Inverness Firth to the River Deben, Suffolk

Rainbow and cloud in the Moray Firth

Greetings from Suffolk, England, UK! We made it. Our second circumnavigation of the world in Sal Darago is now complete. So, how did we spend our last three weeks on board?

On leaving the Caledonian Canal, our first anchorage was in the Moray Firth at Cullen Bay, where we spent a peaceful night. 

 

Cullen Bay

Next was Peterhead. We motorsailed into a light easterly headwind. Optimistically, I said, “No problem, we’ll be able to sail on a beam reach when we turn south at Fraserburgh.”The wind had other ideas and promptly turned south. We had choppy seas for a while at Rattray Head, which calmed as we approached Peterhead. The marina in the sheltered port was very welcoming and affordable at £21 per night. We enjoyed a walk around the harbour to the Waverly Arms Hotel. 

 

Eyemouth

The winds continued to be light and variable, so we motorsailed all the way to Eyemouth, 95nm further south, avoiding two wind farms and arriving in the dark at 0200. All the spaces on the visitors’ pontoon were taken and most were rafted up. Jeremy managed to squeeze Sal Darago on the shallow end of the pontoon, almost underneath the bows of a private motor yacht. Prices were increasing as we made our way south. Here we paid £30.50 per night plus £2 for eight minutes in the shower. We had lunch in the Contented Sole on the waterfront and shopped at the nearby Co-op.

 

Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island

It was only 20nm to Holy Island, just over the border in England. The tide was with us, the winds were light again, but the weather was cold and cloudy. We anchored off The Heugh, with a lovely view of Lindisfarne Castle. The following day we had time to explore Holy Island, a favourite place of ours from our distant Durham days. We had lunch in The Ship. Stronger SE winds were forecast, from which there was little shelter, so I persuaded Jeremy to weigh anchor and head for Amble. We had left our departure a little late and needed to make good time if we were to enter the River Cocquet and have enough water over the cill at Amble Marina. 

 

Jasper's Bistro, Amble

Soon we were bashing into a headwind in wind over tide conditions, but first we were able to admire the beautiful landscape around us, which included the Farne Islands, Bamburgh Castle and Dunstanburgh Castle. We cleared the sandbar at the entrance to the River Cocquet with less than a metre beneath our keels; motored through Warkworth Harbour and cleared the cill into Amble Marina with only 15 minutes left before the last possible entry. Whew!

 

Bamburgh Castle

Prices per night in Amble were £38.50 plus £5 for 24 hours of mains electricity. We stayed for two nights to let the effects of Storm Betty pass by. We also filled up with 87 litres of diesel. We explored the town, had a lovely meal in Jasper’s Bistro and shopped at Tesco Extra. We made arrangements to meet up with our friends, Andy and Moira in Sunderland and to spend a day with Jeremy’s brother Gavin and his wife, Eileen. Andy has recently published a book. It’s about No4. Sheep Street, a bookshop in Stratford upon Avon and Andy’s eccentric grandfather. It was started by Andy’s father, Gerald and completed by Andy. The book is available on Amazon. Look for “Shakespeare Press – The Memoir of Gerald Jaggard”.

 

Sunderland Marina

We were due to leave Amble on Saturday 19^th August. I did not feel well. The wind was gusting and whistling around the marina. The inshore forecast was for SW 4 or 5 occasionally 6 at first, decreasing 3 later. Jeremy was confident that we should leave. I wasn’t so sure. However, we were not leaving until mid afternoon, because of the tide, and it was only a six hour journey. I took Stugeron, just in case. I was so glad I had because the wind did not die down until we reached the mouth of the River Tyne. We had uncomfortable, short seas and sustained gusts of over 30 knots. In addition, we had a wind farm to avoid, one of many close to the coast in the North Sea. In lighter winds, as we approached Sunderland, the spinlock lever that holds the main halyard broke as we were about to take down the double reefed mainsail. We were very happy to motor gently into Sunderland Marina at 2120 and tie up in a berth, but first we had to remove a large tree branch, which was stuck under the pontoon.

 

Kathy, Moira, Andy and Jeremy on Sal Darago

The next day we learned that Gavin and Eileen had Covid. They had just returned from a family holiday in Spain and were not feeling well. It was agreed that we should not visit them. Fortunately, Andy and Moira were fit and well. We enjoyed lunch together at Cafe Six facing the beach followed by tea/coffee on Sal Darago back at the marina. It was lovely to catch up with each other’s news.

 

Sculpture at Sunderland seafront

We paid our marina bill the following day - £62 for two nights. We left the marina at low tide and almost got stuck on a sandbank before reaching the channel in the River Wear. Jeremy reversed off and into the channel. We stowed the fenders and lines and put up the mainsail in the shelter of the river. We had gusty winds from the SW of 14-16 knots, occasionally reaching 28 knots. The tide swept us southwards at speeds of 6.7-7 knots.

 

Runswick Bay

Originally, we had planned to sail to Whitby and meet up with our nephew, James, his wife, Juliette and children, Alice, Anna and Daniel. However, westerly winds were forecast and it made sense to anchor at Runswick Bay. Having avoided numerous fishing pots, we dropped the anchor at 1920 and sat in the cockpit enjoying sundowners. A speedboat came by with a boy water skiing behind. We waved. Minutes later they came alongside and gave us a lobster and two mackerel.

 

Lobster for supper

We had an early start the next day leaving Runswick Bay at 0630. The winds were gusty around the headlands and cliffs. We saw the skeletal ruins of Whitby Abbey followed by the beaches of Robin Hood’s Bay and Scarborough as we passed. It wasn’t far to the anchorage in Filey Bay. We arrived at 1120, in good time for our fresh mackerel lunch. It was very pleasant in the sunshine but we couldn’t enjoy it for long. Both the car and house insurance were due for renewal, so we had to spend time on the internet looking for the best deals and making arrangements. Then we had to plot our course to the River Deben with stops at Spurn Head and perhaps, Wells by the Sea or Lowestoft. Our lovely lobster supper was our reward for our afternoon’s efforts.

 

Spurn Head

We left Filey Bay at 0620 and rounded Flamborough Head. As we passed yet another wind farm, we made good speed with the tide towards Spurn Head. We decided to anchor for lunch and let the adverse tide pass by. We chose to anchor off Kilsea in a calm offshore breeze. At 1600 we weighed anchor and headed for the River Humber. As strong S-SE winds were forecast, we set a course for a southern anchorage across the river. Small boats have to follow a designated route when crossing the river. We needed to pass a pipe layer or dredger with a vessel standing by. Jeremy called on VHF channel 16 to ask which side we should pass. There was no reply. Then the vessel started blowing its hooter at us so we turned away. VTS Humber called us and told us there was a 500m exclusion zone that we had entered. We had been listening to the safety broadcasts on VHF14, but no mention had been made of this. We were informed that the anchorage we were heading towards was commercial only and we must anchor at Spurn Head. We turned round, retraced our course and anchored at Spurn Head at 1850 with two other yachts and a catamaran.

 

Woodbridge Haven

We were up at 0500 the following day to check the inshore forecast. There was a strong wind warning for force 6 southerlies. We went back to bed. After lunch, the new inshore forecast had no strong wind warning. It seemed we had a 24 hour window of opportunity. We weighed anchor at 1410, called VTS Humber for clearance and motored across the river in misty/hazy calm conditions. We identified wind farms in the mist. The light wind shifted northerly and we flew our genoa, but we needed to use the engine as well. The mist cleared before the sun set at 2005. The half moon set two hours later. Lights of all colours and descriptions flashed ahead and to each side. Fast ferries going up to 20 knots overtook us within a quarter of a mile. More wind farms showed their red lights and service catamarans zipped back and forth. We were on watch for two hours each throughout the night. I had to call Jeremy up a couple of times to help me identify various lights. One turned out to be a lighthouse on land!

 

Ready for lift out, Melton Boatyard

We decided not to stop at Lowestoft as we could make Woodbridge Haven in time for the afternoon tide. I was on watch at first light as we approached Lowestoft soon after low water. I saw the depth sounder drop to 4m from the expected 24m and again called Jeremy up. There were vessels of all types waiting to enter the harbour including a warship. Fishing vessels were going in and out of the harbour and the direction of buoyage had changed. We found our way across the shifting sandbanks and continued towards the River Deben, actually sailing under genoa alone for 90 minutes. All went well with the entry to the Deben even though there were many yachts and power boats. It was Friday afternoon of the August Bank Holiday weekend. By 1600 we were in the river passing the moorings at Felixstowe Ferry, where we saw "Kimochi", the Feeling yacht we had been with in the Caledonian Canal. We tied to Nick’s mooring, the same mooring we had used before we started out in 2016. Our second circumnavigation of the world ended where it had begun.

 

Hatchling on our satellite dish at home

The next day we moved upriver to Simon Skeet’s mooring nearer to Woodbridge. On Sunday, we left our dinghy at Everson’s pontoon and caught the train home. We had been away for seven months. The following Thursday, we motored up to Melton Boatyard. Simon lifted Sal Darago out of the water and power washed her bottom. Two days later, she was placed in the boatyard and we began the process of preparing her for winter.

So, where do we go from here? We’ll let you know when we decide to “travel hopefully” again.