Bangor to Holyhead

Poor Andrew. All he saw of Northern Ireland was the airport, the road to Bangor and a little of the town when we walked into it for some shopping on Tuesday morning. Not a great introduction to the delights of the place on his first visit really.

Being the heartless couple that we are, we just forced him to helm us away from the place and towards Holyhead. The original thoughts of pottering down the Irish coast and then crossing over to Milford Haven were dashed by the easterly winds that were promised, hence our plan to head for Holyhead initially (a nice south east kind of trip). Setting off just before high water to take the tide down the coast of Ireland was no hardship, just grey and gloomy. Hence no pictures, sorry. The trip was going to take about  16 hours and hence we broke our "try to arrive in daylight" rule. Not too bad as we knew the port and that it was not infested with fishing pot markers.

En route, Andrew chilled a little even though the crew was piloting us:

Patrick was less relaxed, staring out to sea intently and clutching the floating binoculars:

Why does he want assistance with floating? Not much of a penguin....

Sunset was lovely - the picture doesn't really reflect how good it was but here it is anyway:

The crew, who was helming at night, became less chilled when she approached this gaggle of fishing boats which were milling around south west of the Isle of Man, just trying to scare her off:

She rapidly handed control over to Andrew at that stage, feigning the need for a sleep. Andrew of course avoided the hordes of marauding fishermen and then had his rest period:

See how we tire out our guests?? (NOT alcohol induced - travelling days are dry days...)  A hint to all those contemplating time aboard with us. Although Linda was not with us, we were reminded of her favourite phrase when we saw a ship on AIS called "Fairplay". Andrew cannot escape from her, even in the middle of the Irish Sea.

The entry into Holyhead was fine, and there was plenty of space inside the breakwater which we happily filled up before retiring to bed. This was the view greeting us the next morning:

The trip took just under the planned 16 hours. Not too bumpy, just some waves on the port bow that reminded us we were at sea.

No exciting maintenance news to report except that the navigation PC behaved perfectly again. It might even get a gold star if it continues like this.

The oil drain fitting from the gearbox to the electric oil change pump had weeped a little at some stage and the captain had tightened it up. No further signs of 30W oil outside the casing that it should be inside of so all seems well.