Sailing to the Isle of May, Anstruther and Dunbar

Over the last eighteen months or so, El seems to have only met up with her sister at funerals. This weekend however they had different plans. A couple of bottles of wine, three series of Game of Thrones to watch and a lot of gossip to catch up on. Understandably, I wasn't required. So on Saturday morning I fired up the little motor on the Heron and put-putted my way out of the harbour into the bright sunshine rising over the North Sea.

 

There was a light, variable, westerly which had just enough puff to catch the sail and get me moving along. I wasn't making much more than three knots but it was a lovely morning and there was no hurry.

In the distance Stuart and Gipper were on the Seline and near to them I could see Davey and his father on the Wee Beastie.

As the sun rose, the day grew warmer and the light wind began to fade. I had a coffee from my flask and the radio was murmering away below deck. Gannets skimmed low over the water, heading east out to sea and the Heron just silently drifted along heading north to the Isle of May.

There eventually comes a point when even the keenest of sailors has to admit defeat and turn on the engine. I had managed for two hours to eek out little breezes but the others had turned on their motors much earlier and by now were just specks in the distance. There was nothing else for it but to fire up the Mariner.

The Stevenson Lighthouse on the May eventually apeared out of the morning haze, and as I got close, I headed to the east to approach the little landing at Kirkhaven. Unfortunately the tide still hadn't flooded enough to get ashore. Instead, Stuart had dropped his anchor and Davey was rafted alongside.

I rafted up to port and we all sat back in the sun having a picnic and watching the birds fly by. There were loads of puffins, who as usual always dive as I try to get a picture. I still love seeing their little orange feet paddling frantically like clockwork toys. The guillemots, on the other hand, were much more elegant, just sitting watching me as I watched them.

It was after lunch time and the tide was beginning to pick up so the anchor was weighed and we slowly motored, or tried to sail in my case, along the east of the island to catch the incoming tide between the island and the Fife coast.

With a helpful push under our keels we soon covered the last four miles to the approach into Anstruther, and of course it's minefield of creel markers.

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I was first onto the potoon. I think that this may be the only time that the Heron has been first to do anything. There are advantages to havin little bilge keels. Davey lifted the keel on the Wee Beastie and was soon tied up. Stuart however hit the mud and took a little longer.

The fisheries museum in the town was having an open day and the lifeboat shed had joined in. A convivial afternoon was spent around the harbour, enjoying the occasional burger at the barbecue and perhaps a cold beer or two.

As the afternoon turned to evening the gulls settled down for the night and we went off to look around the town. When I eventually wandered back down to the pontoon, the tide had dropped again and the Heron was sitting at an angle in a little hole. There was nothing to be done so I put the kettle on for a coffee and settled into my sleeping bag. At some point during the night the Heron floated back upright, but I was long asleep by then.

Morning dawned bright again and boded well for another hot day. Various local boat owners appeard for a chat, including George, who had just returned from a night in Dunbar and had wondered where we were.

It was after 2 pm when we finally had enough water to sneak out of the harbour, and unfortunately by then, the sky had clouded over.

The forecasted south westerly came to nothing and it was back on with the engines for a rather boring 14.6 nautical miles .

But the wee boats all made it safely to Dunbar and we were soon tied up at our moorings 36 hours after leaving, with around 35 sea miles covered.

Morning Coffee on the Heron.

 Although the Heron has been back  in the water for a few weeks now, I haven't really been happy with the rigging and furling. I don't know what I did differently this year, but the roller reefing hasn't worked.

 

On Wednesday evening I bit the bullet and took the mast down again. I decided to do things properly and fit a deflector eye to the mast. It was five minutes with a drill to fit it but a couple of hours taking off sails and the boom and all the other sundry jobs that are part of dropping the mast and raising it again. Still, I was quite chuffed to manage it all single handed.

On Saturday a few boats were off to Anstruther for a race back. I only managed over to the other side of the harbour where I tied up to the wall and hauled the mast over to try to straighten everything out and check nothing was getting tangled. One replacement forestay this season is enough.

It was all looking good but the tide was falling rapidly and Heron soon took the ground. Then the rain started, so I put the little green tarpaulin over the boom and settled in for the afternoon.

In the evening I gave up waiting for the weather to improve and just left the boat alongside overnight.

 Sunday morning and the weather was a lot better. The tide was rising and the Heron had decided to sit a little way off the wall. This was ok as there was quite a swell running out at sea and even in the harbour there was still a couple of feet of movement. I had left a spring from the mast to a ladder so it was no problem to pull the boat back alongside.

First thing to do was get the little kettle going for morning coffee. It's just instant but it always tastes good sitting on the boat, especially when the sun is shining.

Then I set to re tuning the rigging. As the day wore on the local boats started arriving back with a few green faces. I was quite happy to have spent the day pottering around. Another easy Sunday but hopefully this time the Heron is actually  ship shape and ready to do some sailing.

Cycling, coffee, and an otter.

Saturday morning was overcast but quite mild. I didn't really have a plan so just cycled east to find somewhere to have breakfast.

So with no plan, I hadn't any great expectations. But as so often happens, these days turn out the best.

After pedalling along the coast I turned around then cut around Torness on the way home.

The tide was at low springs with expanses of kelp exposed. I sat down on the rocks and got the coffee brewing on the stove.

Out amongst the weed the shore birds were searching for grubs and then I caught sight of something special. Just a ripple in the water but I followed it and was so lucky to sit enjoying my breakfast and watch an otter feeding.

This has to rate as one of the best breakfast tables I've sat at.

Cycling, Castles and Coffee

I promised myself that I would get out on the Long Haul Trucker this weekend, so it was a bit of a disappointment to wake on Saturday morning to find a cold rain lashing the kitchen window. I waited until about 07:30 but it didn't look like the rain was going to ease, so on with the waterproofs and off I splashed .

As usual the thought of going out was far worse than the reality and I was soon enjoying the cycle down to Belhaven bay and along the burn. A Grey Heron lazily flapped away before I could take capture a picture of it.

From East Linton it's a short climb up onto the quiet winding road to Hailes. All around there was the scent of gorse and the hedges were full of song birds. I saw greenfinches, goldfinches, yellow hammers all flitting across the road searching for food.

At Hailes I pushed the trucker into the castle grounds. The little burn running down to the river was showing the benefit of all the rain with a tiny waterfall.

I found shelter from the rain in the old kitchens of the castle and unpacked the stove to heat up my latest cold press coffee.

Shelter from the rain, the smell of coffee heating, a view over the river, it doesn't get much better.

 

 

I've been reducing the time I leave the coffee to brew, this was only nine hours and I think that suits my taste buds better, not being quite as 'sweet' as when I leave it for eleven hours.

A relaxing breakfast in a 13th century castle, then back on the bike for an easy cycle back to Belhaven Bay where there were horses out exercising in the distance.

A pretty easy sixteen miles, but a good start to the weekend and inspiration to get out regularly again.

First Sail of the Season

 I am getting a bit lax at posting, I just seem to be too busy at the moment. The poor LHT has hardly been out over the last month with any spare time being spent trying to get the Heron sailing again. The new rigging terminal arrived last week and I built up a new forestay on Thursday.

 Stuart gave me a hand to raise the mast again yesterday and today I finally got out for a sail. Clear of the narrow harbour mouth and I switched off the engine and sailed between the rocks.

 About three miles east of Dunbar and I caught up with the yachts Seline and Wee Beastie. The Cod season has started again and I was soon joining in and caught a couple of codling. I let them go but the rest managed some decent fish that will be in the frying pan this week. 

 Feel free to add your own caption.

 I turned around off the coast at Whitesands and tacked back. This took a lot longer than planned as the furler started to jam again so I only sailed under the main.

Back between the rocks and I fired up the little outboard to have a look at how much the tide had fallen. Davey came along in the Wee Beastie and we both agreed that we would give the tide another half hour to make sure there was enough water under the keels.. 

Stuart arrived in the Seline and dropped anchor and we all rafted up. The seals watched us for a bit, then carried on doing seal things.

The Kittiwakes called incesently from their nests in the ruins of the castle.

 And the humans chatted for a time but also just sat silently in company and watched the sea.

 Inevitably the tide came back in and we returned to the harbour. A pretty fine bank holiday.