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Here I find myself in Weymouth, sat alone in a pub, contributing to the local economy and blogging.  Its free wi-fi – so long as I sit with a pint, which as I’m sure you will agree, is a real hardship in itself!

John and I are both knackered, its been a long but successful day, sailing from Cowes to Weymouth.  We are very lucky with the weather, because it has not only been gloriously sunny, probably in the top ten warmest days of the year, but there has been a beautiful south easterly breeze so we have been able to sail too!

We spent time planning our passage yesterday, not working so much as individual skippers, but working as a team, which you can when you are both at the same level and there are only 2 of you.  I brought the boat off the pontoon at Cowes, and did a little lap and re-berthed, with a successful first attempt – just for a bit of practice before we left.

We knew there were potential problems as you pass the needles, and we made sure our timing was correct.  The needles looked glorious as we passed them by,

and once we were on our way across towards St Albans Head, we allowed ourselves to relax a little and enjoy a spot of lunch in the sun.

Lunch and the sun made me a little sleepy, so I brought up a pillow and lay down in the cockpit and slumbered a little.  John doesnt find it easy to sit still, and I think he welcomed the time to himself to potter around the boat, adjusting lines and generally fiddling around.  I don’t have a problem with this at all, until he gets in the way of the sun and casts a shadow across me!

This months Yachting Monthly has a feature by Tom Cunliffe about famous headlands around Britain and writes about St Albans Head, and he speaks about how beautiful it is, and it would be such a shame not to pass it by really closely if you can, then he recounts a tale of how he had one of his worse journeys around there when he got it wrong – thanks Tom!  We decided to give it a wide berth, but were very impressed by the beauty of the landscape all the same.

I discovered why the buoys we were navigating to were called “DZ – A, B and C” as DZ stands for “Danger Zone – this is because large sections of the Dorset countryside are in the hands of the MoD, and we were entering a firing range.  We knew we were allowed to sail in there, but aware there might be warnings for us to leave.  Would you just know, a boat blasted out of no where and asked us very politely to maintain a course of 270 degrees until we had Lulworth Cove on our beam.

The Range Boat comes alongside to send us on our way!

Then it sits and waits for other victims!

We had the sails set beautifully for our point of sail and this still allowed the sun to shine in the cockpit, until we changed course!  Never mind, the Cove some came along, we were hardly in their zone – but who wants to run the risk of being fired at?

John takes a slumber too!

We had a beautiful sail, and furled in our sails on our approach to Weymouth harbour.  A quick call to the harbour and we were told we could berth on the visitors pontoon, onto a boat with our starboard side to.

My turn to maneuver the boat today and I brought the boat safely into the harbour and we looked out for our mooring.  I tried to bring the boat starboard side onto the boat, and felt very anxious about moving close to a £250,000 boat with the owners watching me, and the wind behind me…….!

A lesson learned, just because the harbour master asks you to go starboard side on, if this means it makes it tons more difficult, you can alter the plan a little, so I turned her around, John reset the fenders and lines onto the port side, and much to our new neighbours relief, brought the boat alongside whilst gently heading into the wind – so much easier!

Its so much less stressful to bring the boat onto a wooden pontoon rather than onto someones pride and joy – while they are looking!

Relieved that we had a very successful trip, albeit a little stressful during the last 10 minutes, we treated ourselves to an early evening drink as the last few minutes of hot sun hung in the sky.

On the Round Britain Experience, if you have been skipper for the day and worked hard, you could relax after as it was someone elses turn tomorrow – not on Nashira, as planning for tomorrow ensued immediately!

We planned our journey tomorrow to Brixham, taking us round Portland Bill, a notoriously dangerous place for boats with strong currents and overfalls.  We have paid extra care as we planned our route, and have devised a series of way points.  We were getting tired and hungry by this point, and as I volunteered to enter the way points into our chart plotter, John gave a sigh of relief.

I’ve inputted all the waypoints for our journey to Brixham tomorrow and created a route which we have creatively named wey to brix”!  John was most impressed by my skill at programming the chart plotter, and I love how easy it is, as a gadget geek, to impress technophobes!

A quick visit to the chippy – fish chips, and, for the northerner (me) curry sauce.  John continued to regale me with his tales as we eat, then looked surprised as he saw my plate was cleared – he had been doing all the talking, and I did what I am good at – eating!

John, being a farmer, is used to early nights and very early mornings, so he likes to be in bed 9-9.30, so he is in slumber as I sit here in The Ship Inn, Weymouth drinking beer and blogging!

A successful day today, and my tan is glowing as I think of tomorrow and our next journey.  This really is a period of consolidation, and I am putting into practice all I have learned, and realise I know more than I have given myself credit for, but painfully aware of the work I still have to prepare for my yacht master exam in 10 days time…….time for bed I think.  Goodnight!

I have spent 84 days onboard Round Britain Experience, having learnt so much, but always had an instructor with me.  What a chance now!  I feel like a child who has finally grown up and moved away from home and learning to live and make important decisions away from its parents!

On Sunday I joined a 36ft yacht called “Nashira”, along with a guy called John.  This was the first time we had met.  We spent yesterday familiarising ourselves with our new craft, and Duncan, one of SWMT instructors joined us for a few hours to help with that.

Today we have sailed from our berth in Ocean Village, Southampton to a visitors pontoon in Cowes, Isle of Wight – not very far you may think, but today has been a big day for both of us.  It is a day of Firsts.

Today is the first time we have sailed together, the first time we have sailed from a busy commercial port (Southampton), the first time we have sailed this boat, Nashira, the first time we have sailed with just two people on board and the first time we have sailed without an instructor!

We spent time together meticulously planning our passage, and felt entirely confident, until our chart plotter (the boats playstation!) did not show some of the buoys we had listed!  This threw us both for a time, until we decided to trust in our chart work, and not rely on electronic equipment – just as we had been taught!

This is a busy commercial area, and some ships are as big as “The World”!

There were numerous ships around, so we knew to stay just out of the buoyage, but unfortunately, other ships had the same idea at times, and we felt like a “Nashira sandwich” on occasions

John looks calm as 2 large ships negotiate their way around us!

John prepares the sails as we start to sail for the first time

Once safely in the Solent, near Cowes, we practised sailing and got used to our new rigging

With very little wind it wasnt easy – its always harder to sail with little wind – but we managed and felt very proud of ourselves as we made our way into Cowes, even stopping at the fuel pontoon to fill the tank up and get fuel for our outboard motor should we need it.

As potential yacht masters, we pay good attention to health and safety, which is more than we can say for some craft

How many life jackets can you see???

We are now on the visitors pontoon and have had a relaxing afternoon and evening.  The weather (despite lack of wind) had been fabulous today and we are both looking tanned!  Its lovely here, and we are very close to a sailing school, and can hear the squeals of delight from the kids.  Here they are coming in from their lesson like little ducklings

It was strange having to rely on our own knowledge and judgement, but we felt satisfied we had done it.  John brought the boat in, and I worked out how I could single handedly secure all the lines.  I mentioned a few weeks ago how I viewed regular changes of instructors along the trip – how I take a look at their tools and select my own for my toolbox!  Well today I used Chris’s tool of using a midships line which worked well, Ricks way of stepping onto the toe rail by the shrouds ready to step off, and Tanks method of preparing the bow and stern line by “flaked” them along the guard rail ready to grab and secure once on the pontoon.  Quick as a flash I had Nashira secure on the pontoon once John had beautifully steered her alongside!

I imagine most readers would be dismayed that a man and a woman could be brought together one day to sail, with no knowledge of one another but with a common goal.  I feel very lucky that the man I have been brought together with is a true gent!

John is a retired geography teacher who now works on his families farm.  He is very practically minded, very well spoken, knowledgeable, kind, calm and best of all – he laughs at my jokes!  He doesnt cook but is great at washing up and cleaning which suits me just fine!

During out trip today, we realised that the boat speed wasnt being recorded, so we have set about solving this by finding, removing and cleaning the transducer paddle for the speed sensor in the forward bilge (ie. under my bed!)  We hope it will now work tomorrow!

Having enjoyed a chicken thai green curry, I put the finishing touches to the passage plan for tomorrow – for we are sailing to Weymouth.  We have a list of every buoy we will pass, complete with distances and headings from each point between here and Weymouth as well as a pilotage, and felt very comfortable with our preparation – that is until we saw the fog descend around us – what if this is still here in the morning?  Lets see – how much of a challenge would we like?

The time just flies by – we were both in bed by 9am, John to snooze no doubt, me to continue some of my studies and to blog of course!  The day until my yacht master exam looms ever closer and I find myself fluctuating with my confidence, at times feeling quietly confident, and others wondering why on earth I’m doing it!  I know why I am, its about achieving something special and seeing a project through to the end!  However, I am homesick and miss my family and my friends! I would love to give Cal and Tash a big hug and kiss now (sorry Ces but I got my hugs this weekend from you – but could always manage another!)

I like being on this new boat, it is smaller and easier to manage than RBE, which is a good job without an instructor!) but she is still 36ft, so not a dinghy!  With there being only 2 of us we have a real feeling of space.  I am in the fore cabin which is huge!  I have far too much luggage really, but even with all my gear unpacked and my lifejacket, sail boots and waterproofs hung up, there is spare room in my cupboards!

I have made it very cosy, and am snuggled up in it right now as I type this and listening to the fog horns around us!  Its now nearly 10pm and I’m feeling weary.  Spending 14 weeks on a boat, sailing and learning is very tiring (I can see you are feeling sympathy for me now!) just being in the fresh air most of the day makes you feel tired.  With that thought, I am going to say goodnight.  Goodnight!

Up bright and early this morning to pack!  Mike is heading home, John too, and Im going to Southampton, firstly to join the boat show then to join another boat, and a brand new crew member in readiness to sail a boat by ourselves for a week!

We all said our goodbyes, and it feels strange to be leaving 2 new friends with whom I have spent virtually every waking hour for 84 days!

Onwards and upwards!

Off to the boat show today – will upload photos shortly, but picture millions and millions of pounds on the water with lots of shiny boats and it will bring you somewhere close!

This blog will now change a little as the time has come for some concerted and intense study.  I will try to get online and occasionally keep you up to date with my travels from now on as I head towards my yacht master exam in 2 weeks time……….gulp! See you very soon!!!

This has been such a momentous day for us all.  After 12 weeks we have finally arrived in London!  Let me tell you about it.

If you have read yesterdays blog you will know that we arrived last night in Queenborough around tea time.  I cooked dinner for us all, then set about preparing the passage plan for today.  We were all very weary and the easiest thing in the world would have been to go to sleep early and cut corners with the planning – but I’m so glad I didnt.  I prepared 6 charts ready, and insisted on listing the entire pilotage to St Katharines dock, with the list of all the buoys and their characteristics.  This work certainly paid off.

I woke at 2.20 am, after waking each hour from ten to see if I had overslept, the boys were already stirring.  We slipped our mooring at 2.50 and headed out towards the Thames following the buoyage.  It was a beautiful evening and the stars looked radiant! All seemed very easy, recognising each buoy as we headed towards London, then within a few minutes, the fog descended and we could just see beyond the end of our boat!  Help!  As you now see, the preparation and planning really started to pay off.

Its pretty difficult to photograph fog - here is the teeny weeny bit that was left

No one would want fog, but there is nothing you can do when it appears, and you just have to get on with it.  We had everyone up on deck to have as many eyes as possible looking out for the lights we were looking for and listening out for other craft. I looked towards the sky and could see the brilliant stars – the fog was just along the river, typical for this time of year.

We continued our journey, and with the tide driving us forward, under the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge (Dartford)

No matter how high the bridge - you always wonder if you will fit under it!

Which we did of course

it didnt seem long before we reached the Thames Barrier.  I had already radioed London VTS and gained permission to enter and through we went.

London looked so beautiful in the dawn,

it really is a good time to photograph

and the rowers were out early

and even overtook us at one point.

We had a lovely journey up the Thames, particularly when the fog ceased

Our Salty Sea Dog - Chris!

By 8am we had reached Tower Bridge, and I picked up a buoy we secured our lines, then I set to making the bacon sarnies I had promised the boys when we arrived.

We all found this to be a very emotional time – we had finally done it – sailed right around Britain, what a fantastic experience for us all!

We had to wait until 10am for the lock to open, and as soon as I saw the outgoing traffic in the lock ready to come out, I was ready on the helm to bring her in.  We slipped our lines and over I went, in before any other boats, right at the front of the lock.  I thought I was being very clever getting in there first, but it didnt quite pay off as I shall tell you.

Our reception committee (my daughter Francesca and my “surrogate” daughter Dot) arrived to greet us,

they had been there on 4^th July when we left, and here they were again as if we had been gone just hours!

Hugs and kisses completed, the harbour official came to give us our paperwork,

along with an apology that they had mechanical failure on one of the bridges, and only one side would lift up – and it wasnt the side I was nicely nestled up against!  Oh marvelous – as if I didn’t have enough of a challenge ahead of me!

Every cloud has a silver lining of course – for she also brought me a parcel which was awaiting me – it was my Canon Camera, at long last, back from Camera Hospital!  Just in time for the end of the trip!

The lock finally opened, and we made our way through the one open side, hoping I wasnt going to tear off the rigging on the broken piece of bridge as I took her through!

I breathed a sigh of relief as we glided through intact and headed to our berth.  My daughter now had my camera and I had added pressure of being photographed as I tried to glide her in!  Chris was not standing next to me making sure I didnt crash, but right on the bow, it made me feel that he trusted me (did you Chris???)

It was a great sense of relief when we were secured onto the pontoon,

and even more so when the bottle of champagne was opened!

A real celebration for us all!

Feeling tired and a little tiddly, we set to cleaning RBE – she was looking decidedly grubby.  The boys scrubbed her outside and me and my gorgeous girls gave her insides a good going over!

Satisfied with our work, we waved Chris off (I’m going to miss him!) and headed to the Dickens Inn, where we spent our first evening, to take lunch!  A little stroll after lunch, and we headed to our cabins to rest our weary heads once more.  This was now 5pm, and I set my alarm for 6 as I knew Neil was arriving at 6.30 to award us our certificates and take us out for a slap up meal!

Well, I must have been very tired, as I set my alarm for 6am, and could probably have slept that entire time if truth be known!  I woke up with a start just minutes before Neil arrived, said hi quickly to him as I darted to the shower block.

I decided to dress as a girlie this evening for a chance and put a dress and sparkly shoes on!  Neil gave us our certificates and congratulated us all on not only completing our trip round Britain, but for gaining Coastal Skipper qualifications!

We all had a lovely evening, and with full bellies, headed back to the boat.  We took a little diversion, back to the Dickens Inn, and John sensibly took to his cabin.

It was 1am before we all went to bed, and I set my alarm for up am7 as I had to pack my 3 months of life into my bags ready to head to Southampton………goodnight!

Just a quick blog tonight  it is 21.55, I’m in bed, the boys are sleeping – we have reached Queenborough.  We are on a mooring, with a very noisy French boat next to us, but we can gain our revenge tomorrow as we are slipping out mooring at 3am ready to head for our very last stint – to St Katharines Dock in the heart of London Town!

I’m skippering this final journey, and have 6 charts to work from in total, for what is only a 42 mile trip.  It is total pilotage, and I have a long list of buoys to head towards (not many women my age can say that after all!)

Anyway, let me tell you about today.  I have had a lazy day today as the boys have brought us from Harwich.

The Cardinals are waiting!

I spent most of the day in front of my laptop, making folders for them to put onto memory stick.  It includes the photographs – I have taken nearly six thousand photographs during this trip, as well as copy of the whole blog – its sixty thousand words long!  My oh my, don’t I chat!

Strictly speaking, we have completed our Round Britain Experience, as we were in Queenborough after our very first night – so our return to London is an extra!

My daughter Francesca and her friend Dot waved us off in July, and they have both promised to be there to wave us back in again tomorrow morning!

I really ought to be asleep now so I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed at 2.30am when I’m waking the boys up – so goodnight!

Woke nice and early to brilliant sunshine.  We have been so lucky with the weather on this trip (if you forget the two hurricanes of course!)

We have all been away from home for nearly 12 weeks, have had a fabulous experience, but are all pretty exhausted now.  You could feel the weary air between us, it was so contagious, even Chris felt it and became Mr Tetchy!

Hopwever, we all appreciated the value of continuing and making best of our time and started by getting the storm jib out and seeing how it would work should we ever be caught out in a Force 8!

Maybe this boat should be called "Round Bottom Experience" after all!

Another use for the storm jib, is to be able to raise a casualty from the water if they have fallen over the side – we practised rigging it, and I raised Chris off the pontoon with it – and didnt at any point think about sabotage!!

Methinks Chris is having rather too much fun!

We left the marina, beautifully guided out by Mike, and I brought us onto the fuel pontoon  (and tried to ignore the depth gauge nearby which said we were in 2 meters of water!!)

We sailed once more down the Orwell.

If we thought we were tightly packed onto our boat – take  a look at this one!

but they seemed to be having fun!

Here is the Butt and Oyster we walked to last night - far quicker sailing here!

and the woodlands to the back is where we walked to get there - great fun in pitch dark!

A tightly packed Thames Sailing Barge

We practised sailing up to buoys and lassoing them – here is Mike giving it a go.  We spent most of the day practising Man Overboard.  This time though it was 3 milk bottles tied together, it made it interesting to see with the sunlight hitting the water.  We understood the process though.

I seem to have a fascination for these containers - perhaps because my life is currently being moved to Australia

We passed by Shotley Marina on the way to our overnight berth – and I looked longingly over and thought of the bath!

Here are the wind turbines ready to be loaded and taken out to one of the many new wind farms

We are now secure onto the pontoon on the town quay at Harwich.  Another light ship here, like the one at Hull

There is a survey boat behind us on the quay, it is a tug which works with dredgers – it has its day sign up – this reminded me of Fred – remember me telling you about the ball, diamond, ball looking like a bra – and means the vessels are restricted in their ability to manoeuvre…….

We have seen many birds on this trip.  This is a Turnstone.  It helps to have an ornithologist on board.  John likes looking out for birds whenever he can………

We used this beautiful building as our leading mark to head towards the town quay.  Harwich is where Trinity House is based who were responsible for looking after the Nav aids, buoys, including the light ships located around the coast.  As I drew closer, I became interested in the friezes set into the stone – and thought I could see all 4 of us on them – see what you think!

We think this one is our very own catalogue man - Mike!

The boys call me the queen on the boat - and I have curly hair - so I think this must be me!

This one looks uncannily like Chris......

I think Chris agrees!

and I think John should grow a beard and put on a serious look

Some local information

There are some gorgeous properties in Harwich, this one is fascinating, pity about the colour

We walked to the local shop, stocked up on the last few provisions we need for the remainder of our journey.  The boys carried the goods and sped off, their noses smelt the beer!

Its lovely when people make an effort and out out hanging baskets - it has brought this street to life! Not sure the boys noticed it as they sped into the pub!

There have been many instances where the boys have headed off in the distance, oblivious to the fact I am hanging back taking photographs of our journey.  In Newcastle they completely lost me.  I just stopped walking and waited for them to back track – I didn’t think they wanted to completely lose me, but I wasn’t totally sure of that!

The local pub, full of character and charm

Yes – this is a pub!

We found a frame on the wall, and Chris thought it would be fun to put ourselves in it.  Well folks, Chris told me to use an alluring expression, this is the best I could manage.  Im truly exhausted at this point in the trip, hair desperately needs a cut, no make up – the set up every girl loves when she is having her photograph taken!!

It seemed to work much better for Chris, but I just think its my skill behind the camera!

Back on the boat and I made a Spanish omelette with pasta – and made a bit of a mess for the boys to clear away!

Tomorrow we are sailing to Queenborough, this should take about 10 hours, so arriving about tea time, then at 2am on Saturday morning we will make the final part of our trip to St Katharines Lock in London and complete our Round Britain Experience!  Our trip is nearly over!

John and Mike will be going home, but I have decided to continue this experience and try to gain my yacht master qualification.  It will be a useful piece of paper to have in my back pocket in Australia after all.  Next week, I will be joining a guy called John, he completed the RBE April-June this year and the pair of us will be taking a boat out by ourselves, spending a week cruising before being ready to prepare for the examiner to come on board and see if we really are sailors!  Im not sure I will have much time for blogging – but I will try to keep you up to date with my adventures!

Until then, I think it is time to get some sleep!  Goodnight!

How lovely it was to go to bed last night knowing I didnt have to be up in 2 hours time to get back on watch, lovely.  We all had a good nights sleep and were up and ready by 9am (a bit of a lye in for us!).  We are all relieved today not to be heading to another destination.  However, we didnt want to waste any time and needed to make best use of our very knowledgeable skipper and instructor, and just generally sap his brain dry!

Staying in Shotley is lovely.  Its a great marina and is the nearest one has come to rivaling Brixham.  The facilities are great and there is a lovely pub on sight, we have all had baths with no extra cost – at a price of only £20 a night!  I even had 2 baths there just to make best use of it – at the rate I have been showering just lately, it means I wont be due one for a fortnight!

We are so close to a busy commercial shipping area, and it is fascinating to look at the activity around us.  I watched a Maersk Container ship being unloaded – and thought about my boxes which are on a ship bound for Brisbane right now.

Here was me 2 days before I joined RBE in July - with my boxes to send to Oz!

Its a mixture of commercial and pleasure boats which is lovely

Anyway, back to what we are here for…….we slipped the lines and Mike brought her off the pontoon and into the lock ready to head out into the river to have a bit of a play

Chris had a mischievous look in his eye, and I could tell he had some tricks up his sleeve.

Buoy oh buoy he did!

In an area of shallows, with no sails up, he cut the engine and asked Mike what he would do if he had engine failure.  Of course most yacht owners would instantly think “call the coastguard” but of course, this was not the answer Chris was seeking!  We quickly unfurled the head sail  and in a jiffy the main sail was raised too – what clever students!

This continued for 3 hours with us chasing buoys with no engine power, just using the wisps of wind available to us.

The day started drizzly and dull, but it didnt take long for me to get completely baking hot in my oilskins as I worked hard over several winches.  The clothes soon came off, nicely timed with the sun coming out – another lovely day!

We stopped for lunch and I concocted another leftover cocktail – consisting of bolognaise, sausage casserole, pasta twirls, chilli powder and tabasco!

Lets call this a “Shotley Mess”

As we stopped for lunch, the wind speed had increased and we were ready for a sail.  I was given the challenge of raising the anchor and moving us off – again with no engine – our carbon footprint is doing well today!

Anchor raised, we got sailing once more, enjoying the breeze which had built up.  We chased around buoys, tacking in very tight spaces and generally raising Chris’s blood pressure!  Of course we were not racing……were we?  We did have smiles of satisfaction as we managed to outrun several boats

We enjoyed sailing up the Orwell and under the bridge

I have never been to this area, but Suffolk is really pretty, gentle rolling hills and fabulous properties along the river

And came to a stop at Woolverstone marina and had an interestingly tricky berth – thanks to Chris for taking over the helm at this point as RBE can be a bit of a challenge at times.

Exhausted once more, we took to our cabins for a well earned, pre-dinner siesta.  I couldn’t sleep, but rested and felt my muscles aching.  My upper body strength has increased so much on this trip, and I have muscles on my muscles.  I can’t pull the girlie card and not get stuck into the winching and sweating which is required on this boat, nor would I want to of course!  I’m just sad Woolverstone marina doesnt have a bath!

Rest time over, it was time to get spruced up and head to the pub.

Chris took us on an interesting walk through the woods…….and we found “The Butt and Oyster” a pub with loads of character, and fabulous food.  Chris and I had steak, John Lamb Shank and Mike enjoyed his fish stew – all meals were yummy! We had a great time

A couple of bottles of wine later and the walk back through the woods seemed much more fun!

We all had such a lovely evening, no one wanted to go to bed – not even John who likes his early nights.  I feel really lucky to be on a trip with such lovely people.  Mike and John have been my companions for nearly 3 months now.  We are not in competition, and are all really supportive of one another, and genuinely care – and they both put up with me bossing them around so they must be fabulous blokes!  Each skipper we have had on each leg has been great too, each very different, but all likeable, fun and wanting the very best for us.

Chris has his funny little ways, and I have frequently empathised with Mrs Bracewell and think she must be a very tolerant woman for putting up with him for the last 40 years – well done Sheila, you deserve a medal!! Only joking, Chris is a pleasure to have around, and I’ve almost forgiven the fact he puts chilli sauce on everything I cook for him, just as a kid does ketchup!

Eventually, after finishing off my bottle of Glavya we settled down to sleep….goodnight!

This is the very last week of this trip and its the final run down towards London.  – then spend a couple of days concentrating on moving the boat around in small spaces, throwing things overboard and getting them back on board again, and generally getting ourselves ready for the last journey down to St Kats in London ready for lock in at 10.30 on Saturday morning

Well, here we are in Shotley (Harwich).  Its been a long couple of days, and I will try to tell you about it in this blog.

I had the opportunity to take a shower and use the launderette in Hull, instead I spent the morning in Wethersoons trying to upload blogs since we left Leith, is this normal behaviour?

I have now put this right as we are comfortable in Hull, all my washing has been done, nice clean bedding, and I have had two, yes two, baths!  I guess I was feeling guilty for prioritising my blog over my poor body for so long!

We have had a long trip, we are all tired, the boys are all fast asleep and I’m going to tell you about it before I go to sleep, so here goes!

I managed a little walk around Hull as I looked for the Wetherspoons, and felt impressed by the place.  I was last here in 1983, it was obviously a thriving city in its time, but

in the early 80’s it was a city in the doldrums. Its good to see how improved it is

(Photo to be included here when internet allows)

Lovely old cobbled streets, can see the marks where the old metal wheels of the carts wore them down

(Photo to be included here when internet allows)

We slipped the lines at Hull Marina yesterday morning at noon, with John skippering this trip.  Initially he planned to skipper just the first half of the trip, but he ended up skippering the whole lot and doing a lovely job!

John meticulously planned the trip, then stored all his notes in his folder.  He ensured we navigated the Humber with fine detail.  He tells me the name of his mirror dinghy is “Mr Fusspot” named by his children – well Varty kids – I can’t think why you chose that name?

I’m only joking, John is very organised and pays attention to detail, which is what I kept in mind as he contacted Humber Coastguard to let them know about our planned route to Harwich and informed them our boats name was “Round Bottom Experience”  He quickly corrected himself, and I managed to spin away from him and conceal my smile as I wondered what Freud would say – maybe he was thinking of our own Hull??

It can be very scary using the VHF, contacting the coastguard, marina offices, VTS, but as we continue our journey around and meet some of these people, and hear the dialogues between frequent VHF users, you realise they are just normal people doing a normal job – it helps to keep this in mind as you pick up the receiver, put it to your mouth (yes John, your mouth to speak…!) and speak.

Chris has been a great skipper and manages to keep his cool as we guide the boat out of and into tiny spaces, like locks.  He is an old salty sea dog, with tons of experience, not only of sailing, but of teaching novices like ourselves, but I often wonder if he is screaming underneath, if he is, he certainly doesnt seem to show it!

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We met yet more friendly harbour staff – here is Mark the lockkeeper who gives us a wave as we leave,

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and a quick chat to Chris as the lock did its work

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We had a beautiful sail down the Humber, with 15-20 knots of wind and the tide behind us, it wasnt long before we reached Spurn Head

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Sailing around Britain certainly educates you about industry and gives you an appreciation of the work others do.  As a consumer normally residing in the Midlands, it is easy to take for granted that food arrives in supermarkets, there will be petrol in the pumps and if I fancy fish and chips on a Friday night, I can be assured to getting it.  Sailing around our coast helps me understand how some of this happens.

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I have always dreaded the night sails on this trip, but have to admit they have often been the best times, this trip was no exception.  We had strong winds for most of the journey, but unfortunately, this ended up on our nose once we came around the curve of North Norfolk and headed directly south, so the motor had to come on and the head sail put away.

I enjoy sailing at night though, looking at the lights, working out what the vessels passing by are and which buoys we are heading towards

This trip has certainly helped with pilotage – at one point a stretch around a wind farm) looked like something in Blackpool with lights of varying colours flashing along the way.  John and I picked our way through it, looking for the next buoy and counting its flashes – and feeling satisfied as each one went by and we had recognised it correctly (thank goodness for that – we didnt want to be at the end of a turbine blade after all!)

Another great thing about a night sail is seeing the dawn!

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It always seems to be spectactular.

As I was photographing it this morning, I suddnely realised why this special mark said (2 buoys) on the chart – as suddenly another buoy appeared!

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The dawn even seemed to make Sizewell look pretty!

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Eventually, Felixstowe started to appear in the distance

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And we could see the industry around the area

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Fantastically busy place

On busy areas of shipping, they have something called a Traffic Separation Scheme”  its a bit like a big motorway on the sea.  We are just a teeny weeny yacht, and don’t count so we have to cross it as quickly as we can, taking care not to be mown down by the juggernauts as we go!

This is what I mean

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Once they had both passed, we headed across and breathed a sigh of relief!

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Mike helmed as John navigated, constantly asking Mike to “keep port” as he hugged the buoys!

Look out Mike – here is one heading towards you!

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John contacted Shotley Marina in Harwich to secure a berth and ask if we could enter the lock.  After a little confusion when he managed to confirm we did indeed have a draught of 2.2 meters not 4.2!) we entered the lock

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Safely secured onto a pontoon, John was able to put down his skippers hat and relax, put the charts away

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Just time to pop to the “Shipwreck” for a couple of well earned pints, before collapsing into our cabins for a siesta, then up in readiness for Johns cooking this evening –

“Corned Beef Hashwich”

As I mentioned at the start of this blog – all the boys are sleeping as I write this.  If you see any errors, I apologise now, for I should be asleep too and my fingers seem to be typing without connection to my brain right now (no change there I hear you say!)

Goodnight!

(this blog is still being written – sorry, but I have been too busy sailing………watch this space!)

Photos to be uploaded soon to the other blogs – please re-visit!

We woke up nice and early as Newcastle did.  It had been raining heavily all night, but just eased as we emerged, thankfully just in time to capture this

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Mike is skipper for the day, and he started by giving us a briefing – “Well, its an easy trip, we are going from A to B”  Thanks for that Mike!  Over a cuppa he did elaborate however and we all felt comfortable in our roles for the day.

As we were ready to leave, the owner of “River Escapes” magically appeared and helped us slip the lines, and gave us as warm and cheery a farewell as we had a welcome – we like this place!

We had a gentle motor down the River Tyne with opera playing in the background – Chris has brought us some culture!

(this blog is still being written – sorry, but I have been too busy sailing………watch this space!)