South 'till the Butter Melts


The 160 miles, sailing overnight from Peterhead to Blyth turned out to be a lot harder than predicted!  The favourable breeze from the NW died away to a headwind from the SSE, leaving a choppy sea and slatting sails.  With headsail furled, I ground my teeth and motored on, deciding against dropping the mainsail too, which would have increased the rolling even further.

As high pressure meets low, the winds are variable but the skies are much clearer and we are having lots of sun.  This leads to cold nights and warmer days.  The butter has been hard to spread for weeks now but is getting softer, as we move south, especially at lunch time!

Blyth marina is the home of the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club, which has been based in the lovely old Calshot light vessel LV 50 since 1952.  Here we received a warm welcome that evening and enjoyed a convivial lunch next day.

RNYC Light Ship (from their web site)
At the moment, south going tides are inconveniently early and the next two passages, to Hartlepool then Whitby, both involved getting up at 04:00 hours, before dawn, and arriving a few hours later, in bright sunshine.  This made for long days with cold starry starts and warm, sunny, sleepy afternoons.

Hartlepool dock area was somewhat half-finished and litter strewn but has a great museum (the National Museum of the Navy), with the restored frigate, the Trincomalee, as prime exhibit.  This ship was built in 1817, in Calcutta, by master Indian shipbuilders.  She was so well constructed, from such prime timber, that sixty percent of her structure is original.

46 Gun Frigate - Trincomalee
Our last night in Hartlepool was intended to be spent in a restaurant but first we had to refuel the boat and that’s when our plans changed.  Rosie got chatting with the skipper of a returning day-fishing boat and was kindly (and predictably) given some fish.  Two cod became our dinner and four mackerel were our lunch next day, after arriving in Whitby.  They were all very tasty.

Very Fresh Cod for Supper

Approach to Whitby Under Sunny Skies

Whitby Waterfront - Awaiting the Opening of the Swing Bridge (left)

Whitby is a Yorkshire holiday town, straddling the river Esk and linked by a swing bridge built in 1908.   The bridge works fine and opened to let us through (with some loud Yorkshire comments from the bridge master about our slowness)!  There is a ruined abbey, a steam railway, amusement arcades, many fish and chip shops, sweets, ice cream and some appropriately large people.  We were a bit fished out and so chose the pub opposite for an alternative evening meal.  The walk up to the Abbey on the hill revealed a beautiful youth hostel and lovely views.

Whitby Youth Hostel and Abbey

Whitby from Abbey Hill


Tomorrow the strong S/SE headwinds are forecast to swing into the N/NW (one extreme to the other, as usual!) and we will be on our way again.

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