Round Britain for the RNLI Blog

Up at the crack of dawn yet again for this leg and I needed to be. I originally planned to go from Lowestoft to Dover but as there is no petrol available in the port of Dover and as it is a very busy port I thought it would be better to go into Eastbourne where petrol is available. Of course it means another long leg but if the weather was OK it would be worth it.

Leaving port at Lowestoft at first light the sea was glassy flat but unfortunately the visibility wasn’t good. I estimated it to be about a mile but with the sky clear and with the forecasts all very good for the day I wasn’t concerned. So I set course.

The plan was to go down the coast a little past Southwold and then to turn almost due south to take me outside all the sands of the Thames Esturary. I chose that route as although it takes me a long way from land and also means I would have to negotiate the Sunk TSS area I felt it was still the safer option in good weather. So with Southwold off my starboard beam I turned south. The leg distance from Lowestoft to Eastbourne was 125nm and as I turned south to head across the Thames Estuary I couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. It wasn’t that I felt that it was going to be unsafe… far from it. I was very happy with the route and the plan, the weather was excellent and sea state flat. No, it was just the thought of doing what I was about to do – it is a daunting prospect to see 51nm come up on the GPS as my next waypoint. Fine at 20kts, which I was doing, but the very idea of it at 5-6kts should the weather be a lot worse than expected, without an autohelm, and going through one of the busiest shipping areas in Britain, if not Europe, made me take a deep breath. I had planned for it though and I had left early enough to get me to Dover before nightfall should the worst happen with the weather. Fortunately the weather held and I could maintain 20kts for the time being.

Whilst heading south I got out the paper chart to review my route across the Sunk TSS area. I had only roughly planned my route across this area. I wanted to see what traffic was about before I committed to entering the precautionary area or crossing the TSS lanes and by not planning in detail beforehand it meant that I could assess the traffic when I arrive and plan a route through that would give me the least interaction with the large ships. From some way off I could see them; not just big ships but HUGE ones! At that range I couldn’t really make out which directions they were traveling in but their shapes were looming on the horizon. As I got closer I could see a row of ships heading eastward out of the zone and 1 entering from the south and 1 entering from the west. The ships heading east were not a factor as they were leaving the precautionary area and would be heading away from me. The other 2  though were heading in and would be a factor but they were a long way off and I decided that if I routed across the precautionary area at right-angles to the west entry/exit lane (in accordance with the cross TSS at right-angles rule) then I would be well out of the way before they entered the area. Looking at the chart it made sense to use the cardinal buoys as marks so I headed for my first mark of the Storm south cardinal which marked the northern edge of the Sunk inner precautionary area. I then set course for Long Sands Head north cardinal mark which marks the southern edge. All was clear and so in I went at 20kts. It is a bit spooky entering an area like this in a small boat. You know that providing you follow the rules, and make sure you do not interfere with the passage of the traffic in the zone, I have every right to be there yet somehow I can’t help feeling that I am an interloper in a world where I really shouldn’t be. I always felt the same when flying my small aeroplanes into international airports… yes I can go there, yes I have to give way to larger craft and follow the ATC instructions to the letter and all will be fine but it is a world very alien for small craft and this felt much the same.

All was going well when half way across the zone I saw a surprising sight… it looked like a standing wave about ½ mile ahead,  about 1½ m high,  with a breaking crest ahead. It was surprising because the sea was dead flat. As I got closer I worked out what it was… it was the wake of one of the big ships that I saw leaving the precautionary area to the east. I said the ships were big but this was ridiculous! I have never seen a wake like it in my life and so I slowed down to its speed and followed it for a while to work out how I would cross it. It wasn’t like a normal wake where I would just slow down and cross at 45 degrees. The size of it in height and the size of it across concerned me. Watching it I could see that the wave wasn’t breaking all the way along it’s length. Instead it broke in sections where it was steepest but between those sections were smaller, flatter parts and that was where I would cross. I aimed for one of these smaller bits and powered up aiming to take the wake at about 30-45 degrees. I wanted to power through so that I had control and also it would mean less time exposed to the wave but I mustn’t go too fast. The boat surged as I went through and surfed out the other side but in the end it wasn’t the drama I thought it might have been. Still, it was well worth my caution and I clocked up another first for Churchley kind

After my encounter with the wake wave the sea started to cut up quite a bit. It was clear that a lot of this was the interference of various wakes acting together but the wind had got up and the general sea state was picking up. Leaving the precautionary area and heading down to the Kentish Knock cardinal mark, which markes the south and west edge of the two way zone in the new Sunk layout, the sea started to make 20kts difficult and by the time I had reached North Foreland I had reduced speed to about 16kts. It looked like a long run to Eastbourne but I still had plenty of time at that speed and fuel was fine so I still planned to Eastbourne.

Passing Dover was very straight forward. A quick call to the port control and I had permission to cross the entrances a mile off dodging the 2 ferries coming out and the one going in! Then it was a simple run to Eastbourne. Unfortunately I arrived at the Sovereign Marina at about the time that all the people that had been out for the day were returning and the queue for the lock was outside the outer harbour but eventually I was ushered into the lock and found my berth.

It had been a long day and an exciting and interesting one and one that gave me a particular sense of satisfaction of a job well done what with the length of the leg, negotiating the Sunk precautionary area safely and in accordance with the rules, and all without autohelm… YES!

Sovereign Marina did not know I was visiting them and so no arrangements had been made for discounted berthing but I would like to thank them for giving me free berthing and discounted fuel once they knew of my trip. Thank you Premier Marinas! I wish all the marinas and harbours I stayed at were as generous and welcoming as you were.

Today was a very long day… departed Lowestoft at 5am and arrived at Eastbourne at about 6pm.

The forecast today was rubbish. It predicted f3 or less and sea state smooth or slight. It turned out F5 and a slight to moderate. I am so pleased I left so early as the last 5 hours were bashing into waves at 6kts and very hard work and exhausting. i suspect tomorrow won’t be any different.

It was a very exciting day though and one of the most enjoyable from a boating point of view. I had to transit the Thames estuary which is one of the busiest shipping concentrations in the world. I decided not to plan the route precisely prefering to see what the traffic was like before deciding how to get through. As it turned out there were only a few ships around and the route was very straight forward between two cardinals. None the less, there may not have been many ships there when I arrived but the evidence of them being there earlier was there in the form of their wakes and one wake I came across was a wave about 1.5m high and I had to study it for a while before deciding how I would cross it. It was a whopper! There was no sign of the ship that caused it though.

Crossing the entrances to Dover required caution and a call to the Dover port control was well worth the effort.

So, two more legs and tomorrow is to Poole where I may have to wait out the next weather system delaying my final leg and my return to Plymouth… I must be patient!

Today was a complete contast to yesterday… where yesterday there was a biggish sea running… today it was flat calm… yesterday, because of the sea, I was potentially low on fuel if I didn’t watch it and manage my speed in the rougher water… today I had plenty of fuel… yesterday I had a time window which I had to hit Hull at… today there was no timing issues at all… yesterday was quite a different day to today altogether.

Locking out of the marina at Hull I was greeted with a beautiful sight… a River Humber than was completely flat and calm! So, on the plane and speeding down the river at 20kts it was quite a thrill. Past the commercial berths at Immingham and then Grimsby and out into the North Sea. That too was flat and so I was keen to push on as this leg was again 120 miles to Lowestoft. That is pretty much how it stayed all across the Wash. The crossing was very smooth punctuated only by the occasional seal popping up its head above teh surface and peering around as if to say “what is that noisy thing passing by my house?”. I tried to get a phot again but they pop their heads down before I can get the shutter off.

Alas, things changed as I approached the Norfolk coast. The wind got up and teh sea developed a nasty chop that slowed me down to about 16kts. I moved in closer to the coast in the hope of finding smoother conditions and it was slightly better close in and I got a great view of teh coastline all the way from Cromer, past Great Yarmouth and on to Lowestoft.

I had planned on berthing at the Lowestoft Marina but a call from Sally informed me that a member of lifeboat crew was staff at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club and they were positioned much nearer the sea so I decided to stay there instead. On calling them they told me that this Thursday and Friday is the Lowestoft Airshow, possibly busiest day of the year, so I was welcome to stay but it would be busy and rafting was likely. This was great news as I am a pilot and I love airshows so I decided to stay until the weekend. Then they told me that the powerboats are racing at the weekend so it looks like I may be here until Monday!

Entering the RNSYC basin I could see that they were not joking about being busy. Boats were rafted up 3 and 4 deep and there were people everywhere. I was greeted by Paul who suggested that I berth on the end of the hammerhead behind ta big motor cruiser and after they had moved it along a little I fitted nicely on the end. Shortly after tying up I had a call from Mike, the Lowestoft Lifeboat Station Press Officer and I have arranged to meet him tomorrow morning.

So, it looks like a few days of R&R with the airshow and powerboats and to cap it all it looks like there are early signs of another high pressure system developing early next week… let’s hope it sticks around longer than this one did!

120 miles, 11 hours and a big challenge. The challenge was to balance the fuel with the speed and to hit the tidal window I had for entry to Hull marina.

It all started with a visit to the lock office in Hartlepool to take a look at the wave heights being reported by the buoy in Hartlepool Bay. These had been up to 3.5m over night but were now showing a more sensible 1.5m. None the less, even 1.5m in my little boat is quite a big sea but I was encouraged by all the forecasts agreeing (for a change) that things were improving throughout the day and so I was happy to go.

But to go to which port? Scarborough was the original plan but with the chance of a high pressure building later in the week and if today’s weather was good I wanted to push on and make the most of any good weather I got. I have had precious little of it and so I didn’t want to waste it! So, if when I were out there the conditions were good I would consider going on to Hull and skipping out Scarborough (nothing personal Scarborough!!!).

Locking out of Hartlepool I said goodbye to the lockkeeper (all the keepers were very friendly and hugely helpful) and set off. The sea immediately had a biggish swell (1.5 – 2m) as the wave buoy had promised but the waves were long duration and I could still plane by just gliding over the top. Once I was closer in to land the sea state improved with more shelter and my speed was good at mostly 18kts. Keeping my speed up meant that the fuel usage was good too for the trip to Hull and I was hopeful that Hull would be my destination.

At Flamborough Head things changed somewhat. I knew it could be rough around the head and so I stayed in close to the shore but I could have been in much closer and I caught the inside edge of the big waves that I could see offshore. It wasn’t long before I was surfing down 3m+ rollers, not breaking fortunately, as I worked my way further in shore to get out of the rough water. After about 10 minutes of this big sea I was in more comfortable water and continued on but my trip across the bay from the Head to Hull was exposed to the north-westerly wind and my speed varied quite a bit as a result. By this time I was committed to Hull and so I had to manage my speed and fuel to ensure that I got there will a sensible reserve. I slowed down in the worst of the rougher sea to displacement speed of about 5kts and this helped a great deal saving fuel. Slowing down wasn’t a problem from a time point of view as I couldn’t lock in to Hull until 1910 hrs anyway but I did know that it would be slow going up the River Humber as the wind was north-westerly and I would be going directly into it whilst going upriver and as it was a flood tide it would be wind over tide all the way.

I entered the river estuary at about 1430hrs and spoke to the Humber port control (Humber VTS) on the radio to tell them what I was up to. I was following the yacht recommended route so they weren’t really bothered about me but it is well worth listening out on CH12/14 when in the Humber… it is a very busy place and not to be treated lightly. The wind over tide made it hard going upriver and at 6kts I settled in for the long trip. Soon the tide kicked in and my speed over ground was up to 8.5kts. In a quite part of the river I turned around and went the other way to see what My speed would be and it was down to 3.5kts… that was 2.5kts of tide.

Eventually I made it all the way to Kingston-upon-Hull (or Hull as it is more commonly called). By that time there was enough water in the marinas basin to get in and moor on the waiting pontoon but if I had got there an hour earlier then I might have had to float around in the river as I couldn’t see anywhere else to moor up to wait. Worth making a note of when you visit Hull.

Yes, a good trip and a safe one with over 60 ltrs of fuel remaining. Good job too as petrol here is the most expensive of the trip so far at £1.53 per litre but it has been going up all the time I have been away hasn’t it!

It is often difficult to get the feel of a place if you stay just for one night but I do think I have a reasonable idea of what Eyemouth is about after my night there. Up at 5.00am the harbour was dead quiet and a bit ghostly with gaps where the night before there were 20 or more fishing boats. After showering and turning the caravan on water back into a boat I was ready to leave. By that time there were one or two fishing boats already back in port and others were returning to port in dribs and drabs. I set off and made my way to the very narrow entrance and peered out through the entrance to see if any fishing boats were coming through… there is not room for a boat to leave and enter at the same time! It was clear so I went through quite quickly not wantling to meet a fishing boat head on. I was through ok but I was met with a sight… there must have been 7 or 8 fishing boats, line astern, making there way back to port. I waited for a suitable gap to cross over the fairway and heading south I couldn’t help thinking that all these boats did this every night and what a difficult life it must be for the fishermen.

So, on my way. The sea was flat and very easy to keep the speed up to 21kts. It was so flat and perfect cruising conditions that I started to have thoughts of missing out Hartlepool and going straight on to hull. I didn’t have enough fuel for that and so I decided that a refuel stop at Royal Quay Marina on the River Tyne would mean that I then had the option to go on to Hull if the conditions remained as they were or I could revert back to my original plan of stopping at Hartlepool and then I wouldn’t have to worry about having to get petrol there. Either way the stop at the Tyne made sense and so I set up a waypoint at the entrance.

Entering the River Tyne is quite imposing. The entrance to the river has a double pier, once from each side, like a set of crab claws protecting the river. Each pier has a lighthouse on the end and when I arrived the tide was running quite hard. Even so the entrance is easy and making my way up to Royal Quays made me wish I was staying as I have never been to Newcastle. Having said that, I feel that about so many places I passed on this trip and it has inspired me to return and see some of them although perhaps not by boat. Refuelling was easy (except when I paid!) and I was soon on my way back down the river.

I was in the river no more than 1 hour but the sea state had worsened somewhat in that time and although it was still good and I was still able to keep up the speed, I felt that any deterioration indicated bad news if I were to go on to Hull and so I soon decided that the Hull leg should be kept for next week and so I settled on Hartlepool for this leg.

When about 10 miles from Hartlepool I encountered a fishing boat in the distance but right on my track and so I turned to starboard (right!) a bit to pass behind it in accordance with the anti-collision rules . No sooner had I altered course then the boat turned 180 degrees so to block my path. I decided that something was amiss as he was deliberately blocking my path so I slowed down to speak to him. He had a net, unmarked, and he told me to go well out to port. Of course I was happy to comply but it did make me wonder what would have happened if I came from the other direction so he couldn’t block me and inform me…

Hartlepool is one of the modern marina breed… shops, flats and wine bars surrounding the marina and it is new and modern. It also has a lock to enter and after calling on the radio to request locking the light went green and I entered the lock. My experience of the locks on the Caledonian Canal told me to be at the back of the lock if I were the only occupant and that is where I went. This allowed the lock to be filledextra fast and the water poured in so fast that a white foam filled the surface of the lock! They even opened the gates slightly when the water level inside was still 4 or 5 feet below that of the marina and the water just cascaded in. I have never been in a lock that was filled so fast. Great.

So, I am on my pontoon, near the centre of action should I want it… I won’t. I will spend the weekend listening to the cricket test match, the grandprix or The Open Championship… a great weekend of sport and a great place to be weathered in.

The weather conditions do not look like being suitable for my departure until Monday or Tuesday so more info on weather over the weekend.

What a day! In a couple of ways it has been the most challenging day of the trip so far and in others it has been the most wonderful.

That kind of sums it up… everything came in twos.

As promised by the forecasters the day started out calm. So calm in fact that the sea was glassy flat and rather spooky… just the way I like it! I paid the harbour dues and set out radioing Peterhead harbour control for permission to leave the port. There was a rig supply ship coming in so it was a good job I did. Going through the harbour entrance at 7.15am I just couldn’t wait to get up and on to the plane for this 100nm leg to Eyemouth. Iopened the throttles and all sounded well until the rpm got to about 3200 where it stayed. A rather sad whipering of an engine instead of a healthy roar. I throttled back… humph! What to do? I was safe enough where I was so I had a look around… prop foul? Nope. Fuel? Well I had refuelled so I checked for air by pumping the bulb in the fuel line. It didn’t help. I tried again… it had improved but still wasn’t right. I then remembered that I had this once before when there was an airlock in the fuel line. Basically the fuel just wasn’t getting through and as the engine sounded and seemed healthy in all other respects I suspected that was the problem. The only option was to run the engine and see if it clears so that is what I did. After about 15 mins it did clear back to its healthy self so I am assuming that was the problem but I will check it out a bit more thoroughly in Hartlepool.

So, that drama out of the way I settled down for what was going to be a smooth and very fast trip. Not so! No sooner I was away from Peterhead than a nasty swell started to roll in from the south and I was heading directly into it. It wasn’t big waves. In fact the sea surface was spookily smooth but the ground swell rolled in underneath making fast travel impossible. This was the last thing I wanted in this of all legs and at 100NM travelling at 6kts would mean a very late arrival in the evening at Eyemouth. There was nothing I could do except sit it out. There was no point in returning to Peterhead. It was perfectly safe just very uncomfortable and slow. I could do about 10kts at times but that was using fuel at such a rate that I wouldn’t make Eyemouth if I continued like that. If I tried to go at more than about 10kts it started slamming into the roller behind with an almighty crash and I needed to protect the boat. On the other hand, I also needed to do more than 8kts… it was a difficult one. I decided to go closer to the land in the hope that there was more shelter there and a reduced swell. It really didn’t help much. However, at the turn of the tide at 11.15 things improved greatly and I was out of the woods now able to do 17kts… saving time and fuel. It seemed to me that I had misjudged the effect of the tide and swell. I had seen that there would be no wind and that the sea would be flat, which it was, but the swell and tide made a fast passage impossible. I would have been much better delaying departure so that I had a fair tide from the start. I learned a valuable lesson today.

Once the tide had turn it became a completely different sea altogether. The sweel reduced and it became the smooth and fast sea I was expecting from the start.

The fuel situation was particulary interesting today. I had plenty of fuel for the trip, including reserve, if I managed to stick to my normal cruising speeds… greater than 15kts or about 7kts. Everything in between was using fuel at an unacceptable rate. I could easily have slowed down, which I did, but with the leg so long I had a part of me saying I should go faster even though I knew that would not be the right decision. In the end I slowed down but I had to battle a little with the side of me that wanted to push on.

Wildlife played an important part today. I had seals, dolphins, porpoises, jelly fish by the hundreds, puffins, shags, gannets and a load more that I couldn’t identify. I had never seen puffins before. They are really cute and remind me of guillemots with their short stubby wings, really designed for use under water rather than in the air and they are about the same size too… a bit like guillemots dressed up as clowns!

So there you are… two sides to the trip… first half slow and bumpy the second smooth and fast. The sea was quite unfriendly before 11am and very benign after and I should have left port after high water for a smoother ride.

What a fun day!

I was met this evening by Gayle, daughter of Sheila and Brian of Bon-Accord Training. Gayle works in Edinburgh and heard I needed help refueling at Eyemouth and drove the hour’s drive to help me… what a sweetie. Thanks Gayle for your generosity giving up sever hours of your time not to mention several gallons of petrol. I am not sure what I wouold have done without your help

Up at 7am I was greeted with what looked like the perfect day for my reintroduction to the sea… sunny, dry, warm and no wind. So after leaving the shower key and my berthing fee in an envelope in the marina office letterbox I set out for the first of the two locks out of the Caledonian Canal. It seemed a little strange having to think about tides, waves, overfalls etc and all those lovely things we have to consider when at sea. It felt good to be moving again.

Through the locks and out into the Moray Firth and under Kessock Bridge with the lifeboat station on the north shore I was doing 22kts in completely flat, glassy water. Wouldn’t it be great if it stayed like this all the way but I knew that the chances of that were almost nil and I was right. Never the less, it did stay smooth and fast for most of the way to Whitehills, some 60 miles.

When almost at Whitehills I had to make a decision to stop there or continue on to Peterhead. I had fuelled to allow me to continue on and with the weather good, the sea state planeable and neap tides for my rounding of Rattray Head (a well known area of rough water) it was a situation that I couldn’t waste and so I decided to continue. As I passed by the entrance to Whitehills, and spoke to the harbourmaster on the radio, I felt a bit disappointed that I wouldn’t be stopping there. I had heard many good reports from other “Round Britainers” of their warm welcome and good hospitality. Perhaps another day.

I pushed on past McDuff and Banff and towards Fraserburgh where I reached a bit of a milestone in the trip for this was the furthest north I would travel and almost at the same time it was the half way point in miles too. I let out a little cheer and gave the boat a little pat of thanks for getting me that far. Downhill all the way now but still ahead some of the most challenging parts and in my celebration I reminded myself of that fact just to keep my feet on the ground.

As if to remind me itself the sea decided to stop being so benign and it started to get a lot rougher. No big waves really just very disturbed and a 1-2m swell was coming in from the North Sea too. I had planned to see what Rattray Head was like on the inside route because I didn’t fancy going 4-7 miles out to avoid the overfalls and often an inside route exists. But with the sea cutting up as it was I started to feel that a return to Whitehills might be necessary. However, it turned out nowhere near as bad as I thought it might. The sea was rough on the surface and it made for very slow passage at 5kts but there were no big nor standing waves and I passed Rattray Head slowly but easily just half a mile off. I was relieved to get that part behind me. If I had gone in to Whitehills and had been delayed there for a few days then it would have been back to spring tides and it may not have been so easy.

Travelling almost due south now I went on towards Peterhead and after getting permission to enter the harbour by radio I entered the sanctuary of the harbour. This is a busy port for supply ships for the rigs offshore and the harbour has ships all around in various states of loading and unloading. The marina is tucked away in the far corner nicely out of the way and a welcome sight. I approached my berth thinking of other things and not concentrating and I made a bit of a dog’s dinner out of coming alongside but no harm was done except to my pride but that mends quite quickly nodays. My sponsor for the next leg is Bon-accord Training, and Sheila and Brian welcomed me to Peterhead. Also there was Alf, a member of the YBW.com forum, and his boat, “Navigator” was on the berth next to mine so it was a double welcome. I washed the boat down and had a quick chat to Alf and then dashed off the spend the evening with Sheila and Brian. Only when I got to their car did I realise that I had left Alf to tidy up the hose. Sorry Alf. I hadn’t made the best of impressions on my arrival to Peterhead. I won’t let this kind of thing happen again I promised to myself later.

So, collecting at ASDA Tuesday and media photos and interviews lined up for Monday. Let’s hope the weather holds for my next leg south later in the week.

Today started out wet and it just got wetter and wetter! I had an 8.30 appointment with Martin Douglas of the Loch Ness lifeboat station to show me the boat and to get some pics for the RNLI and for this web site. He gave me a thorough tour of the boat and we had a photo session (see pics). Martin has been a wonderful host for me when there and I would like to thank him for his efforts. The lifeboat station there has only recently been taken over from the coastguard and so they have had a lot of work getting the station up to date with RNLI equipment and procedures and I have to say that as a visitor it looks to me that they have all done a fantastic job. Crew is still being trained and there are still a few things to do but on the whole it is up and running.

Like I said, the weather has been wet today and leaving the marina I couldn’t see the other side of Loch Ness only a mile away but there was enough visibility for me to make good progress into the canal section at the north end and through the remaining locks to Inverness. At Dochgarroch Lock I called on the radio to the lockkeeper and didn’t get a reply so I put the boat on the holding pontoon and went in search… nothing… not a soul anywhere. This is a warning to anyone transiting the canal… when the lockkeepers go to lunch everything stops! It was a welcome chance for me to make a spot of lunch for myself and sit and relax listening to the test match on the radio .

The final set of locks at Muirtown resulted in another delay of an hour while we waited for a fishing boat to get to the lock so we could all lock down together. This final "staircase" needed me to stand on the lockside and walk the boat between locks and also to stand there while the boat descended… while it was raining. I was soaked!

At the bottom I entered my berth in Seaport marina to be met by Russell from Gael Force Chandlery who I had requested to meet me to make a small adjustment to where the fuel line went into the engine. That was quickly done so then off to the shower… great!

I write this from the boat in the pouring rain with the wind blowing the boat around on the pontoon in Seaport Marina, Inverness and it is with a degree of mixed feelings that I report that the Caledonian Canal leg is at an end.

On the one hand I am sorry to leave the relative peacefulness of the canal. On the whole it has been a wonderful few days and I highly recommend it to any boater or non-boater alike whether in your own boat or a hired one. On the other hand I am glad that I now have the chance to push on with the event and to get on with some more fundraising. So I am collecting at the Eastgate Centre in Inverness tomorrow and meeting up with the Mother of my good friend Anne. This is the same Anne that has the uncle in Fort William… needless to say she is a scot and proud of it.

So, all that remains of the canal is for me to make it the mile or so to the sea lock and through the final lock. I am not sure when… it all depends on  - you guessed it - the weather!

Although the lockkeepers start work at 8am they had a lot more boats at the bottom of the staircase wanting to come up than at the top wanting to go down and so they started locking up first and they continue locking up until they run out of boats and so there was a wait to get down. I went to get a cup of coffee from one of the restaurants and watched the boats locking up. There was a couple with a yacht with the man holding the stern rope and the woman holding the bow rope and the woman was having trouble . I offered to help and she accepted my offer immediately so along with the man I walked their boat into the next lock. It turned out that she was pulling the boat from the front so I suggested that she let her husband do the pulling from the back and she does the steering from the front so she wouldn’t have to do any hard pulling. I watched them do the next two locks with great success and they were both hugely grateful. They too were going round Britain but they were retired and they was doing it just for themselves and had no schedule at all.

Eventually it was time for locking down. I shared the lock with a 100ft barge that provides accommodation for 12 occupants on an activity holiday whilst transiting the canal. This barge was 130 tonnes and had no special equipment and yet they had no trouble mooring and going through the locks.

At the bottom I entered Loch Ness and got a rude introduction to the largest body of fresh water in the UK. The wind was up at F4-5 and the loch had waves. OK, they were only 2-3ft but having no tides and no swell they were very short and it made for an uncomfortable ride. I thought while I was on Loch Ness that I would have my chartplotter on sonar and so all the way up the loch I was looking out for the monster. Believe it or not I didn’t see anything that could have been Nessie but it was fun watching the depths at over 200m. You know that there is more fresh water in Loch Ness, which is 22 miles long one mile wide and 200m deep, than in all the lakes and reservoirs in the UK! Incredible.

I was “buzzed” by no fewer than a fighter and two Hercules aircraft on the loch.

About two thirds up the loch on the north shore is Drumnadrochit marina and Urquart Castle… the widest point on the loch. The little marina has no toilets or showers but offered good shelter and is a convenient stopping point on the loch. It is also the location of the RNLI’s very latest lifeboat station and I was welcomed on my arrival by Martin Douglas, volunteer crew and press officer for the station. After tieing up he gave me a super tour of the station and then took me back to his house for a tasty meal of homemade chowder. I made use of his broadband to upload photos. Thanks Martin.

Back at the boat I settled down for the night but it wasn’t a quiet one. The marina offers complete shelter except in northeasterlies and that is what we had so all night the boat rocked and water slapped making it a restless night. I shouldn’t complain… the weather has been bad on this trip as you know but I have not had a rocky night until now. Not at all bad.

Next day will see me descending the rest of the locks and then heading for Seaport Marina where I will be staying at least 2 or 3 nights. I have some collecting arranged for Friday and I have a couple of small repairs to make on the boat and engine. More on that later.