity to jump ship because Stonehaven has an railway station within easy reach for heading back to the bright lights of Edinburgh. I'm very grateful for the company Steve brought to my journey. It's great having someone with you to discuss the merits of various tactics and strategies and most of all to share tasteless jokes with.
Stonehaven has a very quaint harbourside waterfront with many b&b and what looked like a few nice pubs and restaurants, but it also has what appears to be a harder town beyond.
Jim, the harbourmaster is a very knowledgable man who also seems to fill in as the local tourist information. He also is a sailor with a rather nice solid 12 ton Hillyard that I wouldn't have minded trying my hand at.
I must apologise for this posting being so late but finding a stable internet connection is proving quite a challenge. To find out where I actually am at any time it is best to go to the main website www.eventoftheyear.co.uk and click on the 'where am I' tab.
If anyone out there is having trouble donating at the justgiving sites (behind company firewalls, don't trust the internet with my card details or just don't want to give that way, etc) you can mail me a cheque direct. To do this just send me an email and I'll send you the details.
Don't forget to drop me a note at onpassage@dhippey.co.uk to sign up to be informed when blog updates appear.
Please share this site with your friends and family ( Especially the rich ones :-) )
If you came to this blog from the main website www.eventoftheyear.co.uk you will hopefully have had a look around the site and be aware of what I'm up to, both the adventure itself and the fact that I'm aiming to raise awareness of dementia in our society and to raise money for the Alzheimer's charities.
I'm doing this trip for fun and funding the trip myself, but while I'm on this venture you can do your bit to by supporting the Alzheimer's charities through either www.justgiving.com/david-hippey-scotland or www.justgiving.com/david-hippey
Catch you next time.
Regards,
David H.
