Back to the West Coast via the Caledonian Canal

We have had a busy time over the last few weeks with some really great times as we have been joined by a few visitors as we make our way through the Caledonian Canal and down the West Coast of Scotland.  Internet access has also been very limited so it has been a while since we let you all know what we have been up to.

Last time we told you how bad conditions were in Peterhead as we sat out a 2 day storm, we finally left on Thursday 9th, in the dark as usual to catch the tide north and west into the Murray Firth.  The sea state outside the harbour was still pretty horrible after the storm with 10-12ft waves, fortunately the wind had died to under 10knts so it was not too bad as we were going much the same way as the waves, it was still bad enough for Sue to decide she was better off in bed!!!  It took a couple of hours to get to Rattray Head and start turning west into the Murray Firth and then the sea started to calm down, then it started to get grey and murky with patches of mist cutting visibility to less than 1/2 mile – never very nice when at sea in a small boat.  We got into Buckie about 1330 where the harbour staff were waiting to take our lines in lovely sunny conditions.  Not too much to see in Buckie and the downturn in the UK fishing industry has taken it’s toll here as it has in many smaller fishing ports, we did find the fishmonger selling local catch at very good prices.

Surprisingly the tide decided we needed another early start so we left Buckie at 0600 and headed out into calm seas and light breeze to be treated to an amazing sunrise that really was worth getting up early for.  The breeze picked up enough for us to actually do some sailing for a couple of hours as we set course for Inverness, it didn’t last so it was motor sailing and then motoring as we entered the Inner Firth.  We thought this would, at least, mean an easy entrance into the Sea Lock at Clachnaharry, but the weather had other ideas. The wind started picking up as we headed under the Kessock Bridge and by the time we got to the canal it was 35-40knts directly across the entrance to the lock – not what you want for our first ever canal lock.  Nimrod is nearly 7m wide and the canal lock is a bit less than 11m so there is not much room for error when the wind is blowing us sideways, we had to abort our first attempt as it just seemed to windy.  A quick radio chat with the lock-keeper gained us the valuable advice that “you just have to be brave” and “it’s sheltered when you get to the office building”!!!  Anyway it was time for a deep breath, make sure Sue was ready with two lines, and into the lock at 5 or 6 knts to keep us on course and then lots of astern on the engines to make sure we didn’t open the gates at the end of the lock with Nimrod’s bows.  In the end it was all fine and we were safely tied up to be greeted by the very friendly and helpful canal staff.  We then only had one lock and bridge to negotiate before we tied up in Seaport Marina, Inverness.

Friday Sunrise as we Left Buckie	A Wild Entrance to the Caledonian Canal

Saturday was a nice day and we headed up the flight of three locks out of Inverness with only one other boat joining us in the locks.  Papa Joe was a private motor boat with Kenny & Joyce & family aboard so it was a pretty stress free introduction to canal locks.  The staff were great and made it all very easy really.  After the locks we coasted down a couple of miles of canal before tying up for the night.  The forecast for Monday onwards was for quite strong SW winds, this meant the wind would be directly up Loch Ness on the nose as we headed down the Loch.  Loch Ness has a nasty reputation in such winds so we decided to make an early start on the Sunday to get to Fort Augustus before things got nasty, at least the locks do not operate until 0830 so it was no too bad.  Loch Ness is over 20nm long and although it was fairly overcast it is still a very spectacular place, conditions were pretty good so we had a nice trip of about 5hrs before tying up below Fort Augustus.  Papa Joe arrived a couple of days later to tell us that conditions were not nice on the Mon and Tues so we definitely made the right call.  We stayed in Fort Augustus for a few days while the weather calmed down.

Looking Down the Locks to Kessock Bridge	A Peaceful Mooring at Fort Augustus

Fort Augustus has a staircase of 5 locks to negotiate and also an awful lot of tourists watching our progress up the locks.  This time we had 4 hire cruiser boats as well as Papa Joe with us – the hire cruiser crews only get about 1/2hr instruction before being let out on the canal so they can be a bit of a liability in the locks – fortunately it all went fairly smoothly with only a few loud words from Kenny on Papa Joe as the hire boat behind tried to mount his dinghy on the back of his boat!!!  For or five miles of canal and a couple more locks took us to Laggan for a couple of days. Had to have a look at Papa Joe’s batteries because one engine would not start very easily to discover they were almost dry and the one was totally kapput, so began another of those nights that just seems to go downhill!!!! We were joined here by Jean and John, friends from Oswestry who sold their boat last year after spending 15yrs sailing around the world.  It was lovely to see them and it was also the best excuse possible for a few more little drinkies.  A short trip in nice conditions with only one lock and one bridge took us to Banavie at the top of Neptunes Staircase – a very impressive flight of eight locks to take us back down to near Sea-Level.

Jean and John Helping us Down a Wet Neptune’s Staircase	Looking Back Up the Full Set Of Locks at Neptune’s Staircase

 

Saturday morning was a wet, grey Scottish morning as we headed into the locks with Seven Sisters, a large motorboat.  It was typical Scottish rain, not too heavy but very persistent and very wet, Jean and Sue were handling the lines on shore so had no where to shelter, Chris and John on board could hide under cover occasionally, but we were all pretty bedraggled by the time we got to the bridges at the bottom.  We headed out of the Corpach Sea Lock about 1400 and out to sea under grey skies and choppy conditions down Loch Linnhe to Dunstaffnage Marina where Alan & Yvonne, more friends from Holyhead, were waiting to take our lines.

So now we have four friends on board and Papa Joe moored just behind us so it would have been very rude not too have a little party, trouble is we can never have just a “little” party and it was about 0200 when we got to bed.  Surprisingly most people were a bit slow coming round the next day.

Sue & Joyce in Best Scottish Headwear – No Drink Involved There!!!	Yvonne, Sue, Jean & John – Oh Dear

From Dunstaffnage we headed up to Tobermory for a couple of days to explore some of the scenery around the area.  We had a great meal in the Cafe Fish in Tobermory and sampled a quick beer in the local hostelery.  All too soon we had to go back to Dunstaffnage to say goodbye to Alan & Yvonne and then Jean & John also had to leave us a day later.  We had really enjoyed having everybody on board and it seemed like everybody had a good time – there were an awful lot of empty bottles in the skip anyway!!!

Where Did Those Hats Come From	More Party Antics

Just as one lot of friends leave we are joined the next day by Val & Chris from Oswestry who had been spending a few days in Scotland and joined us for a few days to finish off their holiday.  We went down to Loch Melfort with Val & Chris where we had a couple of bright sunny days in a gorgeous setting, typical Indian Summer conditions.  We had another great meal out at the Shower of Herrings and, surprisingly, a lot more empty bottles appeared from somewhere. All too soon we had to put Val & Chris on the bus and say goodbye to them – the boat now seems empty after having friends on board for so long.

Sue, Val & Chris on Board, Loch Melfort	Idyllic Conditions in Loch Melfort

 

So as September heads towards October and the weather conditions get more variable and autumnal gales rear their heads we are now heading South whenever the wind and sea state let us make progress.  We left Loch Melfort and got to Craighouse on Jura after a pretty calm trip, mainly motoring in light breeze, when we did manage to get some sails up the wind decided to keep rising and we had to roll some away because we had too much wind – sometimes you just can’t win.  20 minutes later we had no wind again and it was back to motoring.  Craighouse was hosting the Jura Music Festival so we headed ashore to watch the local Pipe Band and a few other turns.

Monday morning and we head to Rathlin Island in pretty good conditions, mainsail up before we raised the anchor and we sailed all the way to Bull Point on the corner of Rathlin Island at 8 or 9 knts, before turning towards the harbour and into the wind for the last three miles.  Rathlin was a complete contrast to our visit earlier in the year when the harbour was busy with all sorts of boats and the Island was busy with visitors, this time we are the only boat on the pontoons and the shore is practically deserted – it is definitely getting late in the year and we need to get back to Caernarfon for winter.

From Rathlin we went round the top corner of Northern Ireland and South to Portavoige, mainly a fishing harbour but the Harbourmaster was very welcoming as were the fishermen we met on the harbour.  Only an overnight stop because the weather is being nice so today (Thursday) we left Portavoige at 0830 put the sails up just outside the harbour and had a lovely sail all the way to Point of Ayre at the NE tip of the Isle of Man, wind was ideal at 12 –15 knts on the beam, sea was pretty calm and we sailed all the way at 8 – 9knts barely needing to trim the sails the whole way.

We are now tied up in Ramsey Harbour on their scrubbing grid to give us a chance to check everything below the waterline ready for winter, hopefully no nasty surprises waiting for us!!!  Weather forecast for the next few days is pretty horrible so we will be waiting here until it improves enough for us to get back to North Wales.

Hi all Sue here

Well as you can see by the pictures, despite being away for a long time, some things haven’t  changed on Nimrod. Once a party boat always a party boat!! We have really enjoyed ourselves over the last couple of weeks having friends on board. Mind you it’s funny when we make new friends they always seem to be like minded people!! There was much drinking, dancing and singing done.

When Jean and I were walking down Neptunes staircase holding the ropes a bus load of American tourists arrived at the seventh lock. We were looking very bedraggled by then and one lady commented on what a strong girl I was pulling that big boat!! She hadn’t noticed Chris had the engines on so I just smiled and agreed with her and told her that was the seventh lock I had pulled it through!!

We are used to people taking pictures of Nimrod as there don’t seem to be many big cats around here and we don’t mind but when they climb on board and pose on the back steps this seems to be going a bit far!! Especially when in Fort Augustus it was midnight and I woke Chris as I heard people on board and thought we were being broken into!! He wasn’t very impressed and did shout a few choice words!!

The weather is very changeable now and it’s back to making a dash for it in between gales etc. Hoping to get to Isle of Man by Thursday where we will wait for right conditions to cross to Holyhead. No doubt there will be a bit more partying when we get there!!

Looking forward to catching up with family and friends who we haven’t seen since March, especially my granddaughter Courtney who was two while we were away.

Across The North Sea to Scotland

We left Rekefjord, according to plan, early on Thursday morning at 0600 and this got even earlier as we changed our clocks back to UK time so it was now 0500. Weather was pretty much exactly as the forecast predicted with a light NE breeze and clear skies. As we left the fjord and headed out to sea we watched a beautiful sunrise over the hills of Norway – a great start to the trip.


We started off with a couple of hours motorsailing, the sea had a bit of residual swell left over from the NW winds of the last ten days, but generally pleasant progress at 6.5knts. Soon the wind dropped to less than 6knts so it was sails down and engine only, the sea swell had also got a bit worse and the lack of sails to steady the boat made for a bit of a rocky, rolly ride.

Around midday the breeze had picked up a bit so we could get the sails out again and by 1500hrs we had 15knts from the North so the engine was switched off and we were sailing along at 7.5knts heading straight for Peterhead. The sea swell had also subsided a bit so conditions on Nimrod were pretty much ideal. The North Sea sunset was very impressive as we sailed towards it in almost calm seas – at least Sue could make a meal without too much swaying around in the galley.

Sunrise Over Norway

Sunset Over The North Sea

As usual the wind started to drop off as night fell so it was a couple of hours motorsailing before dropping the sails again at 0200 in the morning. We were also joined by a group of dolphins swimming alongside the boat, we couldn’t really see much of them in the dark but you could hear the splashes as they popped out of the water and they stayed with us for over half an hour. By now we were right in the middle of the Oil and Gas fields with rigs visible all around us, we passed a few miles North of the huge Forties field and we only had to change course once to avoid a restricted area.


Sunrise on Friday saw us motoring in glassy calm seas with no wind at all to help us. This was more than made up for by the arrival of more dolphins to guide us on our way to Scotland. The first group was two mothers with two small calves, as we headed west the groups of dolphins continued to swap and change and at times we had over a dozen swimming around the boat. The display was brilliant, we had a group of six all swimming at the front of the boat with four between the bows and one each side like a police outrider escort. At other times they would barrel roll across the front from one hull to the other or perform like synchronised swimmers as four all arched out of the water together. Occasionally we would get a real show off jumping right out of the water, it was amazing how close they would swim to the hulls and under the boat without actually touching it. In all we had dolphins with us for nearly five hours as we chugged steadily through the oil fields.

Dolphins Saying Good Morning to Sue

Mother and Baby

The calm seas lasted all day with the waves only just starting to build a little for the last two or three hours to Peterhead. We didn’t have enough breeze to sail but we did motor sail from about midday Friday all the way to Peterhead. Just for a change the wind decided to pick up as we arrived at Peterhead to drop the sails and motor into the harbour. Peterhead is a very busy fishing and oil supply port so Port Control on the VHF was very busy with ships entering or leaving port, fortunately we were called into the harbour with no delay. We headed across the harbour to the Marina and tied up at 1830, 37 1/2 hrs after we left Norway.

Peterhead is a good sized town with lots of shops and supermarkets so we got the bikes out and headed off to re-stock the freezer and booze supplies, this took about half a dozen trips over the next few days – we should have enough food and drink to last us to Christmas!!!! This was quite a good plan since the weather has turned pretty nasty here with SE gales / severe gales battering this part of Scotland. Tuesday was the worst with the wind well over 40 knts for long periods and gusts over 50knts. Watching some of the fishing fleet fighting their way into the harbour made us very glad to be safely tied up in the Marina.

We now need to head North past Rattray Head and then West into the Murray Firth and Inverness to get to the entrance to the Caledonian Canal, a distance of just under 100nm. The problem is the SE winds have built up a pretty horrible sea state and although the winds have started to ease the sea is still forecast to be rough for the next couple of days. We think we might be able to make some more progress on Friday, probably to Buckie that is about half way to the Canal entrance.

Hi all Sue here

Well I survived the long crossing back to Peterhead. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be but the dolphins definitely made the trip for me. At one point when I had just retired from my watch for a sleep Chris woke me to say we had dolphins swimming alongside. I was so tired I decided to ignore him but the dolphins had other ideas, all I could hear were loud squeaking noises and splashes alongside the hull so I had to get up to see them. It was amazing watching them perform and we lost count of how many we had around the boat.

We are now fully stocked up with food and drink after many trips on our bikes. I’ve got a gel seat on my bike but It doesn’t make much difference!! Ouch!! Chris says with all my padding he’s surprised I can feel anything!!

Well once again we are waiting for the good old weather to play ball. Tuesday it felt as if we were out at sea despite being safely tied up in the marina. We just want to get to the canal now so it looks as though we might have to go out in some grotty weather to do so. Batten down the hatches time!!

Homeward Bound

Well we finally managed to escape from Farsund and head up the coast a bit further ready to cross the North Sea back to Scotland.  We were pinned in Farsund for 10 days by continuous North Westerly winds, most of last week the winds were up around 20 knts and more, finally easing off towards last weekend.  As usual this meant the wind was coming from exactly the direction we wanted to go, but we also had to go around Lista Point and this has got a very nasty reputation for rough seas in NW winds.  Apparently the south flowing remnants of the Gulf Stream and the north going current out of the Baltic meet at Lista so causing some pretty nasty waves and turbulent eddies in windy conditions.  We decided we didn’t need to see it at close quarters hence our extended stay in Farsund.

Fortunately Farsund is a very nice place to be stuck, with a nice sheltered guest quay, supermarket and laundry a few strides from the boat, main town only 100yds away, electric, mooring and wifi all for free – what more could we destitute sailors need!!!  We had quite a few British visitors off a large cruise ship that docked in Farsund, they had walked along the quay and seen us there with our UK ensign and our name “Nimrod of Malvern” both attracting attention.  The local people were all very friendly as usual with an ex-seaman called Odd delivering the weather forecast almost every day, he also wants us to email him when we get back safe and sound.

From Farsund we went around Lista to Kirkehamn on the Island of Hydra, another picture postcard type of Norwegian village.  The trip was only about 20 nm on calm seas and light winds, it was a bit longer than planned because Sue decided the southern entrance to the harbour looked a bit too narrow for Nimrod to squeeze between the rock walls of the passage, so we had to around to the main entrance.

Looking West Out of Kirkehamn Harbour	Nimrod and Mary Bryant in Kirkehamn

Shortly after tying up in the harbour we were joined by a lovely wooden schooner called the Mary Bryant that was bound for Harwich, the crew told us they had headed out past Lista a couple of days earlier and had to turn back because the conditions were so bad – good job we stayed in Farsund!!!  We had to let them have some “proper” tea-bags for the passage home because they had only got some local Yellow Label tea and were not happy about a 4 or 5 day trip without decent tea!!!

We both left on Monday, us heading NW to Rekefjord and Mary Bryant heading SW to Harwich some 420nm away.  Nice gentle conditions when we left at midday but by the time we got to Rekefjord, only 12nm, the wind had picked up to around 20knts on the nose and the sea was also building so we were happy to turn into the sheltered inlet of Rekefjord where we tied up in a flat calm!!!  We had visited here on our way south so we already knew it was a good stopping point, they even provide a couple of cycles for boaties to borrow to explore the local area.

We are sat here checking all the weather forecasts – more free WiFi – to decide the best time to leave on our 260nm crossing to Peterhead.  At the moment we are hoping to leave early Thursday to get to Scotland late Friday night, we reckon on about 40hrs at sea, maybe a bit less if the winds are favourable. Our course is almost due West and the winds are forecast to be light from the NE so we will probably be motorsailing most of the way – Sue seems to think this is much better than sailing in stronger winds and bigger waves.

Hi all Sue here

As usual the Captain has said it all!! I must say I enjoyed our stay in Farsund perhaps it was the laundrette that was the main attraction!!

I knew my 2400 Typhoo Tea Bags would come in useful, they are about the only thing we’ve still got plenty of, so giving 100 to the people of Mary Bryant was no problem. I’m sure they will have a much better passage home being able to have a decent brew.

Looks like we are going to make a move Thursday so today we have been to local supermarket and spent the last of our kroner on some chocolate for the journey home. Definitely a must for a 40 hour crossing especially as I’m going to have to do a night watch!! Captain Chris has assured me I will be fine. A means to an end, at least I will be in a pub Saturday night, that’s the way to look at it!!

Bonnie Scotland here we come!!