So, we retired to the relative safety of the boat and dug out the insect repellent with lots of DEET in it. The proof will be tomorrow morning of course when we check up on the number of bites but it does make you feel safer.
We left Holy Loch in very atmospheric misty conditions so the photography was a touch limited.
We had decided to move to Kip Marina early as the weather forecast for the rest of the week wasn't good. The original plan was to be here from Sunday evening, so on Monday we could get the train over to Edinburgh and meet the Australian contingent, Peter and Amanda. NB - they live in Oz, but were natives of Norfolk / Suffolk. Not sure which is the worst affliction. Then we fly south to visit relatives for a while.
Of course, we had the usual excellent welcome in the office and full rundown on the area. to save lots of typing and possible RSI issues, in future we will just say "a typical Scottish welcome". OK? The manager even found a different berth for us so we could be starboard side to the pontoon and facing into the prevailing SW'ly wind. Helpful as we will be leaving the boat for a week and you can't guarantee what the weather will bring.
A Nordhavn 47 discourse: Starboard side to is helpful for us as the walkway and the entry door is on the starboard side. The accommodation is pushed right the way out to the hull on the port side to maximise the internal space. This is fine, we just berth starboard side to everywhere we can or accept that we have to get off from the bathing platform. 99% of the time there is no issue, amazingly.
Kip Marina seems to be the northern Nordhavn rest home. Here is the view from our pilothouse:
Annie M is another Nordhavn 47 - just looks a little different as there is no bimini cover over the flybridge like ours. Apparently they also hosted another 4 different Nordhavn models recently - that is about 50% of the entire UK fleet! One big benefit - we are no longer "the big boat" here and people don't gawp in quite the same way. We feel less conspicuous.
Great spot; train station nearby (hence we picked it), Sainsburys Local store in staggering distance if you don't have a trolley shopper (tested this out with 5 bottles of wine to replenish our stocks a little earlier), WIFI (albeit slow) for free and lots of midge harbouring trees around.
The plan is to do "stuff" around here, spend a day in Glasgow by train when it is raining the least and head over to Edinburgh on Monday. No boat trips until we return (around the 8th) so please don't keep checking the AIS websites until then. It will be a shameful waste of your employer's time. If you must stalk us, try the marina webcams:
http://www.kipmarina.co.uk/webcams.aspx
Number 4 seems to have us in shot sometimes...
A Trolley Shopper update:
G&P (the people who think that Patrick is actually the dangerous chicken from the Wallace and Gromit film, hence you cannot really rely on their views) say that they have a present for us. Whilst staying in their house on Samos (a Greek island, ask Google) they found an abandoned trolley shopper. They will keep it for us until we reach the mediterranean on our travels - such kindness brings tears to one's eyes. Briefly though.
