Having had such a healthy evening in the non-existent pub in Long Hope, I felt very sprightly this morning as I lept up the mast and sat astride the boom to re-attach the halyard! I finally overcome my fear of climbing up the mast!
A little climbing at 7.30 in the morning!
An 8am start as we left The Orkney Islands amidst the mist and headed out into the Pentland Firth for a very interesting passage and left Orkneys behind.
Bye bye Orkneys!
The Pentland Firth is the passageway from the Orkneys to the mainland and is a body of water which is notorious with overfalls, eddies and needs to be approached with care and in good weather. Fortunately we have the weather and we always take good care!
Its as hard to photograph overfalls as it is to steer a boat through them!
This area must be a great supply of fish as we spotted literally dozens of seals who continually popped up their heads for a quick peak, amidst gannets diving into the sea for their breakfast, and the skuas mobbing the gulls to steal their catch – it was just like our very own nature programme. We hoped an Orca might pop along to join in the fun, but alas, not today!
The overfalls on the Pentland Firth were very interesting to sail through as it moved the boat from side to side, and we can only guess the perils that might await unsuspecting craft in poor weather! We planned our departure to coincide with the tide, and got very excited when we managed to achieve 12 knots (speed over ground). With just a little tweak on the helm, we achieved 16.7knots, and I took a photograph (as usual!) to provide the evidence!
Look how fast we are travelling - its great to get the tide times right!
Eventually reaching mainland, seeing John O Groats in the distance and passed by Duncansby Head, we were impressed once more by another striking headland
It was at this point that John, admiring the landscape, mentioned how it would be lovely to have a good camera with a telephoto lens to capture the beauty. He really doesn’t mean to wind me up – but he has completely forgotten I have the very thing – my Canon EOS 500D in my cabin but its a little bit poorly – thanks for reminding me John!! Bless you! I’m managing to capture this trip now with my trusty Fujifilm Finepix F500EXR which has managed to resurrect itself from its dip in the toilet on the Isle of Man. If you are a follower of this blog, you will already know all about this!
Mick steers with his feet!
A lovely journey to Wick, despite the lack of wind which meant that we had to motor all the way. Mike had worked out the pilotage and instructed us in, I brought the boat onto the pontoon first time and John nimbly leapt onto to secure the line! What a team!
Hello mainland once again – here we are in Wick.
Wick!
A sample of the shower facilities – not bad, but no where has been a patch on Brixham marina!
We planned to do some more studying – and we decided to use the local Wetherspoons to make use of their internet.
Studying with not a pint in sight!
We are studying the weather and have spent time (drinking tea I may add!!) talking about depressions! The only way to get over that is to have a little drink! Looking out of the window, we saw an unusual structure – a motorbike combined with the front of a mini!!
Re-cycling at its best!
Time for a meal in Wetherspoons and our skipper orders a “Tank Sized” meal!
A large mixed grill and a portion of southern fried chicken strips - a little snackett for Tank!
All this sailing, studying and blogging is exhausting, time for bed soon! Well, not really, but I’m unlikely to be adding to it today – so watch out for an update in tomorrows blog. Tomorrow is to be a day of study, pontoon bashing, passage planning and, as usual, loads of fun!
Goodnight!
