Leg 12

We are now onto the last three weeks of the trip...sailing down the east coast of England. We started at Eyemouth and sailed past Holy Island at Lindisfarne. There we saw a castle and impressive 100ft concrete transit marks. In the evening, the new crew were lucky enough to enjoy some alfresco dining... a first for this trip!

Welcome to Tim, Fraser and Sandy!

Beady-eyed Beauties

On the last day of leg 11, we visited Bass Rock near North Berwick. 

Here is a picture of just one of the 20,000 beady-eyed inhabitants..

Eyemouth Traditions!

We witnessed a Eyemouth traditional festival last week when we saw the 'Herring Queen' enter the town by sea, welcomed by waving crowds and music. This was the 70th festival held in the town so we got in the spirit and decorated Raven to celebrate her arrival!

A Foggy Day

We have had a foggy week with very little wind. You can just about see the boat moored at Stonehaven. 

To the left you can see our view of Dunnottar Castle this week.
To the right is the Castle in glorious sunshine (unfortunately this is not our picture!)

Stonehaven is a lovely little town where you can moor against the stone wall in calm conditions. 

All that fog is a bit much for the crew....

Another week, another crew!

This week's crew: Richard, Graham and Simon. Welcome aboard!

4am Fright!

Last week (sorry for the delay of this post):
John joined the crew last Sunday as we continued to sail around the Shetland Islands and anchored in Sumburgh.
Monday was a sail to North Orkney with an anchorage at Otterwick on Sanday Island. We had a fair bit of drama in the middle of the night as a sudden squall developed at 4am causing the anchor to drag and the boat to drift! Luckily, we woke up and managed to get the engine on and manoeuvre away from the approaching shoreline...phew! A close one! All was then well for the rest of the night.

Pierowall  - a village off the coast of the Scottish mainland

Later in the week we spent a few days in Kirkwell (capital of the Orkney Island) where we spent the days exploring the island on bicycles!

A 24 mile bike ride!

Orkney and Shetland Islands

                          

                                        An 18 1/2 hour passage from Orkney to the Shetland Islands. Arrival time: 1.30am. Phew!           

This is taken from the northern most point of the Shetland Islands - a place called Muckle Flugga!

 Taking the tender inside caves to explore!

Leg Nine

The small but essential crew of leg nine: Rob, Andrew and myself.

On day one we travelled from Lockiver to Kinlochberie on Loch Inchard (West coast of Scotland).
We then went for a swim at this lovely anchorage at the Isle of Handa.








On day two we visited Stomness in Orkney and saw the 'Old Man of Hoy' - a 137 metre sea stack on the Isle of Hoy. Impressive!

Puffins, pollock and a change of plan

On Tuesday we had a fantastic day, setting sail for Stornaway. There was no wind; the sea was completely calm. We then visited the Shiant Isles - home to 240,000 puffins and thousands of other sea birds. A spot of fishing resulted in Gary catching a pollock (lunch sorted for the day).
Wednesday saw pretty dreadful weather, with a force 8 and gusts of a force 10. Therefore, a change of plans is in order for the next few days as we are a little behind schedule!

One of many minke whales we saw on Tuesday