Neyland to Holyhead

We finished our time in Neyland with yet another form of transport – the Fiat 500L had gone back so we resorted to the RIB and two feet. Had a gloriously sunny trip up river, as far as a place called Hook.  Of course, this was a very different and much more enjoyable trip compared to the captain’s old commute to the Hook BMW office. The waterway reminded us of a bigger scale Hamble River (yes, when you get above the M27 bridge, the Hamble gets very pretty not like the wall to wall moorings that you see further downstream). On the way back we stopped off at the Lawrenny Arms pontoon so the crew could stretch her legs. Of course, the pontoon said “for the use of patrons only” – a good excuse to sit in the sun with a drink and watch the world go by. The eagle eyed will spot the RIB on here:

 

Having shared a picture of the Angle lifeboat with you earlier, here is an example of what happens to old ones. She looked kind of sad in her mud berth. We always think that they deserve a better retirement than this after a life of hard service:

We also did a little boat cleaning – scrubbing around the waterline to get rid of some grot / weed that was starting to build up. The boat had some extra stainless steel “corner pieces” fitted to the transom when she was built – apparently because the original owner was keeping her in Denmark and was worried about ice damage. Of course the stainless doesn’t like being antifouled (it needs to “breathe” or it will corrode underwater) and so left bare it quickly accumulates some weed and gunge. Equally the CopperCoat on the hull is great at keeping away barnacles etc but does let a film of slime build up which weed can then attach to. After all the sun of the past few days, we needed to give her a little waterline scrub. Not as much fun as sitting in the sun at Lawrenny but part of the joy of boating…..

On Wednesday, we headed off for Holyhead. Patrick was not happy as he’d had an email from Bron the spaniel saying she was coming to Pembrokeshire but we wanted to take advantage of a nice weather window for a trip north (the wind had been northerly until Wednesday when it veered to east / south-east). Milford is reckoned to be responsible for 30% of the UK’s energy imports.  Departing Milford there was lots of evidence of this – not pretty but needed:

 

The area was also well defended in former times:

Now they seem to rely on the Heddlu (Police) patrol boats instead with way smaller guns on board.

The run passing Skokholm / Skomer was pretty bumpy. Wind over tide and overfalls too. Short (ie short wavelength) and tall waves  up to 3 metres from astern gave the autopilot a good test. The new settings that we tried based on input from other Nordhavn 47 owners with a Simrad autopilot worked very very well.  Would not have liked to be going through that rough patch in a planing boat. At one point, we were in an eddy and making 6.0 knots through the water but only 0.9 over the ground. What a waste of diesel.

Once clear of the islands and strong tidal streams it all calmed down and the rest of the run to Holyhead was very calm. No stabilisers, no rolling, no pitching, no nothing. Here is Bishops Rock and the lighthouse with some nice rock strata on view:

We did see lots of puffins riding the waves off the islands but sadly this was to be a no dolphin trip – unless they played in our wake during the night.

The overnight run was, again, quiet. Not a lot about on the AIS or radar. We did get a call from the Aberport Marine Control radio. There is a firing range in Cardigan Bay which tests some serious ordnance (see Quietiq Aberporth). We had phoned them to check the firing times and locations and having seen us on AIS, they called and advised that we would be well clear of their night time test area if we continued on our course. Comforting that both our planning was right and they checked us out carefully!

Of course, we missed having Andrew on board. The shortage of Andrew meant that we had to share the watches and got less sleep. He might well be kidnapped. We just have to hunt him down.

Arrived in Holyhead at 6:30 am after 125 miles and 21 hours just as it started to spit with rain and the place looked suitably gloomy:

Pretty much like last year, the marina is run by very friendly folks but the pontoons / wavebreak are still sad and decaying with disconnected power supply boxes on most of the visitor area. It needs some serious investment now but based on the number of berths that are full, the maths might not appeal to their bank manager. Still, it is a good stopping off point and this year, we might explore Anglesey a little.

Maintenance news:  For the tekkie types, again sorry, but nothing to report, except that it is now time to change the main gearbox oil and filter. Might do that whilst we are here, if we get a rainy Friday as per the forecast. Might even treat the main engine to some fresh oil too – not “due” according to the manufacturers schedule but good preventative maintenance practice (about 250 hours since the last change).