The Blog Is Back! Whitehaven and beyond ...

The 100 mile crossing to Whitehaven was our fastest yet - Bangor to Whitehaven in 15 hours, a reach all the way with the wind building all the time.  Slightly stressful entry into Whitehaven as there is alledgedly a dredged channel that must be followed, but we couldn't find any way of clearly identifying it! 

Whitehaven has the distinction of being the only place in the UK invaded by the Americans - or at least one American, John Paul Jones in 1778 - the story goes that he landed, half his party went and spiked the cannons that protected the port and the other half got drunk in the pub!  Three ships were sunk, and John Paul Jones has been immortalised in brass and to this day the American Navy make an annual pilgrimage to Whitehaven to pay their respects.

Nick and Debbie came to visit us in Whitehaven, fresh from walking the length of the Caledonian Canal.  Unfortunately the wind continued to blow - sailing was not going to happen just yet.

We checked out the conditions and decided against sailing.

Zilla checked out the sea and decided a walk was in order.  Nick was not happy about it, but bowed to peer pressure in the end.

We walked up the hill past the 'Candlestick' - comissioned by the Lowther Family, who at one time seemed to own the entire town.  The 'Candlestick' was a ventilations shaft for the coal mine which was the first pit to extend  2km under the sea at a depth of 138m - all this back  in 1729.

The wind continued to blow the next day, so rather than risk another walk Nick took us to the Lake District instead. 

Beautiful scenery.

Lots of dry stone walling.

Very steep hills, roads at a 30% gradient.

An interesting variant of Traffic Calming Measures.

Coniston Water - where Donald Campbell died in 1967 attempting to break the Wold Water Speed Record.

Derwent Water.

One of the many waterfalls.

Eventually the wind calmed down, and on the last day of Nick and Debbie's visit we were finally able to go sailing.  At first we thought that the crowds on the breakwater were there to see us off, but then realised they were in fact boarding the Balmoral,

The Balmoral is part of the Waverley Steamship Group but is much newer, having been built in 1949 and does passenger cruises around the UK.  Its first ever international voyage took 200 passengers from Eastbourne to Boulogne in 1996.

Debbie needed a hug when she realised how much her sailing outfit clashed!

Debbie practices her knots.

Debbie takes the helm.

Nick takes us back to Whitehaven, and we pack up to go back to Bexhill to sort out things down South.

A quick tour of Whitehaven Marina in the dinghy is an experience not to be missed!

So - back to dry land for a couple of weeks, then on to the Isle of Man