Welcome to the Capital of Scotland

The wind finally dropped enough for us to set off from Amble after 6 days there - we were almost eligible for the seasonal discount by then!  It was a 30 mile sail, past the Farne Islands, Holy Island (Lindisfarne) and on to Eyemouth - Scotland!

At first we were seeing loads of Puffins and Guillemots - we sail up quite close to them, and then the Puffins take fright and frequently try to take to the air.  This is quite a performance, and involves lots of splashing and bellyflopping along the top of the waves in an effort to take off - sometimes they succeed and fly a short distance before landing back on the water, presumably exhausted!  The Guillemots are rather like aquatic meercats:  they have long necks and spend a lot of time looking around - they tend to dive when you approach, probably the best option as they don't seem much better at flying than Puffins!

On this section of coast, there is hardly a rock with out a Castle - some still quite splendid.

We made good speed to Eyemouth, and despite a phone call to the Harbour Master confirming depth in the harbour, we still managed to run aground about 3 metres away from the pontoon!  Luckily it was soft mud, and we reversed off it and went to the Commercial Fishing section of the harbour.  We felt very safe there, next to the Lifeboat!

Once the tide had risen sufficiently we moved on to the pontoons - slightly akward manoeuvre as our wind generator was extreemly close to the harbour wall.

Eyemouth Marina did not have a lot to recommend it:  The shorepower didn't work, we were rafted up against another yacht and the shower block was miles away.  There were some very odd boats in the Marina though, not all of which looked as if they had ever been seaworthy!

Possibly the most bizarre was the Anglia Pipedream - looked more like a Nightmare - I thought it must be the wreckage of some kind of single handed trans atlantic epic, but Google revealed it was someone's idea of a serious 'trailor sailor'.


Would you trust this boat?

You do have to admire the entrepreneurial spirit of the place, and this hotel clearly offers something for everyone.

Diversification in Action



One final Eyemouth Image.



We tore ourselves away after a single night, and headed on for Edinburgh - much to Sprigs' annoyance, we had a deadline!  I wanted to meet up with my niece who attends Edinburgh University and was just about to leave for the summer holidays! 

We experienced our first Sailing in the Rain on the way to Edinburgh - not only had the wind turned so it was a beat, and our contunuous tacking meant that the 54 miles became 64.

The Puffins and Guillemots were gradually replaced by Gannets - a fantastically elegant bird, huge wing span, seem to glide just above the waves either singly or in great long lines.  Their speed made it very hard to capture them on camera - thank goodness for Digital!





 We entered the Firth of Forth and had our first view of Bass Rock, a huge volcanic plug that sticks out of the otherwise rock free waters.  An early Christian Hermit settled there, later (of course) a castle was built which was then used as a prison. Much later, it ceased to be a prison and a lighthouse was built in 1902.  


Bass Rock

As we got closer, it became obvious why all the Gannets were in such a rush - 150,000 Gannets live on the rock, it is the largest Gannetry in the world!  An amazing sight, up close they looked like flowering bushes, but from further away it appeared to be snow covered.

We continued on towards Edinburgh, all the tacking had taken up time so it was getting towards dusk as we saw the Forth Bridge for the first time in the distance.  Also a very impressive sight.

We sailed on, by now following the channel markers - having seen them in the style of boats in the Humber Estuary, we were interested to know what they used in the Forth Estuary - clearly as bathing platforms for seals!

  As we approached they casually rolled off the platform and into the water.

By now we were almost at the bridges, which still look fantastic despite being covered in scaffolding and debris netting, shredded by the recent storms.

Despite knowing that the clearance under the bridge was 45 metres above sea levell, it is VERY un-nerving sailing under a bridge. 

I was very relieved to still have a mast when we came out the other side.

We  eventually located our allocated space on the pontoons in Port Edgar Marina, legible numbers on the pontoons would have helped, and took Zilla for a walk round the Marina.

The next day we had the Yolanda Tour - bus ride into Edinburgh, and a rendez vous in the City Centre.  We then set off to see the sights:  several museums, a few more castles, a cathedral, the university, the halls of residence, next year's residence, the Student's Union building (the oldest one in the country) and a very alternative shopping opportunity in the Vintage Clothes shop



Is this your colour?

And a hike up a hill to Arthur's seat - at least we could show Yolanda the Forth Bridge and Bass Rock from there!

  Arthur's seat - actually a hill, possibly something to do with King Arthur - excellent views, very windy - naturally, this is Edinburgh after all, alledgedly built on an especially windy site to reduce risk of plague!   

Just to show we reached the top.

Today the wind is a Force 8 - having thought our Pilot book was being harsh about the shelter in Port Edgar, we have now seen that it might not have been quite so wrong after all!  The possibility of burst fenders, dented boats, interlinked masts and the need for additional moring lines is in fact very real! 

We took the opportunity to walk the few remaining miles of Edinburgh not covered in the Yolanda Tour, and did the Royal Mile from the Castle to the New Scottish Parliament Buildings - very angular, very impressive, and very over budget!

Tomorrow - hopefully Arbroath, and the Smokies!