Making Progress South

We managed to get across the harbour to the wall outside Chris’ shed on the high Spring Tide and lifted our shiny new bimini canopy onto the frame using the spinnaker halyard – all went very smoothly with no dramas, just as planned!!!.  Back across the harbour to the main wall then and get the new top all screwed down to the frame, windows fitted and joints sealed all ready to go.  All in all it took an awful lot of hard work to make the bimini cover but it was well worth while, the cockpit now looks much brighter than it did with the blue canvas, we can now walk all over the roof instead of just down a narrow plank and we can also collect water off the roof when we need to. Hopefully you can see from the pictures that it looks like it has always been part of the boat.

So it was finally time to say goodbye to the Isle of Man for the last time and start making progress South.  Firstly a huge thank you to Chris Machin for help and assistance making the bimini and for letting us do all the work we could to keep costs down, also thanks to Bill and Angus for letting us use the shed to do all the work inside.  I think it cost about £2000 in total to make the cover, that is not too bad seeing as a new canvas cover was around £1500 and would need renewing every 3 or 4 years in the Med sunshine.  Thanks also to the Harbour Staff, Martin and Keith, for looking after us.

New Bimini Roof all Fitted	Inside View of Bimini

The forecast was not too good for leaving the Isle of Man, but it was getting worse with strong SW winds setting in – not good for going South.  We decided to do a 20 mile hop down the coast to Castletown before heading across the Irish Sea to Holyhead.  The last 2 or 3 miles into Castletown, around Langness Point were about as bad as we have encountered with a strong F6 SW blowing against Spring Tides and the fact that Langness is a rough patch of sea anyway.  We had aimed over 2 miles off the shore to try and miss the worst of the conditions but it was still really rough with things jumping around inside the boat that have never ever moved before!!!  We got into Castletown and the wind died to almost nothing – you could not believe the difference in 20 mins and 2 miles.

Out of Castletown the next day, we started with westerly winds and actually managed to do some sailing for a change, conditions were not too bad and we thought our crossing to Holyhead might be pretty good – no such luck!!  Halfway across the wind started backing to the SW and increasing as the forecast had promised so it was motorsailing time.  As we approached the Skerries north of Anglesey the wind was a good F6, again blowing against the Spring Ebb to kick up some more shitty seas.  Sue was struggling to keep everything in place inside while Chris dropped the main sail and tried to dodge the worst of the waves as we headed to Holyhead.  We were mighty happy to be tied up alongside in Holyhead Marina.

We had planned to just spend a few days in Holyhead but the weather had other ideas with a constant stream of low pressure depressions heading across the country giving gale force winds for over a week, we were tied up securely and we were definitely not going anywhere in that!!!  Scotland had things much worse with F10 and F11 winds, we only had F8-9.  There were another few boats also stuck in Holyhead waiting for better weather.  We finally escaped after 10 days – that was long enough in Holyhead.

It did us a chance to meet up with lots of friends, have one or two parties and finish of the final few jobs we needed to do.  Chris also managed a couple of days racing with John on Madam Wen in the Bank Holiday Weekend regatta – very enjoyable but bloody hard work even with electric winches and self tacking jibs!!!  How these single handed racers manage all the way around the world I really can’t even guess.

We left Holyhead on the Bank Holiday Monday and lots of friends came to wave us off on our way – all very emotional.  Too many of you to list here but a great big thanks to all of you for going out of your way to come and say goodbye.

We headed down to Bardsey Island, around the corner into Aberdaron to anchor for the night, we had quite a swell rolling into the bay and it was just about OK for us on Nimrod – you definitely would not have stayed there on a monohull, you would have been rolled out of your bunk.

Next day we headed to Fishguard, some very bumpy seas around Bardsey Island for the first hour or so but we had enough wind for sailing so off we went.  Just for a change the wind increased a bit and backed to WSW so although we were still sailing really well at 7 or 8 knts it was hard on the wind with typical short choppy Irish Sea conditions for 7 1/2 hrs to Fishguard – not the most comfortable trip we have ever had.

Nimrod From the Top of The Mast	Main Halyard Nearly Chaffed Through!!!

We dropped the mainsail as we entered Fishguard to find that the main halyard had nearly chafed through at the top of the mast, our halyard is 12mm Dyneema that is very strong but it is under a huge amount of tension with the mainsail fully hoisted.  The halyard was fixed to the ring on the head of the sail that you can just see in the photo below and this has been fine up till now, unfortunately the choppy seas and windward sailing must have caused the head of the sail and the ring to swivel around and this meant the halyard was being rubbed against the top roller as the sail ring moved from side to side.

So we had to re-design the fixing point for the halyard to prevent future problems, the halyard is now attached directly to the mast track head car, this car can slide up and down the track but it does not move or swivel no matter what the sail does.  Hopefully this will solve the problem – a trip up the mast also reinforced our conclusions with no sign of anything else up there that might have caused the chaffing.

Re-Engineered Halyard Attachment

We left Fishguard on Thursday to go round St David’s Head through Ramsey Sound and Jack Sound and into Milford Haven for the night anchored in Watwick Bay just inside the entrance.  Hardly any wind so it was 5hrs of motoring on calm seas.

It was a dawn o’clock start from Milford to Padstow, up at 05:30 and on our way by 06:00 into very pleasant conditions, not quite enough wind to sail at the speed we needed to make the tide at Padstow but only a bit of engine needed to keep us moving.  We had a visit from a couple of pods of dolphins, about 25 in the first group and 8 in the second group, they were with us for over an hour which was really nice.  By 09:00 the wind had increased by a couple of knts and we could turn off the engine and relax in perfect sailing conditions with 14knts of wind from the NE as we headed South, but it couldn’t last!!!  The wind picked up a bit, the seas increased a bit, still all well and good, then the wind backed to the North and died off leaving us wallowing around with sails slapping about wondering what had happened.

It seemed like time to get the spinnaker out, but first we dropped the main to give the gennaker a chance to fill properly, it helped a bit but still not very comfortable so I got everything ready for putting the spinnaker up in 12knts of wind from behind – ideal for our big colourful sail.  By the time everything was ready and we had a cup of tea to make sure the wind had come back and increased to F6 so we doing over 8knts with only the gennaker – good job we did not get the spinnaker up, it would have been a nightmare getting it down again in that wind.

The wind stayed at F6 for the rest of the way with top wind speeds of 28knts – the forecast said F3 or 4!!!.  We got to the Camel Estuary and the Doom Bar at 17:00, perfect timing to head into the harbour for the 17:30 gate opening.  Fortunately we rang the harbour the day before to let them know we were coming so they had allocated a space for us, because there were nearly 20 boats all heading into the estuary at the same time.  The harbour staff did a great job of getting everybody safely inside.

Visitors South of Milford Haven	Padstow Harbour in the Sunshine

We have had a day off today (Saturday) to get the boat washed, do a few little jobs, laundry etc.  Our friends Jean and John rang yesterday to let us know they are flying out to join us in the Isles of Scilly – we are really looking forward to seeing them again and the weather forecast looks very good for the next few days so we are hopeful of having a great time.  We are leaving Padstow tomorrow morning for a 70nm trip to the Isles of Scilly, the forecast is NE F4-5 so hopefully they have got it right because that is as good as it gets.

Hi all Sue here

As usual the Captain has said it all!! The passage from Ramsey he mentioned around Langness Point was horrendous, I thought there was a poltergeist on board throwing things at me!! I made sure everything was well packed in before we left Castletown for Holyhead but we still got quite a battering around the Skerries. I seem to remember making a deal that if we sold the house I wouldn’t have to go out in rough seas anymore!! I suppose that’s the Irish sea for you, it never does what its meant to, the forecast said sea state slight but it was definitely rough!!

I enjoyed our stay in Holyhead as it gave me time to catch up with friends and I even managed to do ladies who lunch a couple of times, don’t think this is in Chris budget anywhere so no doubt it will go against sues miscellaneous account!! I have decided that I am no good at saying goodbye to people, I always end up in tears, but it was still very nice of our friends to give us such a good send off. Some were even on the breakwater waving us off, very much appreciated.

After a couple more lumpy passages we had a very nice sail from Milford Haven to Padstow, with the Dolphins as usual making it more special. I don’t think I will ever tire of seeing them swimming and showing of around the boat. Chris tried his hand a fishing again and got quite excited when he thought he’d caught a big one. I slowed the boat down while he carefully reeled in his catch, a big lump of seaweed!! No doubt he will keep trying and I will continue to report on his progress!! Perhaps if anyone has any tips for him you could email them to us.

We are of to Isles of Scilly tomorrow so hope weather forecast is right. Really looking forward to our friends joining us there, Have been to Tescos to stock up on supplies, well mainly alcohol!! I was quite impressed Tescos run a shuttle bus from the marina, it was probably worth their while though considering the amount we bought. No drinking tonight though as long day tomorrow.

Hard Work to Start the 2011 Season

Hello again to everybody from us both on Nimrod, sorry it has taken us a while to get this first blog of the year to you but we have been very busy with boat jobs to get Nimrod ready for our planned travels South – more later.

We spent the winter in Victoria Dock, Caernarfon, safely tucked in the corner of the dock, sheltered from all the winter threw at us.  We started the winter with 60knt gales, endured over 10 inches of snow on the decks up to Christmas and spent most of March in glorious sunshine – plenty of variety then!!!.  We also had quite a few parties, visits from friends and family, the sad loss of our dear friend Jan and in between we even managed to get some jobs ticked off the “To Do List”.

Jan, who passed away 8th Dec with her partner John	Winter in Caernarfon – 6” Snow!!

We want to express our thanks to all the Caernarfon Harbour Staff for making our stay safe and enjoyable, for taking our post and for looking after Nimrod when we were away, with a special mention for Mark who always went above and beyond the call of duty to look after us and the rest of his customers.

New Years Eve aboard Nimrod	Laundry Time – A bit Big for Sue’s Yellow Bucket!!!

The Girls from Oswestry	The Boys from Oswestry

We managed to drag ourselves away from Caernarfon on 7th April heading for the Isle of Man with our first stop being Amwlch on the North coast of Anglesey for an overnight stop.  As usual we had no wind so we motored up the Menai Straits, under the bridges and through the Swellies before heading up the East coast, around Point Lynas and into the cosy little harbour of Amwlch.

An early start the next day (sounds very familiar) and we were motoring out of Amwlch at 0600hrs into a cold, calm and foggy Irish Sea.  Visibility less than 1/2mile so much concentration was needed on the radar display to make sure we missed anything that might have been out there – we passed one target at just over 1/4 mile away according to the radar and we could not see it at all!!!  Being at sea in the fog is definitely not much fun, you can’t relax at all and you are, literally, sailing blind relying totally on the radar, chart plotter and instruments.  Fortunately the fog finally cleared about half way to Ramsey and we could relax a bit – still no wind so it was down to Hinge and Bracket, our diesel engines to get us across to the Isle of Man.

We were heading for Ramsey and fibreglass expert Chris Machin to make a new bimini cover for Nimrod.  After 9hrs across the Irish Sea we were welcomed into Ramsey by Martin and Keith the Harbour Staff and we tied up on the scrubbing grid in the Harbour. The grid enabled us to check everything below the waterline – fortunately only the expected jobs to do underneath – we don’t like surprises down there.

The main job is a new plywood and fibreglass bimini cover over the cockpit, the existing canvas cover is over 7 years old and the stitching is starting to fail in lots of places as well as the canvas not being very waterproof any more – time for a change.  We could have had a replacement canvas cover made but canvas work does not last too long in the Mediterranean sunshine so, after talking to Chris, we decided to go for the more permanent solution of a fibreglass covered plywood construction.

We thought it would take us 2-3 weeks to do the job but in the end it has taken over 4 weeks of long hard days to get it to look as good as the rest of Nimrod.  First we had to join 5 sheets of ply together with glass fibre bandage and filler to make a 12ft square ply base, this was lifted on to the boat and marked around the existing frame, removed and cut to shape then put back on the frame.  The ply was clamped down to the frame to get the right curves and then edging and screen sections were bonded to it and a skin of glass fibre was laid on the top to maintain the curve.

Across the harbour we lifted the whole thing off and moved it into Chris’ workshop for laying up the GRP on the inside as well as filling and bonding all the curves between roof and edgings.  This meant lots and lots of grinding, sanding, filling, sanding and finally even more sanding – even Sue donned her overalls and helped out with the sanding, even if it did turn her grey!!! (sorry no piccies).  All the sanding and filling was necessary to ensure the finished surface was as smooth as a baby’s bum ready for painting – any little blemishes show up like beacons when you spray paint especially white!!!

Fixing all the Ply Bits Together on Board	Windows Cut and Primer Coat Sprayed

We have just finished putting the final top-coat on and the cover is now all finished and ready to go back on the boat, unfortunately we can’t get back across the harbour to the wall outside Chris’ shed until the next Spring Tides, next Monday/Tuesday.  We can lift it back on top of the frame on the boat, screw it all down, fit the polycarbonate windows final few little jobs and we should be ready to head off on our travels South.  Pictures of the finished job next blog and also some idea about our plans for this summer.

Hi all Sue here

As Chris has said quite a lot has happened since the last blog. I intended to do so much over the winter months but they seemed to fly by. From October to December I spent a lot of time at the hospital in Bangor visiting my dear friend Jan, who sadly passed away on 8th December. She loved life and being on Nimrod, we will miss her very much.

I have also spent a lot of time at the dentists, not my favourite place to be, but I fingers crossed after all that pain and a very large bill I’m all sorted now!!

We had a great New Year on Nimrod with six friends, two of whom, Pru and Mike, we met in Norway and they came to stay with us for New Year. Chris cooked a five course meal which was fantastic, all washed down with lots of wine and champagne. Then we spent New Years day in Holyhead Sailing Club where a local group called the Coffin Dodgers were playing.

We had lots of friends and family visiting us over the winter, hence many parties on board, which was really nice and lovely to see them all. We visited home several times as well and tried to fit in seeing everyone, sorry if we missed anyone but it was always pretty hectic.

Caernarfon was a lovely place to spend the winter months but all too soon it was March and we were of to the Isle of Man to prepare Nimrod for her great escape!! I’m really looking forward to sailing in warmer climates, not to mention all the wine tasting in France!!

My daughter and granddaughter visited us in April. I told Chris I was booking the week off and had a lovely time going around the island on buses and trains with them. I actually spent my birthday,24th April, on Peel beach, building sandcastles and paddling. I’d forgotten how much sand a two year old can cover everything in!! We had a great week though and it was sad to see them going home. The next day Chris produced my overalls and my holiday was over.

Chris has worked really hard and we are nearly ready to get going again. He has also acquired a canoe so is busy patching that up at the moment. I’ve been busy supply shopping and sorting our clothes out, hopefully we will need more shorts than jeans from now on.

Last Few Miles of the Year

We ended up spending longer in Ramsey than we had hoped because the weather decided to give us South or South-West winds for over a week and we didn’t really fancy a long hard slog into the wind and waves all the way back to Wales.  So we had a bit of a rest in Ramsey until the wind backed round to the East and North East to let us make progress towards Holyhead.

We had been parked on the scrubbing grid in Ramsey so we could have a good check on everything below the waterline in readiness for winter.  The anodes on the folding props were almost completely eroded so they were renewed and we also had some signs of water getting into the sail drive leg of the gearbox on the starboard engine, so we fitted new oil seals to the prop shaft to remedy that.  Not knowing what size the seals were we had to buy them from the Volvo parts supplier at a cost of over £13 each – I can get the same thing from an industrial supply company for less than £2!!!!  I think we will be carrying a few spare seals on board from now on.  Both those jobs were expected and my inspections of everything else underwater revealed no more surprises and no more jobs requiring attention – a good result!!!

We had to visit a few pubs during our extended stay and we came across some very interesting characters!!!  We were listening to an old couple and their son in one pub and it was like watching an episode of Till Death us Do Part – first she was complaining about their hotel because she had got locked out of her room the night before while going to the loo down the corridor (it doesn’t bear thinking about) and then they had been kicked out for the day and not allowed back until late afternoon – they were not going to pay them by the end of the ranting!!!  Next an old man came in with two or three newspapers and sat down with his crisps, peanuts and pint – all pretty normal we thought until he took out an old tobacco tin and tipped his peanuts into it before eating them out of the tin, then we noticed he had brought in last Sundays paper (this was a Saturday), and finally he carefully folded up his empty packets, put them in his tin and took them with him!!!  A very entertaining afternoon it has to be said – it really would have made a great sit-com script.

We also had to contend with some really high Spring Tides last weekend, at one point we were almost level with the road alongside the harbour, along the seafront the strong winds also made for some very impressive waves crashing over the wall onto the road and the traffic.  We also met a lovely couple on their boat behind us, Roger and Jean have lived aboard for 25 years and he will be 91 next Feb, they were both still pretty fit and active and still enjoying their life on board.

A Stormy Day in Ramsey	Nearly on the Road – High Spring Tide

Eventually the wind did back round to the NE and ease below F6 to let us escape from Ramsey and head down the SE coast of the Isle of Man to Castletown for one night before heading back across the Irish Sea to Holyhead.  We had hoped for a fairly nice crossing with F4-5 winds from the NE and slight to moderate seas, the wind was OK at F5 nearly F6, but the sea state was pretty horrible because the waves seemed to be coming from the SE and combined with the NE wind to give a very mixed up, uncomfortable sea – typical Irish Sea really.  We were very glad to get tied up in Holyhead, at least the wind made for a pretty quick crossing of just 6hrs dock to dock for the 45nm passage.

We had a nice few days in Holyhead catching up with everything that had happened over the summer and seeing a lot of friends to catch up on the gossip etc.  The weather was nice and sunny with light winds so last Thursday we set off for Caernarfon on our last passage of the year.  Conditions were ideal with a 15knt NE offshore breeze, flat seas and sunny skies so we raised sail in the harbour, motor sailed to the Stacks and then sailed all the way to Caernarfon Bar at 7 – 8 knts, a lovely trip to finish off the summer.  We are now tied up for the winter in Victoria Dock and we probably will not move until next April.

For anyone who is interested in the facts and figures of our summer adventures we covered 2160 nm at an average speed of 6knts. Total time on passage was 362hrs, this is 7.5% of the time we were away, 21% of the time we managed to sail, 17% was motor sailing and 62% was motoring, so you can see that we did an awful lot more motoring than we would have liked seeing as we are supposed to be a sailing boat!!!

We hope you have all enjoyed reading about our travels and are not too jealous of our adventures – you just need to think about what you really want in this life and then make it happen.  This will be the last blog update until next Spring but we will have Internet access all winter in Caernarfon so you can email us, text us or even phone – our mobile numbers are still the same.  We are heading back to Oswestry for a week to catch up with friends and family so we are looking forward to seeing a lot of you next week.

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!!

About Turn – Heading West

Friday 13th August – We stopped in Høllen to fill up with water, get some supplies, plug in to electrickery and send our last blog update, a handy little town with everything we needed close to the harbour.  From there we headed to Uvår, this is a small Island about 5 miles west of Høllen with a nice anchorage between two legs of the island.  We dropped the anchor and had a quick scoot around in the dinghy to see if we could get alongside a wooden jetty but that was too shallow and there was no nice place to tie to the shore, luckily a Danish couple on already tied alongside another jetty invited us to raft outside them as the holding in the middle was reputed to be a bit dubious because of all the weed.

Sunset in Uvår	International Parking Spot in Uvår

Later in the day we were joined by a Norwegian family who rafted outside us, a very International affair and all very friendly.  We had a couple of meals with the Danes, Olaf and Katrina, on Kee II so we had to open a couple of bottles just to be sociable!!.  The weather was just about perfect, light breeze, blue skies, lovely sunsets and calm seas.  Ventured out in the dinghy to try my luck with the fishing and managed to catch lots of mackerel and finally a cod that was big enough to keep.  Some of the mackerel got used as bait in the crab pots and we managed to catch about 15 good sized crabs during our stay in Uvår so our self-sufficiency has improved dramatically.

The first night we were saying to the Danes that we had seen very few British boats on our travels, an hour later one comes into the anchorage with a younger couple aboard, the next day in comes yet another British boat – a bit like buses.  Our Norwegian neighbours left on Sunday and the second British boat moved alongside us, Mike and Prunella on Ghida are from South Wales and were really great fun. 

The Danes left on Monday and the weather took a serious downhill turn with NE winds up to 30 knots that lasted for three days, luckily the anchorage was ideal for winds from that direction so we were all tucked in nice and snuggly.  We were also joined by Ole, a Dane who lives in Norway on his little 26ft yacht, he came in looking a bit like a mad professor because his engine didn’t work so he was having to sail in with the wind up at about 25knots.  After some frantic waving and shouting and a few circles of the anchorage we got him tied up alongside Ghida with not too much hassle – he was very grateful to have someone help him out because he had had a pretty rough sail to get here and was relieved to be tied up safe and sound.

Because of the weather we were stuck in Uvår a bit longer than planned but we had a great time with Mike and Prunella with their little dog, Snoopy, as well as Ole who we invited to join us for meals because he had hardly any food on board – he hadn’t planned on the weather being so bad.  Ole is a really interesting man who has led a very varied life with everything from living in a commune to teaching art at university, he gave us a lovely painting to say thanks for our hospitality, we also managed to mend his outboard engine so he was really happy.

Mike and Pru on Ghida	The Mad Snoopy Dog!!

By Wednesday we were all running very low on water and supplies so we decided we needed to make a move seeing as the wind was forecast to start easing off in the afternoon.  We were going west to Farsund so we thought the NE wind would not be too bad for us to make good progress.  We headed off with two reefs in the mainsail and half the headsail out and we were soon doing 9knots and more!!!  As we headed towards Lindesnes Point the wind definitely didn’t ease, in fact it seemed to get stronger with periods when the wind was over 30knts with gusts over 40knts, we had rolled away the headsail but the double reefed main was still a bit much for the conditions as we surfed down some waves at over 13knts – definitely getting a bit hairy!!!  Down came the main and we rolled out about two thirds of the headsail, still between 8 and 9 knts boat speed but a lot more control as we rounded Lindesnes.  With wind and waves all going the same way as us it was pretty comfortable for us on board but you certainly would not have wanted to be going the other way, we saw a ketch rigged yacht heading South by Lindesnes with only a small headsail out and she was rolling all over the place – not fun at all!!!

Once we got round Lindesnes and headed towards Farsund we got some shelter from the Islands so the wind and sea calmed a bit for the last 10 miles and by the time we got to Farsund the wind had dropped off completely and we had to resort to engines for the last mile.  Tied up in Farsund at about 1800 so it had taken us 4 1/2 hrs to cover the 35 miles from Uvår, just under 8knts average speed.  Now settled in with free mooring and electric so we are staying for a few days to see what the weather decides to do – at the moment it is very unseasonal with low pressure, rain and strong winds, hopefully it will change in a couple of days.

Hi all Sue here

As usual Chris has covered it all in great detail!!

I didn’t mind being stranded in Uvar as socialising is my favourite pastime!! It was really nice to meet Mike and Pru who are doing the same as us. They are wintering back in Wales and then heading of down French coast next year so we will definitely keep in touch. I think Pru and me were too alike and drove the men mad with our blonde moments and talk of food. Fortunately they had lots of homemade wine and beer on board so combined with my homemade bread and various puddings and Chris’s fishing we managed to have a really good time. Sorry to leave Uvar really but we all had to make a move with our journeys homewards. They also had a westie dog called Snoopy who I wanted to kidnap!!

Very hairy passage to Farsund and very relieved when we arrived and were safely tied up. Anchor drinks were definitely called for!!

We will stay here for a couple of days now and wait for a change in the weather before setting of for Egersund.

Holiday Coast of Norway

You are all probably wondering where we are since it is a little while since we updated our blog, we thought we should keep you all in suspense once in a while.  Last time we were in Rekefjord heading South and we actually did what we said we would – we left the next day and the weather was pretty much as forecast.  The wind was a bit light to start and there was a fair swell to the sea so we motored for a couple of hours, then we had a bit more wind so we put the spinnaker up for the first time this year (non-sailors – this is a huge, multicoloured sail like a kite that flies off the front of the boat), a fairly easy sail at about 6knts all nice and simple until we got to the place where we needed to turn inland.  The wind picked up and we had about 18-20knts just as we needed to get the spinnaker down, fortunately it all went to plan with no drama and we headed into Farsund.

Farsund is a very busy harbour with space for loads of boats, even so we had to raft alongside another boat and by early evening it was 3 and 4 boats deep all along the pontoons, we also had the Norwegians we met in Rekefjord outside us – this, of course, was a fine reason for a party so our supplies got severely depleted!!  Our inside neighbours left after a couple of days so we managed to get alongside the pontoon to make life a little easier.  Farsund is a great place to stop because there is no charge for mooring there, the electric supply and Internet  WiFi is also free and a lovely lady in National Costume delivers free bread rolls and newspapers every morning – what more could you want!!

Boat Fire in Farsund	Party Time with Inge and Sverrill

The weather was not very nice and the wind was always the wrong way for us heading South around Lindesnes Point so we ended up staying almost a week in Farsund.  We came out of the Supermarket one day to see huge plumes of black smoke billowing up from the main harbour area, a motor cruiser boat of about 35ft had caught fire.  It was frightening to see how quickly and how intensely the fire took hold, anyone caught on board would have had no chance.  Fortunately the wife and small baby were off the boat when it happened and the husband suffered some burns to his face, but - we think – not too serious, it could have been very much worse.  It was also fortunate that the people were on board the boat in front at the time and managed to move it before the fire spread, the hotel on the dockside was also at risk until the Fire Brigade and the Lifeboat appeared to get things under control – even then the fire was very difficult to stop.

We did escape from Farsund in the end and headed around Lindesnes, the most Southerly point of Norway, in more lumpy seas with winds almost on the nose again!!  Headed into a deserted anchorage between two islands at Vare together with Inge and Sverill on Pretora.  Inge assured us there was plenty of fish to be had so we headed off in the dinghy with high hopes – it turns out he was telling lies as we only found one mackerel and a little cod between the three of us.

Next day we headed towards Mandal with the wind actually blowing the right way so we sailed almost all the way to our next anchorage in a large lagoon amidst the islands with lots of holiday chalets scattered around.  The Norwegians seem to love building holiday homes in the most inaccessible spots and in most cases the boat house seems to bigger than the main cottage.  The South Coast area we are in now is the main holiday centre for the Norwegians and there are holiday homes and boats everywhere, it is getting busier the further east we go, especially seeing as July is when a lot of people have the month off for summer holiday and head to their boats and chalets.  Apparently things calm down again mid August and by September most places are almost deserted again.

Nimrod and Pretora in Vare Anchorage	Tied to the Rocks in Ørpeholmen

We called into Kleven near Mandal to top up the water tanks – again Norway is great in this respect with almost everywhere quite happy for you to tie up at the dockside, top up the water, go shopping and head off again without charging you unless you stop overnight.  Next stop was another lovely sheltered anchorage at Ørpeholmen, first night we were anchored but then a couple of boats left so we managed to get tied up to the rocks on the side of the Island, a bit of a tentative job because this was our first go at this very common Norwegian mooring method, but we managed OK and were nice and secure for a good few days.  We are getting pretty lazy at the moment and any minor excuse is enough for us to stay put for another day!!!  We have only covered about 40 miles in the last fortnight but is is a nice relaxing pace so why rush.

The first morning in Ørpeholmen a small wooden dinghy came alongside with two teenagers offering us free crabs because they had caught too many – they left us with 5 good sized brown crabs that got turned into crab cakes for tea, also managed to catch half a dozen crabs with our own pots so we have had enough of crab for a while, we need Inge to come good with his promise of Sea Trout, but quite a few fishing expeditions in the dinghy have failed to deliver!!

We stayed here longer than planned firstly because the weather was very nice and then because it was forecast to be really bad – the bad bit didn’t happen so everybody was much relieved.  Our extended stay meant a trip in the dinghy to the shop on the Marina nearby at Tegde, even the Norwegians refer to it as “The Pirates of the Caribbean” so we only bought the essentials, there were very few prices on things which is always a bad sign!!!

Monday 26th we managed to drag ourselves out of Ørpeholmen and headed to Hollen for water and Supermarket to stock up the boat again, we only stayed a few hours but that was enough – very choppy berth and dinghies and powerboats screaming round everywhere.  We are now tied up to the rocks in a place called Olavssundet, this is a nice sheltered anchorage between two islands but it is very popular with well over 50 boats in here last night all anchored, tied to rocks or stern anchored with lines to shore.

Looking Over the Huge Hollen Marina	Sue Relaxing in Olavssundet

The Island itself here was a German defence point in WW2 and there are gun emplacements, bunkers, trenches and all sorts of underground passages and storerooms all over the island, so an interesting place to wander around. 

From Olavssundet we have made our way to Bragdoya, a small anchorage about 2m South of Kristiansand, well sheltered and fairly quite seeing how close it is to Kristiansand.  Took the dinghy in to Kristiansand to have a look around the Tall Ships – some very impressive old ships to be seen – there were about 60 ships scattered around the harbour area with the biggest being two Russian boats at 110m long.  We forgot to take the camera so no pictures to share with you!!!  As you can imagine it was very busy all around the harbour with all berths full, even the anchorage area by the harbour was pretty full so we decided not to take Nimrod up there but to stay in our cosy little spot in Bragdoya.  The dinghy trip there and back was pretty bouncy, even though the weather was calm the water was fairly choppy due to all the powerboats hurtling around the harbour area, we were glad to get back on board!!!

Because of the Tall Ships Weekend we decided to head a bit further East from Kristiansand to an area called Blindleia (Dead-End Passage).  This is a picturesque archipelago that is covered with holiday homes belonging to lots of rich Norwegians, but there are still lots of peaceful deserted areas.  The passage between the mainland and the islands is very narrow in a few places and we only had a couple of metres each side of Nimrod at the tightest places – breath in and hope for the best!!!  I really would not want to take anything bigger through there.  Although it is called Dead-End Passage you can get all the way through to Lillesand if you are less than 19m high, we are 20m to the top of our antennas so we had to stop at Mortensholmen.

The main holiday month here is July so Blindleia was fairly quite in the first week of August, apparently it is really hectic in July.  Some areas were still busy but it was easy to see that a lot of the holiday homes were all shut up as people headed back to work.

We headed back to Kristiansand for the weekend and we are now heading slowly west again aiming to be back in Scotland and the Caledonian Canal for early September.  The weather here has been much better than you are having in the UK, very little rain in the past three weeks with at least some sunshine practically every day and lots of days being sunny all day – we will try and bring some sunshine back with us!!!

Hi all Sue here

I think Chris has covered it all!! To be honest my mind has been on other things for the last couple of weeks as one of my best friends has been seriously ill in hospital. After a few really worrying days and a major heart operation she is finally on the road to recovery but it makes you feel pretty useless when you are so far away. This was why we slowed down and just chilled for a while.

The tying up to rocks was very tentative as Chris points out as it was me who had to jump of the boat onto the rocks!! Chris is on the boat giving his advice on which rock I should climb up or down to!! In amongst these rocks are some very prickly bushes to contend with as well but his answer to this was I wasn’t wearing the right clothing!!

The cod are still being elusive and the nearest we have got so far was some Birds Eye Cod Fish Fingers out of the freezer.!! Supplies are getting low now as the fishing side of things has let us down. I think we need to find another remote fish farm.

When we were in Caernarfon last winter we had two swans who used to visit us every day and we could hand feed them, we had even given them names Phoebe and Perry. Since then wherever we seem to go, even some of the remotest anchorages in Norway, within a couple of hours of anchoring we always seem to get two swans visiting us. We were woken up on on Friday morning (6th August) to some tapping noises on the boat, at first we thought it was seagulls but it was soon accompanied by lots of splashing. We got up to investigate only to find Nimrod was under attack!! A male swan who also had a female swan and two cygnets with him was swimming frantically up and down the side of the boat pecking furiously at his reflection. It was very entertaining to watch and every time we frightened him of, we have got our new paintwork to consider, within ten minutes he was back attacking Nimrod the swan!!

Our Peaceful Anchorage in Lusekilen	Peace Shattered by a Mad Swan

Friday (6th August) we arrived in Kristiansand and contacted our Norwegian friend Inge who had promised to take us to his local Irish bar called Patricks. We arranged to meet up with him for a couple of drinks Saturday afternoon. It was £14 for half a cider and a pint of beer but that didn’t seem to deter us as the afternoon drinks led into late evening!! We had a very good time and ended up back on Inge’s boat for a nightcap. Think Inge came of worse though as the power of speech had deserted him by the time we left his boat!!

We are now heading back along the Norwegian coastline, which should take us two to three weeks, to Egersund from where we will cross back to Peterhead in Scotland.