The boat has been rocked all night by the high winds, but we still listened hopefully at 7.30 to the forecast from Forth and Aberdeen Coastguard. Gale warnings of 9-10 was not what we wanted to hear, however, the 24 hour forecast has better news for us, and we are likely to be able to head out tomorrow and make our way to Eyemouth. Leth is not such a bad place to be stranded in is it!
Chris put us through our paces in the morning as he wanted us to give him a safety briefing. This was really useful as it was a most comprehensive list and included how to attach the emergency antenna
Thats an interesting device on my head.....what could it be?????
Do you think I got it right?
John spent some time in prayer, or was he scrubbing floors?
Oh no – he was begging Chris to give him his coastal skipper qualification
Sorry, my mistake, of course they were just checking the bilges!
For lunch, I mixed together the left overs from the last few days and made a Leithy broth and poured it over a bowl of doritos. Chris didnt look too impressed by this, but John, being the most polite man I have ever met, ate it silently. Mike had popped to the shops, he returned, saw his lunch awaiting him, and promptly made a sandwich!! Thanks guys!
We are planning to head to Eyemouth tomorrow, but needed to plan our exit from The Port of Leith so I gave the harbour office a call and asked for Martin. Having been given such a lovely welcome from him last week, I wanted to thank him, and ask if I had got the details about him correct in the blog!. He wasnt available, which is what I expected as he is obviously a busy man! However, a little time later, a call came, it was Martin, and indeed, he again was very helpful.
To exit Leith, its not a lock you would know if you are familiar with traveling the canal systems, it is a huge lock, it needs to be to accommodate the huge ships and cruise liners which come here, so timing is important. Martin informed me we could leave tomorrow at 8am and leave with Primula, the mine sweeper! I’m really looking forward to following her out of the harbour and into the lock – camera at the ready!
Martin then also informed me I had a few of my details wrong (gulp!) Firstly, he is Martin with a “Y”, and is called that by his friends and colleagues. Sorry Martyn with a Y! Secondly, the photo I took of him speaking with the captain of Primula on Friday was not in fact him! It was PC John Pennycook, the local Community Police Constable for the area He told me he could understand my mistake – yes, they do look alike!
Thirdly, it wasnt the captain who was being saluted and piped onboard, but Lieutenant Commander William Gauson MBE RN, who is the Deputy Naval Liaison Officer, who works for the Flag Officer of Scotland and Northern Ireland !! Martyn and I agree this is rather a long title but Martyn says you can use DNLO, FOSNI for short! Thanks for that!
I’m glad Martyn with a Y is a follower of this blog. He tells me he has just received an email from a woman in Grangemouth who has also been reading the blog – hello to the lady from Grangemouth – details please Martyn!
Thanks so much for the wonderful help we have had from Martyn and his staff, we have appreciated our stay here, and our shelter from Hurricane Katia!
After lunch I decided to do a bit of touristing as I thought it would be rude not to visit the Royal Yacht whilst we were in Leith.
After my payment of £11 and my completion of a gift aid form (which enables me to visit as often as I like for the next year!) I started the tour. You are given a handset which you can use in the various areas which I found really helpful. Due to the poor weather
we weren’t allowed to go onto the bridge which was a little disappointing, but then again, we have our own on RBE – I took a sneaky piccie of RBE before I boarded RYB!
There she is behind Primula - whom we will follow out tomorrow!
Doesnt she look lovely viewed from the Royal Yacht!
First to view was the captains quarters, his office, dining room and sleeping quarters
Quite why they needed a rolls royce onboard escaped me, until the handset informed me that is was difficult maneuvering it when they went on shore, and it was soon decommissioned when they realised it was easier to use local cars – do you think they used Budget Cars as we did when we visited Northern Ireland?
It was interesting to see the bow, with the maintenance guys on board, and the work being carried out around the port of Leith.
I was most impressed with the racing yacht which has been superbly refurbished – its called Bloodhound and was originally built in 1936
If you look at this photo you can see the works where the new marina is going (is that right Martyn?)
RoBE was enjoying his tour of the Royal Yacht Brittania, and insisted on having his photo taken on the Binnacle
And he was very excited about ringing the ships bell!
I particularly liked the sun deck, which it turns out was Queenies favourite too!
I’m glad to see they stock my favourite tipple too!
I liked the officers mess
and bemused to find their pasttime was a game called kick the wombat…..
And I was amazed to find that the Queen only had a little single bed in her bedroom, as did the Duke!
Apparently, the windows in the royal rooms are set high, so no one can look into their rooms as they are passing by on the deck. Good idea!
The only double bed onboard is the honeymoon suite, even I have a double bed in my lovely cabin on Round Britain Experience – am I more important than the Queen?
Apparently, it was Prince Charles who had arranged the bed to be moved into the suite!
There was a display of the honeymooners who had made use of this love pad – and none of the marriages are still alive – Charles and Di, Andrew and Fergie to name just two of the failed Royal marriages! Maybe he should have ordered a better bed?
The state dining room was amazing, with plenty of attention to detail. If the coastguard brings more bad news, I might just pop back tomorrow!
Back to the boat to prepare dinner – its Gammon baked with honey and mustard, creamy mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, cauliflower cheese. I’m sorry, but I’m struggling to think of many more “Leithy” names for this food – I’m going to open this up to readers suggestions – please make this into an “Edinburghy/Leithy” meal and help me out! I await your comments!
Now I’m sitting in the Ocean Terminal using their internet and writing this blog. We are up at 7 tomorrow, so I think I had better have an early night – goodnight!
