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We decided to treat ourselves this morning and have a lye in – and stay in bed until 7am – yippee!  What do you know, we were all awake at 6am waiting for the call from the “Skipper of The Day”, John, to rap on the door to wake us!

We have only a short journey today – sailing to Blyth, which is just down the coast from Newcastle.  As you know, we made the decision yesterday not to head straight to Newcastle, but to stop off short and benefit from yet another pilotage and opportunity to berth the boat.  We still wanted to get into the city early enough so we could get a look around as we were passing – it would be rude not to after all!

John had been busy last night preparing his passage whilst we were busy looking for the barman to open the yacht club!  He gave us a briefing this morning in a cheery style starting with “dearly beloved brethren, we are gathered here today to sail to Blythe” He shared his meticulous passage planning with us and we busied ourselves preparing the boat.

John ensured we had permission from Blyth harbour control

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and brought the boat out beautifully and we headed out to the sea.  The wind was on our nose, so no chance today of sailing unfortunately, but the sea was very lumpy and the winds were strong, and just motoring in these conditions was great experience for us.

John guided us beautifully, he knew exactly which landmarks to look out for and we headed in the entrance to the Tyne.  It was interesting steering into the Tyne as the sea bounced us around, and I tried to keep us from becoming involved with the piers at either end!

What a joy as the conditions improved and we navigated up the Tyne.

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There were still lots of challenges lay ahead of us, and we needed to keep a sharp look out as motored along.

(Photo to be inserted here when internet allows) John kept a close watch and kept referring to his careful passage plans

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And I hoped they wouldn’t get blown away in the wind!  He directed us up the Tyne

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It was good to see the activity on the River Tyne

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to see that industry is not dead

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And the interesting ships along the way

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And the not so attractive ones

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Having a skipper who has travelled so much, and been in the merchant navy is an advantage as he is a good guide.  He identified this

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As an old oil or gas platform and told us about the survival craft – the Brooker Capsule (can you see it on the side) and they seem like life rafts – but a little larger than the one we used in the swimming pool when we did our personal survival training.

We all enjoyed our motor up the River Tyne, and tried to forget the awful Northumberland weather!

We radioed through and requested permission to moor up at the town quayside.  They told us they were busy right now and we would have to raft up alongside.  We didnt expect to have to raft onto a pleasure boat – but it turned out just fine

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And made an interesting route out into the city up our own little ladder and onto our very own pleasure boat!

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We all loved Newcastle and had a good old wander around.  We found the original Marks and Spencers Penny Bazaar

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I loved the architecture and enjoyed photographing

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And juxtaposing the old with the new

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Which seems alot of which Newcastle is all about.

Newcastle also has its hoodies – but it appears they are “Goodies with Hoodies”!

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Back to the boat to cook some tea – we had New Chicken Fajicastles! (that was a struggle to make that one up!)

So, here we are, a Friday night in Newcastle, the city is bouncing with life, and we are sitting on the boat eating, drinking, (blogging) and watching “Proms – Last Night Celebrations In Scotland” featuring Alfie Boe on the TV – we know how to have a good time!  How could a lively bar in Newcastle compare to this – here I was on a boat with 3 men to keep me company, and another to sing to me!

You do get tired when you have been on a boat, so we can be forgiven and it was never our intention to be night clubbers on The Round Britain Experience!

That said, we need to get to bed at a reasonable time as we are sailing tomorrow to Whitby – goodnight!

Good morning everyone!  My alarm sounded at 5.50, I scrambled out of bed, quickly dressed, popped the kettle on, set the porridge on to simmer (it had been soaking in milk all night – thanks for that hint Tank!) then went to wake the boys.  I gave each door a sharp knock, taking my lead from Chris yesterday – and each answered after just one knock!  My first move as “Skipper of the Day”!

They seemed grateful for the hot tea, but there was a mixed response to the steaming bowl of porridge which was placed in front of them.  I added a sprinkling of sultanas for flavour and although Chris called them “foreign things” he managed to eat every bit. You will be grateful to know that I didnt photograph this particular meal!  Lets call this “Beckett’s Eyeoateymouth”!

During breakfast I gave the briefing, which, if you know me or are a regular reader of this blog, wasnt too brief!  It even included the lunch which I had already prepared for them – home made chicken soup and crusty bread – a most important part of passage planning I think is ensuring everyone is well fed, look after peoples bellies and they are generally happier folk!

Once that was completed, we prepared the boat to leave.  We tip toed around trying not to wake the guys on the working boat next to us, but their heads popped up just before we left wishing us a good trip!  Yet more friendly people we have met on our travels!

I was very grateful today for much better weather conditions as we headed out of Eyemouth to Blyth, I had sufficient challenges today – as I had planned for us to stop for lunch in the Farne Islands, as I had always wanted to see Holy Island (Lindisfarne).  This meant an extra pilotage, an anchorage, and pilotage through islands as well as a long trip.

My preparation payed off as I brought the boat out of the harbour, and down the coast to The Farne Islands.

We were all very impressed with the coastline as we moved from Scotland into England, and all agreed we would like to explore this area further – it seems to be the forgotten part of the coastline.

The Farne Islands came into view, and I learned another lesson (for every day is a school day isnt it!)  I became convinced that Lindisfarne was in the distance, but all the signs told me different, it was blatantly obvious, but you get an idea in your head and there it sticks!  Then I realised I needed to check it on the chart and make certain where I was.  I realised that we were already alongside our destination, and, giving myself an inward slap, I gentle maneouvered the boat to an anchorage into Lindisfarne.

The air was still, the sky was blue, it was warm and I ALMOST put my bikini on!  We all felt like we were in heaven, the weather was beautiful, seals were popping up all over the place, we had fabulous views and we were on a great boat – life doesn’t get much better than this!

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We felt we wanted to stay here for the night, none of us wanted to leave – but we reluctantly raised the anchor, and we made our way out through the Farne Islands.  I was very taken with this area.

I tried my hand at more wildlife photography as a Guillemot tried to take flight and used up so much energy trying to keep alongside!

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Further down the coast, we passed via Bamborough Castle and Seahouses and I was reminded of a lovely walk I had with my girl friends (Steph, Frankie, Sharon and Carolyn) last October!

Mike isnt very well today, he has “man flu” and, after initial activity, took to his cabin to rest for most of the trip.  This meant I did a double watch to cover for him. I didnt mind a bit, the weather was good, and I was really enjoying the trip today, and I was happy of course for him to keep well out of the way with his germs!

We considered sailing to Newcastle and spending 2 nights there, but we felt we would learn more bytaking in another place and have experiencing at berthing – and it would just be a short trip to Newcastle tomorrow.  I could see Blyth from a long way away as it is marked by wind turbines, and I almost didnt want the day to end!

I contacted Blyth Harbour on the VHF upon our approach, and it is so interesting to hear such a distinct change of accent in so short a space!  I just love the Geordie accent!  I can’t imitate it unfortunately, apart from “why eye man”!

We brought the sails down in the entrance to the marina, and planned to berth at the stern of a youth training boat called “James Cook”  As I approached the pontoon, I could see 2 men waving frantically and pointing to the space we were to occupy – they didnt seem to think I was heading there, but I was only positioning the boat to glide in there.  There was a hammerhead finger at the end of the pontoon, so just a space between there and the James Cook, and maybe they were unconvinced the boat could be brought into that space as they saw a female at the helm?  Anyway, I tried to ignore them as I ferry glided RBE into the space – they looked up at me and said “perfect”  I said “of course” ahem ahem! I didnt tell them I have only just discovered what “ferry gliding” means!  Another new skill!

Phewee!  Another school day, another berthing and another day nearly over!

Time for dinner!

Chris cooked us an English “Blythfast” for dinner – consisting of Lorne sausage (even though we are no longer in Scotland), Haggis slices (ditto!) black pudding, eggs, mashed potatoes and beans – all good healthy fare, a month worth of sins at Slimming World!  Following this, John was busy writing his passage plan for tomorrow, I was busy writing the blog, and Mike was busy washing up!

Feeling satiated, we headed to the Northumberland Yacht Club – it is set upon an old Norwegian Pilot vessel

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but were so disappointed to find he had closed early – did he not know what wonderful customers he had missed out on?  Unable to contribute to this local economy, we headed back to the boat ready to fall quickly to sleep, ready for another early start tomorrow – this time, just a local hop to Newcastle – and right into the heart of the city!  Goodnight!

Well what an interesting day!

We were all feeling a little stir crazy having been in Leith for nearly a week and just waiting for the weather to improve so we could continue our way.  We have all spent so much time studying just lately, we want to put it into practice once again on the sea!

Although the weather is improving, the wind was still blowing strongly and hadn’t abated as quickly as first forecast.  The latest forecast, at 0400 told us we could expect strong winds, west to North west 5-7 increasing to gale 8 then easing to 4 later.  We we were sailing down the east coast, we could cope with a strong westerly as the land protects us.  I remember struggling as a kid to learn about this is geography, how can the land protect you?  If my old geography teacher is reading this – you will be pleased to know the penny has now finally dropped!

We were woken by Chris at 6.30 by a sharp knock on our cabin doors, what a shock!  This shock was alleviated a little by the fact that he had a cuppa ready for us all!

Mike is skipper for the day today and we started with a briefing informing us what needed to be done by each of us.

We had to wait for the naval vessel to leave before us, and we were to follow her into the lock.  They had been busy preparing to leave

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And eventually, we could see 2 tugs heading towards her ready to lead her out

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Its amazing to watch how these tugs move in the water, they can literally spin on a sixpence!

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I then found it lovely to zoom in with my camera on the tug – as I saw a fit looking man working on there, with a strong set Scottish looking jaw – who is this Martyn?

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The tug sends a line to the ship and the crew prepare the boat to be tugged!

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And off they go – ready for us to head towards it.  Mike gave us our instructions and we slipped the lines and followed the mine sweeper into the lock.  The Leith harbour guys were there to take our lines, and give us as friendly a send off as they had a welcome!  We threw the lines and were grateful for them to hold onto it as the water level dropped in the lock

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All lines secured, the friendly staff even took my camera and got a shot of us on the boat

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Then John waited for the lock to open

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and Chris took the opportunity to do a spot of teaching to our skipper of the day

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He is dressed like Indiana Jones, but he is still in touch with his feminine side!

And “Catalogue Man” gives us his best pose

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The water level drops, but the view doesnt improve

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And the gates open

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And open

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And we take a peek out into the elements – we could see we had an interesting days sailing ahead of us!

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Our lines are released

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And we head into the Firth of Forth once more, and we are finally free!

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We leave Edinburgh behind us

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And the minesweeper followed us out

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Edinburgh does look beautiful in the morning sunshine!

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I remember walking up Arthurs Seat on New Years Day with my mate Andy! (lots of stops for “photography” on the way up there if I remember!

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The sea conditions were a little challenging, but cups of tea were still well received

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We passed by Bass Rock which is a famous gannetry – although it isnt breeding season (our resident ornithologist informs me), it is teaming with gannets,

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And their droppings

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This was a real treat for John

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We negotiated around yet another famous headland of the British Isles – St Abbs Head

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We reach Eyemouth well ahead of schedule by at least 2 hours!  It may have been a little to do with the wind which helped blow us there.  Challenging conditions, but wonderful fun!  The wind averaged 30/35knots but did gust up to 46 knots.  We were fortunate in its direction as it was  a beam to a broad reach so it blew us on our way to Eyemouth at a steady 8-9knots! Mike brought us beautifully into Eyemouth.

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And we secured our lines onto a working barge, and the guys on there were very helpful and loaned us an extension lead so we could reach the shore power and use electricity for the first time in a week – thanks guys.  We have been so lucky with people we have met along the way, such helpfulness!

Here is RBE secured in Eyemouth

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We took a little stroll and found “The Contented Sole”

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and met the barmaid there – Jayne (Jane with a Y – there is a common theme emerging here!)

Jayne with a Y kept us entertained and told us they served the most wonderful fish and chips.  We were very tempted and ordered a portion each

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She was absolutely right – it tasted gorgeous, lovely fresh meaty fish, crisp batter and tasty chips, salad, garden peas and loads of tartare sauce – we can recommend the dinners at The Contented Sole in Eyemouth!

A couple of pints of Old Speckled Hen and dinner made us all very tired.  Back to the boat at 9pm and every one headed to their cabins for an early night.  Not for me, as I’m skipper for the day tomorrow and I have a passage plan to write.  We are heading for Blythe, north of Newcastle tomorrow, and are due up at 6am – goodnight!

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!

Oh dear, the coastguard gave us the news we didnt want to hear – a gale warning for us! Hurricane Katia is making her mark as she hits the north of the country and Storm Force 10 is again predicted.  Weather like this is unusual, particularly for this time of year – yet this is the 2^nd time in 2 weeks we have experienced weather like this.

It has given John and Mike a chance to spend time on their chartwork again which is good, and its lovely to see Chris’s approach to teaching it.  He has a laid back manner and a gentle style, and the lightbulbs are now starting to glow!

I find myself once more sitting in the Ocean Terminal cafe making use of their electricity and internet and updating you for the past 3 days.

The weather is very interesting, the sky is the same colour as the sea and its blowing a hoolie!

Having watched the TV we can see its the West which is being hit with worries about public transport being affected as roads, bridges and railway lines are at risk.  We are nice and cosy on our boat in the Port of Leith but we are keen to get sailing once again and head south towards London.

We hope it will improve a little tomorrow, enough to sneak out of here, so unless the wind turns Easterly, we should be fine – but there are no guarantees at this point!

We are making best use of our time as we wait for the weather to improve, taking time to study as well as relax.  If we are going to get stuck somewhere, this is a good place to be!

We have a new neighbour

As I have mentioned before, its interesting watching the commercial traffic come and go.

We had Leithy Chicken and Vegeburgh Edinhot pot for dinner – one of our favourites!

After 3 late nights on the town, we had a quiet evening watching a DVD and a nice early night – goodnight!

What a start to the day, watching Wales play a fabulous standard of rugby against the world champions South Africa.  It was a stunning match but I felt sick when they won by 1 point!  I felt so steamed up, that I set about cleaning, giving the oven a really good clean, cleaning the floors, and instantly felt better about it once I had taken it out on the boat!

The boys had missed the match as they had gone into Edinburgh to be tourists for the day, and to attend a church service at St Georges and St Andrews.  They also did the open top bus trip around the city and had a lovely time. I have been to Edinburgh many times, for the Fringe and for the Six Nations to watch Wales play Scotland, so I didnt go with them and went on my own tour of ASDA to re-stock the boat, and then searched around looking for replacement gas cylinders – I know how to have a good time!  Not so exciting for Mick unfortunately, but I made full use of a visitor with a car!

Our new instructor is due today, he is called Chris Bracewell, he has a hard act to follow replacing Tank it has to be said!  As I have mentioned before, its with mixed feelings that we switch instructors, it can make us feel a little unsettled, but we also look forward to it as we have yet another skipper to learn from.  As each skipper works with us, they all show us different ways of doing the same thing, so we are collecting ideas from them all – its like having a look at their tools, selecting ones we like and making up our own tool box.  So Chris, I am going to take a good look at your tools and make my selection!

As I arrived back to the boat loaded with shopping, Chris had arrived and made himself at home, and it didnt take many minutes to see he will make a great sailing companion for the last 2 weeks of this trip!

Mike cooked a lovely Leithy Edin Con Carne and we all tucked into it at the end of the day.

For the evening, we took a taxi and headed once more into the city.  We went to Deacon Brodies and made a rather large contribution to the local economy!

Another short blog today I’m sorry, and not one photo taken – I know you would have liked to have seen what the ASDA looked like, so I apologise for that!  Goodnight!

A bit of a slow start today following the Friday night frolics and we are missing Tank already!

He managed to catch his plane and is now back in the bosom of his family.  However – I have just discovered this was a close call! Sorry Tank, but I have to share this with the blog readers!  John tells us that he heard a noise which woke him at 3.30, it was an alarm sounding.  It wasn’t being turned off, so eventually he got out of his cabin to see what it was – it was Tanks i-phone alarming in the saloon.  He was confused, as Tank wasn’t in his cabin, John knew we had come back from our night out as mine and Mike’s doors were closed, but where was Tank?  John was baffled!  Whilst he was up, he thought he would use the facilities, and opened the door to the heads – to find Tank asleep in there! So mummy Tank – you were right to be concerned, and it was John, not his surrogate mother who saved the day!  Very funny!  Glad you got back safely though mate!

A good start to the day watching England beat the Argies, this pleased the guys, but being Welsh, I’m keen to see how our guys get on against South Africa in the morning!

We have been studying hard with very little down time, so I’m going to enjoy a weekend off.  Once I had finished nursing my hangover, I headed to the shopping centre for a spot of retail therapy.  Mick is joining me this weekend and we are meeting friends this evening in the city.  Ive not been feeling too girlie for the last couple of months, and feel as if I’m turning into a man so I fancied getting dressed up tonight.  So I bought a dress, and have asked Mick to bring a pair of shoes and handbag up with him for me.

I got a bit carried away so decided I would also get a hair cut, so popped into the salon to see if they could fit me in.  She said she was really sorry, they were really busy and they could fit me in tomorrow afternoon.  She gave me one of her leaflets and told me I could book online.  Reading the leaflet, I’m so glad they couldn’t fit me in as the price list belonged in a monopoly set!  Gulp!  My mop will have to stay as it is!

My afternoon was spent in the Ocean Terminal bar using their internet to place yesterdays blog, then it was time to return to the boat to shower and transform myself into a woman once again!

Leith, as I have already mentioned, is a commercial port, and we have the Royal Yacht Britannia, a mine sweeper, cruise liners etc here – not yachts.  If you are a yacht owner and wondering how you can stay here, Im afraid to say you can’t.  We have had very special permission to be here, and we are very grateful for that.  Its a fantastic place to be,  a fabulous shopping centre within a stones throw, and right next to a famous and fabled yacht, and we get to see all the commercial traffic come and go, which is fascinating (thats alot of “F” words in one sentence isn’t it!)  The good news is they are building a marina next to here so soon, yachts will be able to enjoy some of the benefits too – and we are a short taxi drive from the city!

Here we are in the Port of Leith, and look dwarfed by our neighbours!

The RBE and her little neighbours!

Edinburgh is a lovely city and its always a joy to visit, it is buzzing!  We had a lovely evening, it was good to see Stuart and Lorraine, Micks friends and we enjoyed an Italian meal, then I took them to Whistle Binkies again!

Another late night – but I have to be up by tomorrow to cheer Wales on!  Sorry this is such a short blog, but it is my day off!  Goodnight!

Well, it is now tomorrow and today was yesterday – follow!  Suffice to say, far too tired to write the blog so at the end of the day, so its being written a day late. Can I remember what happened yesterday – hmmmm…lets have a look at the photographs, they tell the story!

The day started with more study – chart work exercises just to ensure we all knew what we were doing with calculating tidal heights, interpolating from standard to secondary ports, computating tidal rates, calculating estimated positions, courses to steer, and just generally understanding what to do with a pair of dividers, a pencil and a course plotter!

That seemed to take the best part of the morning – so a spot of lunch was had and we all headed to the nearby shopping complex – Ocean Terminal, and set ourselves up in the cafe there to take our exam!

Ive taken lots of exams in my life, but never have I taken one in a cafe.  There were people milling around, music playing, children running around and 3 exam candidates amongst them!  We all barely noticed any of this as we were all engrossed in our work!

I did know what I was doing, honest!

Tank watched over us and 2 hours flew by! I tentatively handed over my completed chart and notes and awaited my feedback.  I was so grateful for the words “I’m happy you know what you are doing”   Gulp – thanks Tank!

I finished just in time to see our new neighbour – a minesweeper!  Here she comes

I had a feeling her fenders were set too low,

my training on the RBE is coming in handy – for the skipper ordered one of the crew to re-set them

"thats better!"

There were lots of people watching from the balcony of the shopping centre, and I did feel sorry for the sailor who threw the heaving line to the shore – and missed!  He had another go, and got it this time, the crowd cheered!

Coiling the heaving line ready to throw

And away it goes!

Here is Martin the Harbour Master chatting to the captain

They set up the gangway for him to board the ship

He was piped and saluted onboard

Meanwhile, Tank was busy giving John his exam feedback

"well you see John, Arbroath is on the chart, you didn't really have to ask an stranger"!

What a busy day – we returned to the boat ready for Mike to cook what is becoming his signature dish – “Thai Green Leith Curry”!  Yummy!  (Martin – can you think of another name for the dish??)

We were all truely exhauseted and ready to sleep – but this was not to happen, as we needed to give Tank a good send off!  I changed my top, Mike squirted some deodorant on and Tank brushed his teeth – we were all ready for a Friday night on the town!  Initially we planned to visit a local pub, and with the i-phone guiding us, we found one.  I’m not sure if it was the bars across the windows, or the drunks outside smoking which put us off – but we jumped into a taxi and asked the driver to take us to a happening place in Edinburgh.  He was South African and started to give us a bit of a tour of the city, pointing out landmarks as he went.  He said that you have to take ”The Knowledge” to be a taxi driver in Edinburgh, and it had taken him 6months to self teach before he took the exam!  Anyway – he took us to Whistle Binkies, a bar just off the Royal Mile in the Old Town which has live music and good beer.  Tank drank his usual – cider

This one was only 7%!

We met some interesting people and generally had a good time.  We chatted to a couple who had only just met 5 days ago via the internet – but I think it might be their last date – she was seriously wierd!  She seemed fine at first, and after 20 mins of chit chat, she asked me how old I thought she was.  I took a good look at her, and made a fatal error – I didnt lie!  I considered it carefully and said honestly “41”- she went mad, said she couldn’t believe I had said that as she was only 38!

I thought I had made a good guess, only being 3 years out, not a bad guess after all don’t you think but, as I said, it was a fatal error, I should have lied and said 31 and made her happy.  We all thought she was joking as she got more and more furious, then we realised she was being serious.  She said she didnt want to speak to me any more and walked off in a huff – he just shrugged his shoulders and followed her – but I don’t think that relationship will get very far, he looked as aghast as we did!

We didnt let that affect us at all, and had a great time

Im going to miss you Tank!

I hit the town with 2 gorgeous guys! What a Round Britain Experience this is!

We finally returned to the boat at 3am, straight to bed, but Tank had just enough time to finish packing his bag as his taxi was booked for 4!  He had numerous texts from his mum during the evening, warning him not to miss his plane, I promised her I wouldn’t let him do that (as I’m his surrogate mum right now!) but I will have to admit I was not conscious when his taxi did finally arrive……goodnight!

What a long day it has been!

We set sail, heading to Edinburgh at midnight as planned, and headed out to sea.  In the evening, during the passage planning, I felt so weary, and struggled to believe I was going to sail through the night following a busy day – which included an exam!  How was I going to cope?  I will have to admit that I was not looking forward to a nights sail and really wanted to snuggle up in bed and sleep the night away.  I put a brave smile on my face and carried on and joined the boys who were possibly feeling the same too?

We motored out of Arbroath and set the sails, I set the waypoints and inputted them into the gameboy, sorry, the chart plotter, (having first checked we hadn’t been set to Bogata again!) and we started our passage to Edinburgh. We had a lovely westerly as we headed due south so sailed on a delightful beam reach.  However, I was tired and it was with no regret that I said goodnight at 1am and took to my cabin – my watch starts at 3am, with Mike for 2 hours.

I snuggled down to sleep, managed to doze off for a short time then woke automatically before the start of my watch, bleary eyed, and wrapped up in virtually every layer of clothing I could muster, I emerged to start my watch.

The wind and tide had been with us, and John and Tank had made amazing progress south, the wind had now picked up, and having glanced at the chart just before heading up, I realised we would soon be at Fife and will need to tack within the hour and head into the Firth of Forth. John sensibly headed straight to his cabin, he was wet and cold as it had been raining, and looked tired. Tank went too.

Mike took the helm and I studied the chart.  The wind grew stronger, we already had 2 reefs in, but it soon became apparent the boat was still overpowered, we were now in a Force 6.  This was very new territory for Mike and I and it felt a little overwhelming for a short time – we knew we would have to reef as well as reduce the head sail, it was dark, the boat was well heeled, we were steaming along at 7.5knots and were heading towards a busy shipping area and knew we would have to time our tack right before we hit the Isle of May at the entrance into the Firth of Forth.

We naively thought Tank had gone to bed, but he had only taken a comfort break, and I’m sure he could hear our conversation as we discussed when we needed to tack and how we needed to depower the sails.  He emerged, bright eyed and bushy tailed at 3.30, smiled and said, “lets put the third reef in then, and get some of that head sail away” – you say the nicest things Tank! Mike helmed as Tank and I did this, and the boat instantly felt so much easier to sail!

We put our tack in and started to beat along the Firth of Forth, we had passed Fife and we could see the lights of Edinburgh in the distance.

Mike now took over navigation and I took the helm, sitting side saddle as you saw in my other blog, nice and comfy and wrapped up warm.

It was 4am, the rain had stopped and I was under a starry sky sailing a beautiful boat along a famous waterway heading to Edinburgh, warm and comfy and enjoying my new found sailing skills.

We anticipated lots of other boat traffic, but we virtually had the Firth of Forth to ourselves, apart from at one point, a Christmas Tree appeared in the distance, quickly gained on us and sped ahead making my timing of the next tack very easy.  It was a cruise ship.

At 5am, Tank said our watch had ended and we should wake John up.  I said “noooooo” in my naughty school girl manner, “pleeeeeease, can I just stay a little bit longer, I’m having such a good time”  Its 5am, I probably slept only an hour, but I was having such a good time I didnt want to sleep.  Mike and I continued our watch.  So much for not wanting to do a night sail – I was having a brilliant time, the sailing conditions were beautiful, starry sky with the sun starting to rise in the distance – beautiful!

The last night sail we did was with Fred when we sailed from Scilly Isles to Milford Haven was amazing too and these 2 passages are amongst the favourites of the trip.  No more will I dread a night passage!

John emerged from his slumber and took over the helm and at 6am I reluctantly went to bed.  Sleep was a little trickier at this point as we were beating.  You see, the wind was coming from the west and we were heading west, and you can’t sail straight into the it,.  So, you have to create a bit of an angle between you and the wind, so you go one way – (admittedly not the direction you want to go eventually), then turn back into the wind and head the other way when you don’t want to go any further – and tack.  As we had good winds, the boat was heeling.  Imagine how that is when you are sleeping in your cabin.  I place a pillow behind me as the boat is on an angle, and create my own little sleeping shelf, which is extremely comfortable I must say, and is great, until they put another tack in and the boat swings to the other side and you roll across your bed and make another shelf there!

Forgive me if you are a seasoned sailor, but back in July I couldn’t tie a fender on, and now I’m learning so much about sailing, I’m enjoying talking about it!  I know not all of my blogs readers sail –  but you are gradually learning arent you – this is better than going to night school to learn!

Eventually John was forced to put the donkey on and motor along the Firth of Forth, we always feel disappointed when we have to do this – but it was good news for me in my cabin, the sweet hum of the engine next to me, and lack of heeling meant I caught an hours sleep before resuming my watch again at 8am.

Tank was now able to get some sleep, and John took no hesitation in taking to his bunk too, with a promise from me that I would wake him before we sailed under the Forth bridge!

You may wonder why we are sailing under the Forth Bridge when we are going to Edinburgh, which is before it.  Well, we need fuel, and therefore have to go to Port Edgar to get it.  Tank tried desperately hard in Arbroath, but was limited to trips to the petrol station with jerry cans as the harbour master there wouldn’t let us use the supply there – not convinced we were a commercial vessel too.  How could you refuse Tank??

Fortunately, his job was made a little easier by the kindness of the mechanic from Arbroath who took him in his car so he wouldn’t have to carry 25 liters of diesel along a road!  His name was “Al” and he had a lovely sense of humour and a wicked smile – Ive found everyone involved with the RNLI are lovely!  Thanks Al.  Anyway, I digress.  We still needed fuel!  When we planned the passage last night, I wasnt happy that we had to sail 8 miles beyond our destination just for fuel, but resigned myself that we had to.

I’m so glad we did – we had a beautiful nights sail, and now we were going to head under a world famous landmark – the Forth Bridge!

Time for some photos!

We sailed along the Firth of Forth and could see Edinburgh in the distance

Edinburgh in the distance

It was a lovely journey

Im not quite sure what this was on the North Shore, but Im sure it must have been something special in its time!

And eventually we reached the Forth Bridge

Mike and I had a great time navigating along the channel, with very little traffic, and the weather being extremely kind to us.  We got close to the bridge and I went to wake the boys – my do they take some waking.  Firstly John, I knocked on his door, called his name, but I had to tickle his feet to get any response from him.  Tank was even harder – louder calling elicited no response, tickling of feet none either, I had to rub his legs to get anything (do you think he was foxing??)

We all enjoyed passing under the Forth Bridge.

John loves sailing with Tank

Well, John just loves sailing! (can you see the bridges in the distance?)

The rail bridge is so impressive – a marvelous piece of engineering.  It was opened on 4 March 1890 and is 2.5 kilometres  in length, and the double track is elevated 46 metres above high tide and was the first major structure in Britain to be constructed of steel

The forth road bridge peeks behind

And you can’t fail to be impressed.

We reached Port Edgar and refuelled, and had a little chat with the harbour guys there.

Tank looks down from the fuelling platform

They informed us that they were building another road bridge as the old one is falling down – and it is to be the “fourth Forth Bridge”

Our fuel tank nicely filled, we headed back along the Firth of Forth towards Edinburgh.

We put our headsail up, killed the donkey and sailed under it.

The boys let me take the helm, and Tank took my camera to record the moment

All this sailing has made me strong!

A lovely sail into Edinburgh, and  along the way we saw a couple of cheeky seals basking in the sun on a port hand buoy

Basking in the Scottish September sun!

We have a berth booked at Leith.  Mike and I looked for it in the almanac, couldn’t find it anywhere apart from the words “there are no facilities for yachts at Leith which is a commercial harbour”  However, Neil at SWMT has organised a berth for us there!

What a treat.  To enter it, you have to pass into a Lock, its absolutely huge!

the lock gate shutting

The harbour staff gave us a lovely greeting, took our lines and chatted away!

Then the harbour master emerged – he had a parcel for me (thanks Neil) and asked me where Polly was!  Polly, if you have been following the blog, is the racing pigeon who hitched a ride and shelter from us a few days ago.  The harbour master has been following the blog too!  His name is Martin

Martin - the Harbour Master at Leith

And he didnt let the “harbour master side” down with a cheery manner and chatty welcome!  With only the odd exception, harbour masters have been great and extremely helpful, and we are very grateful to them!  Martin is English, comes from Surrey (have I got that right Martin??) and married a woman from Glasgow, and live in Dundee.  He too has a good sense of humour, a twinkle in his eye and a lovely welcoming manner!

Being in Leith is a real treat – it is the home now for the Royal Yacht Britannia and she is our neighbour!

The crew of RBE and our skipper Tank and the Royal Yacht Britannia in the background

Our other neighbour is the cruise liner we overtook us on our way in the early hours

And our 45ft yacht is dwarfed!

Securely attached to the wall, with no worries about rise and fall of tides as we are in a lock, I headed to the adjacent shopping centre to seek some food and accompanying internet to post yesterdays blog!

That completed, its back to the boat to do a spot of revision.  Our exam is at 5 and it is meteorology.

An exam, at 5pm, having been awake most of the previous night was not an exciting prospect, so I resigned myself to a fail!  John, Mike and I all felt likewise, but gave it our best shot. I’m pleased to tell you, that once again, we all passed!  Probably more credit to our instructors than our tired brains, but we did it!  Great!

We settled down to a relaxing evening, but no one fancied cooking.  Mike and John headed to the shopping centre, Tank headed to the cinema and I had a bit of me time to write the blog!

The boys back, we settled down to a DVD but suddenly heard a loud noise – what could it be?  It turned out, our neighbour, the cruise liner was departing.  We could see the twinkling of lights in the restaurants, the diners dressed in their finery, and a tug attaching itself to it.  We were so close to the whole scene, it fascinated us!  Ive tried to take some photographs to give you an idea

All this right next to us!

And we could see the tug in the distance which will be a head of the tow – having done our exam yesterday, we know what the lights mean!

It took some time to get the lines set, and the tug just gave the ship a little nudge at the stern, and she gradually edged herself out.

We were all tired, and took to our beds eagerly to have a lovely nights sleep.  We have the last of our exams tomorrow – its chart work and the one we are most anxious about…….goodnight!

I’m glad to say that the storm didnt whip up too much last night and a good nights sleep was had by all – thank goodness, as today our coastal skipper/yacht master exams start today – dun dun duuuuuuunnn!!

Before this however, Tank, being his usual task master had us all working on chart work – ensuring we know how to do courses to steer – a tad important when you want to move a boat from A to B and even as far as C I guess.

A quick break and half hours quick revision, and we sat our IRPCS exam – that stands for International Regulations For Prevention of Collision at Sea, or rules of the road for short!  Again, a little important as the last thing we want is a pile up on the waterways, or sea rage amongst mariners.

I’ve been having a bit of trouble remembering my lights and shapes along the way – for instance, how to recognise a vessel if it is restricted in its draught, if it has been silly and run aground or if it is fishing, not trawling.  They display shapes during the day, and at night of course, they have a sequence of lights.  Fred back in leg 2 had an amusing way of teaching us this with some of his little stories – I will enlighten you.

If a vessel is restricted in its draught – it displays a cylinder shape – which looks like a barrel – in a pub you would have draught beer….are you getting the idea?

A vessel which is restricted in maneuverability is marked with a ball, a diamond, then a ball  – which looks a little like a bra wouldn’t you think with a little gem in the middle as some bras do – and the aim of this garment of course is to restrict the movement of the vessels within it……

A pilot boat is lit at night with a white light and a red light – the way to remember that is that it looks like a pilot with a white hat and a red face……

A vessel which has run aground displays puts 3 balls up – I will let you work that one out for yourself!  Hmm….

That helped loads, and I was grateful to Fred for this expert tuition and humour as I answered the questions on the exam.

The pass rate is 75% and I’m glad to say we all passed with flying colours!  We all looked very smug with ourselves as Tank then said we had to work on what we got wrong.  Cheers tank – I guess the only way to approach anti-collision is to be 100% about it after all!

That finished, we have to think about our plan forward – we are sailing to Leith tonight so have to plan!  More work.  I was reminded of the ancient history lessons in schools with the pictures of the triremes (big galleys with 3 rows of oars on each side with a man on each oar) and the gangs rowing away hard in the bottom of the boat with guards holding whips at the ready – just like us, with Tank looming over us ensuring we get all our work done! Only joking Tank!

Remember me saying that the lock is only open at certain times, depending on the tides, and the times the harbour staff go home in the evening.  Well, tonight they are not opening it until 7.20 and then closing it again when they have to go home at 7.45 – a small window.  We planned to leave during this window, but as we didnt want to set sail for Leith until midnight, we would have to moor up outside the marina, (which is a wet dock) in the outer harbour.  The harbour can dry out, so we had to be certain of the tidal heights at this time.

I love it when you learn something then put the theory into practice.  Here we had to work out the tidal times and heights for Arbroath.  We knew the times for Aberdeen which is the standard port, but Arbroath is a secondary port – so we had to interpolate.  Yes, thats right, not interpret, but interpolate!  We sat down and worked out what the tide should be doing at various times, then popped along to where we wanted to moor and checked the actual height at that time.

The books talk about using a lead line, but a spanner tied onto the end of a rope, with the rope knotted at 1 meter intervals did the trick!

Tank putting a spanner in the works!

Down it goes - a whole 2.1 meter!!

Do you like the look of our berth for the evening?

It was a whole 30cm shallower than charted, so gave us a general idea that we had to subtract this amount for 8pm!

Following our interpolating, we calculated that at 19.09 we would just be touching the bottom – too fine a margin, but the lock wouldn’t be open then anyway.  We also calculated that if we left it until the last minute just before the lock closed – we would have 20cm between the bottom and our bottom!

Doing exercises as we have been is all well and good, and we make errors (fortunately they are lessening) but it doesnt matter, we get our answers checked and learn along the way.  However, this is for real, and if we have made a mistake it could mean that might have to put 3 balls up!

Having completed this exercise, we are ready to get ourselves ready to head off later.

John and I took a stroll to the local RNLI shop, and bought Mike a new mug, then went to the local Tourist Information Office.  I will have to tell you about the lovely moment which I experienced there.  Bare with me please and try to picture this –

We strolled around and I strayed to the far end of the shop to take a look at the displays whilst John stayed near the leaflets.  He was about 20ft away from me, looking intently at a leaflet with a map in it, he walked towards a woman who was browsing around, minding her own business, with his head in the leaflet and said to her

“I can’t find Arbroath anywhere on this map”

he thought it was me!

Although I couldn’t hear what he was saying, I could see him approach this woman, and I realised he thought she was me, He continued to look at the map and stood very close to her so she could also see it, he continued to talk to her.  She looked up, looked around, confused as to what was happening, but was far too polite to walk away.  Instead, she went along with him and looked at the map too.

John then continued to say

“why can’t I find Arbroath, I can see Stonehaven, we were there too werent we”

(he is studying navigation at the moment I might add!)

Politely, she pointed to the map and told him where Arbroath was.  At this point he realised it wasnt me and turned round to see me doubled over with laughter, the tears rolling down my cheeks!

It was an easy mistake of course – can’t you see how alike we both are???

Me and my identical twin!

Fortunately, she was Australian, from Melbourne, and I find they are usually quite happy talking with strangers.  Although she found it a little strange, she kindly humoured him and when she realised what happened, she found it funny too and allowed me to take a photo of us together so you can see!

I found it so funny as I could see the whole thing unfold from afar, John tells me he was aghast when he realised what he had done, but when he looked over and saw me literally doubled over, it made him laugh too!

Ah well, aren’t moments like that great!

I couldn’t resist taking this photograph of a gull on my way back

A bit of a random photo I know!

Just time to prep the boat to leave, then I went to luxuriate in a shower.  None of us has had one since Peterborough (how many days ago was that…..?) so it was a real treat.  I left the shower, bright pink towel wrapped around my head and headed back to the boat.  I decided enroute to take some photographs of Arbroath harbour

Our way out tonight!

but we will need the tide a tad higher!

The signal Tower

Doesn't she look a beauty in Arbroath Marina!

The lock we will be waiting to open later

Arbroath Marina

Which way?

I can't resist photographing RBE!

The marina at Arbroath

I can get quite engrossed when I look around and photograph, (as you can tell!) even if it is just with a point and press – and I wondered why I was getting some funny looks from passers by – I had forgotten what I was wearing on my head!

Ah well – I wont be seeing any of them again, so I continued.  (By the way – my trusty Canon is at the camera hospital, so hopefully normal service will soon be resumed!)

Here we are on the East Coast of Scotland, and I looked around the harbour front at the eateries available – all classic British outlets???

Cafe Kashmir......

Peppo??

And of course Marco - I bet he sells a lovely Scottish deep fried mars bar!!

Is British cuisine finished?  What about Scottish?

Thank goodness, the Smokies are still here!

Back to the boat now – she looks lovely in the marina, and shortly the lock will be opened

We waited, and waited, 19.20 came and went, then at 19.30 Tank went to see if he could find the harbour master.  They hadnt really planned to open it this evening, but would now they know we wish to leave – so the lock was opened just for us

Here it goes

Here it starts to open

A little bit more....

Time to move out - the lock was closed again as soon as we left - phew!

Free of the lock, we headed to our home for a few hours – but Tank was canny and left Mike on shore to check the level before we headed to the wall and to catch the lines.

He did a sterling job, and the brought was brought in safely – with the usual spectators

I couldn't resist photographing the sky!

And RBE one more time!

We have enjoyed a lovely meal, cooked, completley without assistance by John – its Chicken Arbkiev, Broashed Potatoes (with hardly any lumps), cauliflower cheesethed (with barely any lumps!), carrots and green beans

Din dins - thanks John!

Now all we have to worry about is the lumps we are accumulating around our bellies!

Its now 10pm, we have a passage plan to write, then set off at midnight and start our watches at 1-3am – Tank and John, 3-5, Mike and I and so on…..and we hope to reach Leith at 10am.

I’m feeling tired already after all the exertions and fun from today, but am looking forward to a night sail.  As a midwife I have worked many night shifts and oncalls, so have been well used to working through the night – but we are on watched – Ive never had a job where I can get a 2 hour break every 2 hours – so its not so bad after all!

Thats enough ramblings for today, its going to be a long night – goodnight!