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| Bass Rock and North Berwick Law |
At last the barometer has risen a little after being at 998 all yesterday. You would not think it was so low to look at the weather which was sunny periods and showers. The plan, at Chris’s suggestion, was to sail near to the Bass Rock and take a close look at the birds, then pass the Isle of May and then go to Arbroath, or maybe Anstruther. We left the harbour at the same time as the catamaran and motor-sailer from Whitby and hoisted full sail in the bay. Half way to St Abb’s Head the wind became stronger and gusty so we put in a reef. Once round the headland we decided to skip Bass Rock as it was 20 miles away, hard on the wind which was F4-5. Isle of May was more appealing, being just off the wind and we had a fast but bumpy and tiring sail with wind that was shifty and gusty. However there was a beautiful sky and lines of clouds on each side of the firth, with a clear area in between. No prospect of landing at the island as although the entrance was sheltered it was low tide and we had not done any homework about it.
Once past the island a large grey cloud approached and we put in the second reef, which had been under consideration several times. We were now on a beam reach and going really well. Soon after passing Fife Ness we had a big drop in the wind and started motoring, reading the pilot book carefully about Arbroath. Panic! – it’s not open for all of HW +-3, just the part which falls within working hours, which end at 20:00. Wind soon picked up again and we arrived in plenty of time.
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| Approaching Isle of May |
Arbroath is known for Arbroath Smokies, a sort of smoked haddock. Not sure I want to try these, no problem the smokie shops were all closed. Other interesting stuff here which I don’t think we will have time to explore, in particular the house where the lighthouse men’s families used to live which has a signal ball to communicate with the lighthouse.
406 miles done. 244 miles to go. Follow the
track on Google Maps
