jillbeckett.co.uk

It seems I’m the early bird on the boat!  Up early, I sat on deck enjoying the early sunshine, taking photos

And drinking tea.  Like last night – it is the calm before the storm!  I watched the Victoria 26 go past – we “raced her” to Arbroath yesterday!  (we won!)

I looked like a right little class swot as I sat at the table with my books and charts around me as they boys appeared blearly eyed.  I didnt let them know I had just sat down of course!

Tank has been putting us through our paces again today, and we have all worked hard.  I’m glad to say that secondary ports and interpolation is not part of a foreign language to me any more and computation of rates is easy peasy! I might of course change my mind as we are planning to sit our coastal skipper/yacht master exams by the end of the week, and for yacht master, it is a 75% pass rate – gulp!

Its difficult for us adults learning again after so long out of the classrooms for us.  We are all intelligent adults who have been to college or University, and have all held responsible and important roles in our lives – John was a vicar of a parish and has been responsible for training of other clergy, Mike has run his own building company and I was the manager of a busy innercity birth unit.  So you would think we would have no problem with learning – but as you get older and studying has been something you have done in the dim and distant past, it gets trickier to get the grey matter going!

I’m certainly enjoying it, I admit to getting frustrated with myself when I don’t grasp something straight away and get things wrong (yes I know I rarely admit to that!!) but gradually the little lights are turning on and the path is becoming illuminated!

We have spent the whole day studying, apart from a lunch break where I mixed leftovers into a pan with pasta, ham and cheese (very tasty by the way!!)

The boat has been swaying and shaking as another storm, sorry, gale this time, hits the area – and even in our lovely safe sanctuary – an innner marina – we recorded a Wind Force 7 on the instruments!

Its now evening time, and I’m reaping the benefits of training the boys up along the way – Mike has been to the shops with a list and John is now preparing all the vegetables for tonight.  We are having Sweet and Sourbroathed Pork! (If you are confused, you may like to know that I did mention a few days ago that we are trying to name our food after the place we are visiting – but its going to be tricky being in Arbroath for a few days!)  I am sipping a G&T and writing this and giving him my orders along the way – “chop the carrots into small sticks……cut the pork into cubes……..slice the mushrooms……pour me another G&T”  Wonderful!

I’m now sitting in Wetherspoons uploading several days worth of blog – sorry if you have been missing it, but our skipper hasnt let me head to a pub for a while……..

On that note, blog finally uploaded, its time to head back to the boat. The boat will be a rocking, I hope no one comes a knocking – oh errr vicar!!  Goodnight!

We woke to teaming rain, which we didnt mind so much as Polly, having been our overnight guest in the cockpit left us lots of little presents along her way – a lovely way to pay us for shelter, food and water!  Ah well, she isnt boat trained I suppose!

By the time we left Stonehaven, the sun was shining, and it looked beautiful as we departed

Pretty Stonehaven

and having brought us in, it was John’s job to steer the boat off the wall and out of the harbour – well done John!

Coastline from Stonehaven to Arbroath

A lovely trip today heading down to Arbroath, a little frustrating with the wind which seems determined once again to sit right on our nose.  It can’t be headwind Rick as he left at Scrabster – so it must be the Varty effect after all!

I’m getting more relaxed at the helm, and now comfortably sitting side saddle to have a comfy ride and had a lovely couple of hours sat there with my gorgeous blanket to keep me warm!

The marina at Arbraoth is entered via a lock which is only open at certain times of the day, so our passage planning had to take this into account as it was important we arrived at the right time – imagine getting there and the lock had just shut, with no other options but to carry on sailing – and with the gale warning in force, we wouldn’t be smiling!

Hence, once we calculated our overall speed accounting for the tacks we put in, we realised we had to put the donkey on and motor sail to Arbroath – a shame, but something which was definitely  needed!

We reached Arbroath, it was Mikes turn to take the helm and bring the girl in, and mine to give him instructions having studied the pilotage.  Another school day yet again – using churches can be tricky it seems – and I used the wrong church when deciding when to turn towards the gap in the harbour walls.  A quick eyed Tank saw my error, ta mate – another lesson learned!

Meanwhile, John, who had sweated the halyard was now busy climbing up the mast bringing the sail down.  He is becoming quite athletic!

"John The Hooligan" transforms into "John The Gymnast"!!

Mike brought us beautifully onto the pontoon (really he did!)

The Lock at Arbroath

and we secured the lines and settled down for the evening.

Arbroath Marina early evening

Mike cooked tonight – “Spaghetti Arbroathnaise” with garlic bread – beautiful!

A quiet evening spent watching a DVD and studying – yes – studying, well, just a little bit anyway!

We have “a storm a brewing” (say that in a Scottish accent please) so we will be sitting tight in Arbroath while it blows itself out – a force 8 forecast – my blog followers will realise thats a gale, not as bad as when we were in Stromness undoubtedly, but not one we would poke out nose out of our sanctuary for!

A day of study planned for tomorrow – yawn – goodnight!

Peterhead Marina is a lovely little place, its one of the cheapest we have stayed in (same price as a mooring buoy in Tobermory!) and the showers were free – and very clean!

I've got to steer the boat out of here - but grateful at this point for little wind!

Taken from the marina - you can see Peterhead in the distance

The marina office has a landscaped area around it which is really pretty

they even have a   palm tree.  In fact, I have seen many palm trees in Northern Scotland and they are nicely intact – better than the ones in England which our cold winter have killed off!

Palm Trees? In Scotland?? Northern Scotland?????

Did you read my blog from yesterday?  Well, a nice lye in this morning, and John says he has had a good nights sleep, but I think he has spent the night reading his book to find out what the name of the little fellow who popped onto the helm right in front of him yesterday afternoon was.

He brought the book to me at breakfast and showed me it was a “Wheatear”  (you have to pronounce the “Wheat” as if you are blowing candles out – he did!)  The derivation of wheatear is white “arse” !  Honestly – thats what it says in the book – I didn’t realise bird watching books could be so much fun!  John says this was such a moment for him, he describes it as it being just like us seeing an orca!  Apparently, you rarely see a wheatear, but particularly not at such close quarters!  Such a shame no one else was around to see it

Its a lovely little book, and I think John should do what it says on the tin and keep it in his pocket just in case a bird should land on his nose again!

Johns mobile is hot this morning as people respond to yesterdays blog.  One has said that they think I have a “Chatty style” (really??) and a “wicked sense of humour” (as if!!)  – his friends ask if John manages to vet the blog before it gets posted – oh no, oh no – that wouldn’t be fun at all!  Mostly he finds out what I have written from the text messages he receives from his friends and family as they respond to what they have read!

We had a lovely slow Sunday morning start today and Mike cooked us a lovely English breakfast served between two slices of bread – gorgeous!

This gave us a good start – a quick shower and we were ready to rock and roll.  Peterhaven is a busy place with lots of commercial traffic

This ship even has its sunbathing platform!!!

and we had to radio the port control to have permission to slip the lines and bring the boat out.  We were all ready but told to wait – we continued to listen to their VHF channel and listened to the conversations taking place between the ships skippers and the port authorities in their strong Scottish accents – I understood about 20% of what they said!

Eventually, they radioed “Round Britain Experience” (incidentally, they asked Tank to repeat the name of our boat – I think they find it difficult to understand Devonish accents!!) and gave us permission to leave.

I had explained how I thought I should bring the boat off the pontoon and out of the marina, Tank agreed, and I put the plan into practice and safely brought us out of the marina and the harbour area.  It felt really good!  The sun was shining, there was just a little wind to sail with.

A serious sailor!

Goodbye Peterhead!

We all enjoyed a good sail today, kept ourselves busy when not on the helm continuing our chart work and spending time working on our exercises for our yacht master exam (oh no – not the E word!)

Me enjoying sailing!

Apparently this is a brochure shot!

And Im navigating! Which way?

Watch out John - there is a ship on your stern!

It seems our boat is becoming a bit of a magnet for birds.  We have a new guest on the boat – Mike was on the helm, I was chatting to him as this pigeon flew over head and landed on the sail cover (Tank’s bed), then she flew off and landed onto the cockpit seat.

Meet our new crew member - Polly!

She is still with us.  I brought some water to her and she drank from it as I held the bowl

Come on lassie - have a wee dram!

"Och, I na mind if ay do"!!

Her way of thanking us is to empty her bowels over the boat as she shelters from the wind.  We have called her “Polly” and she is our new crew member(I think we have been listening to too much “Pirates of the Caribbean” music!)  RoBE is a little jealous of her, but he insisted on checking her out – he gave her a lecture on wearing her life jacket!

RoBE to Polly "Now listen here you bird brain - life jackets are useless unless worn"!

"Och leave me alone you big softie - Im busy"!

A real day for wildlife.  Today I spotted minke and managed to grab a quick shot.  I was on the helm at the time so took time to hand it over and grab at my camera, but I just about managed to grab some image just to prove it!

Do you agree that this is a Minke?

John brought the boat beautifully into Stonehaven and I stepped straight onto the quayside to secure the lines.  There were a group of young lads (about 12-13ish) all jumping into the sea and having a really good time.  I asked them to stop doing it for a few minutes as we went past with the boat to secure on – and they started to chat to us.  They believed me when I said I was going for a dip later – nothing more I like than taking a nice dip in the North Scotland sea late in the evening – ahem ahem!!

They are local lads, I asked if they like living here, they said no, it was boring, there was nothing to do!  They had already told us about the sea scouts, shown us it was lovely jumping in the sea – what a boring life they have in Stonehaven!!  They should have a quick chat with the kids in Birmingham!

Having secured ourselves onto the pontoon we were ready for some nice food – a good time for Spaghetti Carbonara – aka “Stonetti Havanara”

Dinner finished its time to reward ourselves with a pint of Timmy Taylor ale – a lovely Yorkshire beer!

Polly however, didn't want us to head to the pub and stood at the top of the companionway!

Anyway, we are now back on the boat, and I’m safely back in my cabin.  Its 11.30pm and Polly is still with us – she wishes you all goodnight!  Coooo coooo!

I think I will just poo up here before I go - goodnight!

Well, here we are in Peterhead, Scotland.  Its been a long day, so this blog will be brief, well, at least I intend it to be brief as I start it, but if you are a follower of this blog, you will know how unusual that is for me not to chatter on!

We slipped the lines at 5am and started our pilotage out of Wick.  As you know from last nights blog, we had already prepped the boat so it was a smooth exit.  Before we left, I took the rubbish up to the marina office along with the shower room keys and looked across to see flashing lights from a nearby house – it was a party, still going at 4.50 with booming music, disco lights and silhouettes at the window of people with drinks in their hand – I must be getting old, but should people still be partying at this hour???  I felt for the neighbours!

For the first time in the Round Britain Experience I felt sea sick!  Not a nice feeling, but I realised it was because of a number of factors – 1. I didnt sleep very well  2. I couldn’t cope with food so early so hadn’t watch  3. I exerted myself sweating the halyard then winching the sheets with too much gear on and then 4.  I then went, complete with full wet weather gear into the saloon to start the log for the day without removing anything and getting hot.

My stomach felt strange – but I realised I had broken some of the rules – not eating, over dressing when I need to do hard work, then not removing my gear when I  returned to the safety of the boat…….breakfast put this right as did some fresh air to cool me down, and a lesson learned!

It has been a 97 nautical mile trip and we are all tired, but it has been a very interesting trip.  We knew we would have the wind on our nose and that most of the trip would be motoring, which can get a little monotonous, but Tank ensured we kept ourselves busy by completing a continued and detailed log entering estimated positions along the way on the chart using traditional navigation (trad nav = using trigonometry, chart plotters and dividers and not relying on electronic gadgets!).  This was a really good practice, but as the trip progressed and the wind blew stronger and the boat heeled we found it a challenge to sit at the chart table!!

John had a lovely moment whilst he was on the helm whilst the rest of us were busy down below.  A bird came along and flew right to him and landed right on the wheel right in front of his nose!  It was a very special moment for him!  He was alone, with no camera so we have no record of it I’m afraid, he couldn’t shout out for someone to come and bring their camera as it would have scared it off!  He does tell us that he talked to it, then it flew off the helm and onto the table next to him and stared at him.

As you will know, John is our resident ornithologist, so this was a real treat.  He had the best view an ornithologist can ever get of a bird, it was just a few inches away from his nose, but he couldn’t identify it!  He does tell us it was a migratory bird and not resident in this country, otherwise he would have known……..but we wont spoil his special moment by teasing him (as if!)

Out of the 15 hours we travelled, we managed 2-3 hours of sailing, which was really beautiful, and Tank made it look very easy

Peterhead loomed, but I was able to smell it before I could see it, and we were thankful the marina is downwind of the fish processing plant – phewwee!

This area is important for the fish industry, the oil industry, the supply lines for the gas terminal as well as the link for survey boats, so it is thriving place but not an oil painting

I know that I have mentioned in previous blogs that I brought the boat into the marina perfecty, but if you know me, you will know my tongue would have been firmly in my cheek!  However, today, I’m glad to say I did bring the boat in well, without the skipper shouting instructions to me and me just responding to them.  Out time in Wick playing future of eights is paying off!  It was an easy berth I will admit, but all the same, I did it – it feels like real progression for me!

The lines secured, at 8pm, with us all hungry, I threw away my womens lib badge and ran to the galley to fix a tasty hot meal for us all – lets call this ”Petersausageheadstew”!

The meal was, as usual, well received and, with the tasy vanilla donut tank bought us all from the local garage eaten we are all so ready for a good nights sleep!  Ive promised the boys a lovely Sunday morning cooked breakfast tomorrow so I think I had better get to sleep!

Do you think this blog been brief????

Goodnight!

Well, here we are still in Wick and being busy little students!

Tank is very patient with us, and maintains a constant enthusiasm to share his knowledge and experience!

He has managed to transform the saloon into a classroom

Our new classroom!

and he has designed some of his own exercises

Our skipper at work!

Gradually the little light bulbs are turning on in my brain and it feels good now!  I’m keeping myself warm as I study with a blanket lovingly knitted by my daughter Francesca for my birthday – thanks Ces!

Keeping warm with my personalised blankie! "J"

A quick break from studying to pop to the supermarket to re-stock, then straight back to some study – Tank is a hard task master!

Finally finished and he started to cook his signature dish, which I will call Tankywicksuprise!  Absolutely gorgeous – thanks Tank!  A teacher and a chef!

Tank the chef!

Tankywicksuprise!

Following dinner I completed an engine check, climbed onto the boom once more to re-attach the halyard, then set the lines ready to slip in the early hours tomorrow whilst the boys did the washing up!  Emmeline Pankhurst would be very proud of me!

Now time to have a quick tidy up of my cabin – it looks so cosy that I thought I would take a photo for you to show you my home for 3 months!

My cosy cabin!

There is my life jacket hanging far left, then to the far right you can see the opening I have into the engine space where I can do sneaky engine checks then surprise the boys!  You can see the cord form my torch on the shelf in case I should need it in the middle of the night, and it is closely guarded by RoBE, my RNLI pal!  To the left of him you can see my books neatly stacked up ready for another school day  My bed is a small double, and I have brought my own duvet which I find really comfortable, (although the boys have sleeping bags).  You can see something by the pillow – thats a hot water bottle which has been such a comfort on cold nights!  On my bed is the lovely blanket I’ve just told you about!

Anyway – thats completed my tour of my cabin – except for my ensuite – thats tucked away to the left of my life jacket, and I really appreciate that in the middle of the night, particularly as the only female on board!

Just time for a quick shower in the facilities before calling it an early night before slipping the lines at 4am.  So, if you would excuse me, I will say goodnight – “goodnight”!

It was a disappointment not to be able to sail to the Shetland Islands, but it has bought a bit of time for us to catch up on our studying!

We decided therefore to stay in Wick.  Its not the run down place I was expecting, the marina is nice, with water and power, showers, close to shops and to a Wetherspoons – I was thankful for that last night when I have managed to catch up on my blog and upload a load of photos to previous ones!

We also have space around us to play “pontoon bashing”!

So – I was up with charts and books out by 9am and started working on the exercises, and was shortly joined by the boys half an hour later.  I was scratching my head and struggling if I’m honest, and feeling so thick!  I started to get frustrated with myself until I looked around and saw the boys had the same expressions on their faces.

Tank watched us and I could see a plan formulate in his mind!  A teaching session came along.  Very worthwhile it was too and the little lights started to switch on.  He is very methodical and clear in his thinking and doesnt make us feel like twits when we get it wrong – which is always a good thing for us students!

A break for lunch when we devoured a mountain of sandwiches – its amazing how hungry you get when you have been sitting down doing nothing – our brains need alot of feeding!

To stop us sinking into a post lunch lethargy, tank asked me to do an engine check, then get her fired up!  Off we went to start to steer RBE around.

Tank explained what we had to do – but first up was me – every time!  I’m not sure if it is easier or harder to go first – at least I get to do it straight after the explanation when it is still fresh in my mind, but I get to make all the classic mistakes which the others learnt from me.  Whatever, it didn’t really matter as we are all enormously supportive to one another, and Tank didn’t seem to mind at all when I kept crashing the boat, its well insured after all! (only joking Neil!!)

We started to draw quite a crowd on the pontoon as they watched us turn the boat in figure of eights endlessly, but Tank looked over to them and said he was feeling dizzy, they did give us a little laugh!

Tank puts John through his paces!

A really useful exercise and we all feel alot more confident now in moving this beast around in the water.

John looks a bit happier - he only knocked a little hole in the boat - sure Tank can fix it!

Back to the pontoon and time to prepare dinner.  Again, I have cooked a gammon joint with onions, leeks and carrots and stock with lentils.  Then roasted in the oven with a honey and mustard glaze and served with cauliflower cheese, chanteney carrots, sugar snap peas and mashed potatoes.  The soup is now made as the leftover ingredients so we are ready for another meal!

Ive managed to do some more exercises as the food was cooking – multi-tasking at its best whilst John had a siesta and Mike went for a quick sprint up a hill!  I now feel virtuous and am now sitting in Wetherspoons writing this.  We now have an inverter on board which means that if I can still charge my laptop and camera batteries up even of we don’t have shore power – thanks for that Neil, so it means I’m not tripping anyone up as I seek power sockets in the pub any more!

We are planning more study tomorrow, and the saloon on RBE is turning into a classroom.  We are very grateful to Tank for his efforts with us – cheers mate!

I’m going to keep this blog short (yes, this is short!) as I’m poor company right now and Mick leaves us tomorrow and I’m not sure if I can remember how to have a conversation so had better go – goodnight!

Bye Mick!

Having had such a healthy evening in the non-existent pub in Long Hope, I felt very sprightly this morning as I lept up the mast and sat astride the boom to re-attach the halyard!  I finally overcome my fear of climbing up the mast!

A little climbing at 7.30 in the morning!

An 8am start as we left The Orkney Islands amidst the mist and headed out into the Pentland Firth for a very interesting passage and left Orkneys behind.

Bye bye Orkneys!

The Pentland Firth is the passageway from the Orkneys to the mainland and is a body of water which is notorious with overfalls, eddies and needs to be approached with care and in good weather.  Fortunately we have the weather and we always take good care!

Its as hard to photograph overfalls as it is to steer a boat through them!

This area must be a great supply of fish as we spotted literally dozens of seals who continually popped up their heads for a quick peak, amidst gannets diving into the sea for their breakfast, and the skuas mobbing the gulls to steal their catch – it was just like our very own nature programme.  We hoped an Orca might pop along to join in the fun, but alas, not today!

The overfalls on the Pentland Firth were very interesting to sail through as it moved the boat from side to side, and we can only guess the perils that might await unsuspecting craft in poor weather!  We planned our departure to coincide with the tide, and got very excited when we managed to achieve 12 knots (speed over ground).  With just a little tweak on the helm, we achieved 16.7knots, and I took a photograph (as usual!) to provide the evidence!

Look how fast we are travelling - its great to get the tide times right!

Eventually reaching mainland, seeing John O Groats in the distance and passed by Duncansby Head, we were impressed once more by another striking headland

It was at this point that John, admiring the landscape, mentioned how it would be lovely to have a good camera with a telephoto lens to capture the beauty.  He really doesn’t mean to wind me up – but he has completely forgotten I have the very thing – my Canon EOS 500D in my cabin but its a little bit poorly – thanks for reminding me John!!  Bless you!  I’m managing to capture this trip now with my trusty Fujifilm Finepix F500EXR which has managed to resurrect itself from its dip in the toilet on the Isle of Man.  If you are a follower of this blog, you will already know all about this!

Mick steers with his feet!

A lovely journey to Wick, despite the lack of wind which meant that we had to motor all the way.  Mike had worked out the pilotage and instructed us in, I brought the boat onto the pontoon first time and John nimbly leapt onto to secure the line!  What a team!

Hello mainland once again – here we are in Wick.

Wick!

A sample of the shower facilities – not bad, but no where has been a patch on Brixham marina!

We planned to do some more studying – and we decided to use the local Wetherspoons to make use of their internet.

Studying with not a pint in sight!

We are studying the weather and have spent time (drinking tea I may add!!) talking about depressions!  The only way to get over that is to have a little drink!  Looking out of the window, we saw an unusual structure – a motorbike combined with the front of a mini!!

Re-cycling at its best!

Time for a meal in Wetherspoons and our skipper orders a “Tank Sized” meal!

A large mixed grill and a portion of southern fried chicken strips - a little snackett for Tank!

All this sailing, studying and blogging is exhausting, time for bed soon!  Well, not really, but I’m unlikely to be adding to it today – so watch out for an update in tomorrows blog.  Tomorrow is to be a day of study, pontoon bashing, passage planning and, as usual, loads of fun!

Goodnight!

A Hoy there Long Hope!  For that is where we are – a little place called Long Hope on Hoy.  I know, I know, you expected us to be heading to the Shetland Islands following our lovingly written passage plan.  However – an American export has scuppered us – in the name of Hurricane Irene!

If you have been watching the news, unlike us, you will know that New York was ordered to be shut down due to Irene, and now she is heading north and we would have been likely to have caught the tail end of her as we were heading back down from the Shetland Islands, with 25-30 knots of wind predicted as a South Easterly – right on our nose.  We felt it prudent not to spend 24 hours getting there, and probably double that time trying to get back, so we headed once more into Scapa Flow and have a little play.

Prior to this, Mike went for one of his little 10 mile strolls – and I sent my camera with him – this is what he saw as he looked down onto Stromness (thanks Mike)

Stromness

An enjoyable days sailing with a nice steady breeze and a little bit of horse play along the way.

We managed to goosewing, but, as we are missing a spinnaker pole, we used a tank instead!

You really need to be able to see the photos to appreciate this part of the day – but its a way of putting our skipper to bed – here he is saying his prayers,

then he settles down and says goodnight,

I love this photo!

then off he goes…….night night Tank!

We can’t hear him snoring from there thank goodness!

Anyway – just a bit of fun – as we do try, from time to time to have some fun on our Round Britain Experience!

Attaching ourselves onto the mooring buoy also gave us a bit of fun, starting with an interesting lasso by Mike, then an interesting exercise trying to untangle the line from the underside of the buoy.

Its now dinner time, and Mike is chef extrodinaire today!  We are having chicken Kiev, pasta with tomato and marscapone sauce served with steamed carrots and green beans, followed by fresh melon for desert.

Catch you later!

Late at night now, and we have had a rocking time in Long Hope!  We have been looking at a lovely book called “sailing Around The UK and Ireland” by a guy called Roger Oliver during this trip.  Its interesting to see where he and Jalina (his boat) travelled, and it acts a little like a pilot book too – another source of information at least.  He speaks very highly of Long Hope and writes “Yachtsmen will not get a better welcome anywhere than here in Longhope…… the village has stores, diesel, water and a first class pub and showers”  Well readers, this was certainly a long hope for us!  The only welcome we received was a dog barking!

We ventured out on the dinghy and looked forward to contributing to their economy, but struggled to find a pub.  We saw a guy in his garden who informed us that one way, close by was one pub, and about a mile in the other direction was another.  Not that we are lazy at all, but we were spitting feathers, so we chose the closest one with eager anticipation.  This was The Royal Hotel.  A pretty building which I had seen from the the boat as it was distinctive – the edges of the roof were stepped (I’m finding this hard to describe, so I shall try to draw it…..

__

|   |

____|   |______

_|                       |_

_|                            |_

_|                                  |_

_|                                       |_

_|                                             |_

_|                                                  |_

It doesn’t look so good now its on here – but it might give you an idea!

You get the general idea I hope.  Anyway, we had been talking about eyesight and I had been bragging about my 20:20 vision and how much quicker I could see the mooring buoy with my “young eyes” then I spotted this house and thought my eyes were going funny, it all looked blurred.  Anyway – this turned out to be one of the pubs.

I’m not sure why I’m telling you all this, its probably because this is more interesting than the time we had there.  Its the 30^th August and its closed – only one light at one window to be seen!

Undeterred, we decided to find the other pub, and headed in the direction our local guide had pointed us.  We walked, and walked and walked, with a very long hope.  Not a pub to be seen?  Where could it be.  Ive taken a picture now – can you see it here?

That must be the healthiest trip to a pub I have ever made!

Back to the boat and settle down ready for bed.  No trip to The Shetlands for us – but we head to Wick tomorrow to begin our descent down our fine and fair country and head towards London!  Goodnight!

I started my day by singing “Happy Birthday” to my baby boy who has now reached the grand old age of 20!  I can’t believe I no longer have teenagers!  He is feeling terribly old.

Our planned sail to The Shetlands Islands was scuppered once more as the Shetland Coastguard slipped a little “8” into the weather forecast! Having sat out in a Storm Force 10, an 8 didnt seem such a bad thing after all!  Its good to remember that it normally has the words  “Gale Force” popped before it, so not really weather we want to be sneaking the boat out into (don’t worry Neil!)

At least we are not stuck on a wall next to a giant ice making machine, The Orkneys aren’t such a bad place to be marooned after all!

As usual, we made the best of our time and set upon working on our yacht master exercises.  Tank spent his time going through the answers to the questions we had already completed and seemed satisfied that we were not too far off beam.  He is a great teacher, and uses any opportunity he can to make it interesting and funny and we are all enjoying working with him.  I have asked him how a 28 year old can know so much, to which he answered “I’m not 28 yet!”

We all made good use of the afternoon as I continued my tour of CoOp shops and stocked us up on essentials, the boys went for a quick mop chop, and Tank has found a cunning way of getting rid of his worms??? (honest, thats a direct quote!)

Yes, the boys have, after 8 weeks away, finally had their hair cut.  They were beginning to look a little unkempt (sorry boys, yes you were!) and now I hardly recognise them!  They look lovely and neat but John feels diddled as it cost him £8 and they didnt even trim his ears (I think they are about the right size anyway!)

We then completed the passage planning for our 24 hour trip to the Shetland Islands – a meticulous plan incorporating courses to steer all the way, hour by hour, mile by mile.  A very useful exercise, and I now know that Lerwick is not in Ireland!  Tank has managed to fix the TV and whilst we were pondering the charts, he enjoyed watching “The Incredibles” and chuckled all the way through!

With an aching brain, I started to make dinner, with an ample supply of “sous” to assist!  We are all enjoying good quality “boat food” and John would like dinner to be mentioned in each blog as a way of recording what we cook so here goes.  Tonight Matthew, we are Mexican!  We started off with a dish in the middle of the table, with a packet of doritos, covered with salsa, greek yoghurt and cheese and baked in the oven for 15 mins followed by chicken fajitas (chicken, garlic, onions, peppers, mushrooms, spices, tomato sauce and a splash of wine, served in tortilla wraps warmed on a frying pan) We wondered if a spin off from our Round Britain Experience could be our very own cook book for skippers, but Tank informs us this has already been done, and is indexed based on meals at different wind forces – I’m not sure I would fancy the 8-10 section!

Anyway, we are now starting to incorporate the word “exam” into our conversations, a little unsettling, but something we will shortly be approaching….its with that sobering thought that I went to the pub to make my usual contribution to the local economy!

Back to the boat to settle down to sleep once more and dream about courses to steer to the Shetland Islands!  Goodnight!

Well – I think there is a typographical error on the chart and this place is really called Stormness!

I fell fast to sleep having enjoyed the local beer at the Ferry Inn (can you guess where thats next to?) but it wasn’t long before the full extent of the weather forecast showed its ugly head! The boat started rocking, shaking, heeling with endless banging and groaning of lines and fenders!

I was grateful for the fact that we were well lashed onto the pontoon, but it occurred to me at silly o clock this morning – how well was our pontoon attached to the others?

I had visions of us veering off with a pontoon attached to us!  I’m not sure how SWMT will feel if we turn up with a pontoon stuck to our port side.  It certainly does solve the problem of trying to berth our boat when we enter marinas as we bring our own pontoon!

A leisurely Sunday morning was enjoyed by all, and by midday all were present in the saloon.  Mike and John made it to the shower block, but when they returned to the boat, they looked as if they had forgotten to undress – they were soaked!

We all decided to seek out a nice Sunday roast dinner and made our way to the Stromness Hotel.

On the way, I took photographs, but its difficult to capture weather, just the effects it has!

we looked back towards the boat sat amidst the fishing boats and ferry which are all sitting out the weather like us.

Our boat hanging onto the end of the pontoon!

Many heads turned when we entered, all dressed in our oilskins, looking as if we had just brought a boat in.  Undeterred, we negotiated a table for 5 and eventually tucked into a filling carvery!

Being very health conscious, I went for a stroll after dinner to take in the local scenery.

We went up the Khyber Pass!

Stromness is a quaint little place, with narrow streets and charming buildings.  I was a little put off the fact that it also serves as a racing track for some of the locals!

An Orca skull to advertise a restaurant

The ferry and fishing boats didn't make it out!

I loved the plaques on some of the buildings – but this one really caught my attention –

Imagine being trapped In Ice for several months!

Taking a leaf out of the Shetland Islands Coastguard books, I tried to remain cheerful and enjoy the August weather in the Orkneys!

I have a bikini on underneath my wet weather gear!

Back to the boat, and Tank is also of the same mind – trying to stay positive and not let the weather get us down.  He is planning a 24 hour trip tomorrow to the Shetlands, and we set about devising waypoints, bearings, courses to steer.

Exhausted from this and having missed most of my sleep last night – it was siesta time once more.

We listened to the weather forecast at 7pm from the cheery Coast Guard in the Shetland Islands and were relieved to hear that our storm force 10 has finally been demoted to a severe gale 9 – glorious news!  Just as I do at home when I listen to the forecast, I look around the channels to see who is going to give me the best weather (do you do that too?) but I have finally accepted that to channel hop on the VHF and hope that the man in Aberdeen will be kinder than the one in The Shetlands is futile!

We are not settled down in the boat, lights and heater on, blog being written, books being read and Tank happy that he has beaten the Worms on his i-phone…….!