Wandering south, well as far as Northern Ireland

The nights started drawing in, the weather looked like it had given up on being summer so we ought to do the migratory thing and head south. We planned to do so but then the captain carelessly and unaided by alcohol, managed to slip down the stairs to the saloon and end up in a heap on the floor. As he hit the deck he watched some toes getting bent up and thought "gosh, that is painful". He was, unfortunately, right:

So, a few days of inactivity followed with the crew having to go shopping alone and actually carry her own money and the items needed. Stress beyond belief for her. After a few days of doing nothing at all, we had a brief visitation from John and Irene and Archie, who enjoyed chewing the resident toys we keep for such events:

Finally, the captain got brave and tested the foot for a short walk - just to pay the marina fees. Then we headed over to Holy Loch - once more amazed that cruise passengers are dumped in Greenock:

Still, compared with the antique liner Black Watch,  Greenock is probably OK really. A few passengers lined the rails watching us. They must have decided that the excursions were too expensive, the torrential rain forecast for the afternoon was too unappealing or they were too scared to venture into Clydeside, even on a coach. Or perhaps they just wanted to stay on board for lunch as it was already paid for?

Holy Loch was as lovely as ever but we resisted the walk into Dunoon (to be more precise, the captain's toes resisted it) so a bus trip was in order instead. A delayed birthday lunch was greatly enjoyed at Livingstones but the long wait at the bus stop for the non appearing bus back was less fun. West Coast Motors haven't got around to investing in signs that tell you if a bus is delayed or cancelled and they don't use their website or any social media for it either. As they only run every hour and we had some shopping, a taxi was needed.

The departure from Holy Loch was in wonderful warm calm conditions. It felt like a very silly move to leave the place:

but as the longer term forecasts were less encouraging, the migration south had to begin. To take advantage of the tides in the North Channel between Scotland and Ireland, either a stupidly early or a mid afternoon departure and overnight trip was needed. We opted for the latter. A lovely sunny flybridge trip followed, listening to the amazing England victory in the Ashes (cricket against Australia for foreign readers!) despite all the odds. That was as cheery as the views out:

As we were passing down the side of Arran, we saw an AIS target that seemed to be well inland and moving at 135 knots:

Realising that it was heading into Prestwick airport and was an aircraft was reassuring.

The route to Bangor is simple enough:

but Marinetraffic didn't show the start of our trip for some unknown reason (we left from Holy Loch, near Greenock on the map). Once we were south of the Isle of Arran it got a bit bumpier, just as the captain was going to get some sleep. So he just had a lay down and got annoyed that he could not fall sleep instead. The further south we got, the calmer it got so the crew was luckier for her off watch period. The night-time office view of the world:

The FLIR (forward looking infra-red camera) image of the waves in the pitch darkness continues to amaze us and we are getting better at spotting the "heat signature" of birds compared to debris or pot markers in the pitch dark. We still err on the side of caution though and go around them if in doubt.

Arriving off Bangor there were a couple of anchored ships lighting the way:

and as expected we arrived just as it became possible to see properly again (around 6am). Onto the huge hammerhead that the marina had told us to use, quick sort out for the boat and bed then beckoned.

The trip took around 14.5 hours running slowly at 1450 to 1475 rpm most of the time. Most economical indeed (around 8 lph consumption). In total with the usual wide open throttle run at the end to clear out the exhaust stack and the cylinders we used about 120 litres of fuel to do the 85 sea miles. Less than £60 for the trip seems OK compared to the cost of a ferry or flight with the amount of hold luggage we would need to take all the stuff we lug around on the Nordhavn!

Nothing to report on the maintenance front - just that the engine room temperatures reached their highest this year (warm outside, little wind and from the wrong direction to aid the fans). It did creep up to the "magical" 30 Farenheit above the external ambient temperature that is aimed for. The forced ventilation is not great and we keep saying that we will add a couple of chunky fans to help move the air around in the engine room. Maybe this winter...