Porlock Post

I'm anchored off Porlock, and will pootle along to Watchet in three or four hours to go into the Marina.

Almost exactly two weeks ago - 21st June - Angus and I left Findhorn on a late tide (nearly midnight), to get into the Caledonian Canal the following morning. We did a quick transit (always a waste, but ...) and were in the Corpach Basin on Saturday, where we got ready for sea, bunkered, and thought about the weather.

The weather was moderately vile - West or North West 6, and it looked as though it was funneling up the loch. I spoke to a yacht that had just come in who they reckoned they didn't want to go out again. And they were going down wind...

But the forecast said it would ease a bit, and the prospect of getting down the loch on Saturday night was too tempting. We anchored in Shuna Sound.

On Sunday we took the best of the tide and had a bracing reach down the Sound of Jura to Lowlandman's Bay, where we anchored for a few hours to rest and wait out the flood. That evening we made Kilnaughton Bay (Port Ellen) on Islay.

We spent Monday and Tuesday night on Rathlan Island, visiting the East Light on our bikes, and the North Light on the bus (!). Fog made the North Light visit very atmospheric, but we'd have seen more on a clearer day.

On Wednesday we motored (upwind) to PortPatrick, where Angus got the bus home. I carried on to Strangford Lough, anchoring in the early hours. (Flying by wire: Two devices running chart plotters, plus radar).

Thursday was a long downwind run to Dublin. Force 6, Aries, rain, and motion. Not an advertisement for the delights of sailing.

I spent a lot of time with the washboards in, poking my head out of the hatch. Raasay did most of it without human intervention ...

I spent two nights in Dublin (Poolbeg Marina, right in the docks) so that I could visit friends on the Friday, and so that they could visit me on Saturday morning. I left at lunchtime after they left, and sailed overnight towards St. David's head, anchoring in Skomer South Haven for a few hours to rest on Sunday before carrying on to a more secure anchorage behind Caldey Island.

Yesterday took me from Caldey Island to here, where I'm hanging on a huge length of anchor chain (tidal range in the Severn), waiting for the tide again...

I have a manual windlass.

I have loads of photos to follow. Once I get a faster internet access ...