During the night of the southerly gales, we had to reprise the Dunstaffnage experience, doubling up on the lines, deploying all the fenders bar one which was discovered had been split during the pounding they took up there. You also get lots of nice grot trapped between the boat and the pontoon and when the waves kick in and the wind howls, the grot gets liberally sprayed over the boat, even reaching the saloon windows. you have to look closely but then you can see all the grey lumps we had to wash off:
you can see the multiple lines and fender nursery too.
Then it decided to blow a northerly force 7 - so the same game was repeated but this time we had to double up the lines holding her in the other direction. More disturbed sleep. Lovely. We will have to polish the starboard side of the hull again to protect it for the winter after these batterings (and the extreme one in Dunstaffnage). So looking forward to doing that.
Some of the workboat folks like to wake you up a little too - the crew of Enterprise need a set of radio headsets like we have to save their vocal chords. The shouting when they berth this is unreal:
Especially when it is right ahead of you (see the nice new Rocna anchor).
Still, the area is great even if the town is grim (bar Lidl of course) and the marina rather exposed. Some progress on the marina infrastructure though, the shore power worked all the time we were here - never been able to have any before. We also had a very sociable time with John and Angela (our arrival berthing party if you remember). They found us a nice slot near to their boat - so near that this is Glenisla their rather nice yacht viewed from our flybridge:
This made toddling over for pre-dinner drinks very simple indeed...
What else? Well we also met a very cute schnauzer puppy called Douglas. Dognapping him was so tempting. His owners had TGT (The guided tour) and it was quite spooky as Michael looked so much like an actor friend of ours, even down to the mannerisms. Mark the actor hails from the Liverpool area. Michael hails from Birmingham (but he said that his dad had a car so perhaps.........) Who is Mark the actor we hear you cry. Well, currently Captain Birdseye (or Captain Igloo for the German readers). Have a look at Mark's showreel.
We had a wander around Bangor (the Welsh one of course, no return trip to Norn Iron although that is tempting) and the beautiful cathedral:
Bangor is also reputed to have the longest "High Street" in the country which considering that it is one of the smallest cities in the UK is impressive. So, we walked the length of it and wondered why. It starts with some seedy shops, turns into a normal town centre shopping area then gently decays towards the port again. Go and see the cathedral, avoid the town although the university buildings are great.
Finally, a weather window popped up. A brief one of course and as it got closer so the forecast northerly wind for our trip south decided to become a lighter but southerly one - right on the nose again. Still, at least it was calming down a bit. During all this fun, the weather reports on the TV talked about "the hottest September days for many years". Not in Holyhead we can assure you. It was pleasant, not too hot. Quite happy about that really.
However, just before we left, the sun came out in all its glory, the wind abated, the chop on the water in the harbour dropped and the evening looked lovely. Proof that the sun does come out here is below:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your ideas / cheek / corrections / whatever! They should hit the blog shortly after the system checks them to make sure they will not put us or you in jail.....