Talora Chasing Tides
| Vessel Name: | Talora |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Sadler 29 Deluxe! |
| Hailing Port: | Shotley Marina England |
| Crew: | Ray and Mary Nash |
01 September 2017
Home and Together again
It's been a long three months and we missed the dogs dreadfully. Robyn, Ethan and Josh, between them, did a marvellous job of looking after the house and dogs which meant we did not need to worry about them......thanks guys!
31 August 2017 | Shotley, Ipswich
Coming home
We were so excited to get into the lock at Shotley, our home port. Our adventure almost over. This photo was taken by Dad.
30 August 2017 | Shotley
Leg 38 Ramsgate to Shotley, finally home!
So, at 1430 yesterday afternoon we make it into the lock at Shotley to a very noisy reception as the lock keeper let off the siren to signal our arrival, fantastic! My Mum and Dad surprised us by being at the lock to greet us, perfect, as did Brian, our Day Skipper Instructor, and his wife Ann. I had [...]
28 August 2017 | Ramsgate
Leg 37 Eastbourne to Dover which turned out to be Ramsgate!
Sunday 27th August and yet another glorious day. Steve and Hailey had left at 6am to go south back to Cowes. We left the berth at 7.30am to enter the Eastbourne lock at 8am. It was busy. We were in the lock with 9 other boat!
28 August 2017 | Eastbourne
Leg 36 Brighton to Eastbourne
Got up early leaving the boys in bed to nip to the supermarket to stock up on provisions. After a bacon butty breakfast, we said goodbye to Josh at the bus stop; he was heading back to Norwich on the train. We would have loved to have him with us for longer but we're grateful he had made the effort [...]
28 August 2017 | Brighton Marina
Leg 35 Portsmouth to Brighton
We woke up at 5.30am to the most beautiful sunshine over Portsmouth. It was going to be a lovely day. With Josh on board, it was lovely to have his company and with a very slight sea it was the perfect trip. Before we left the harbour we took one last trip past the Queen Elizabeth. Leaving the harbour, [...]
Leg 11 Caledonian Canal to Oban
Being the smallest boat of the 5, we were the last boat to enter each lock. After 2 hours we reached the bottom of the flight and the lock gates opened. In addition to the lock gates, a swing bridge also had to be opened to allow us through but this jammed and we were all stuck in the lock for an hour while they fixed the problem. During that time we shouting greetings to the other boats to find out where they had come from and were going too which included a Swedish boat heading for Portugal, 2 French boats and Trevor and Joan on Challenge. As we patiently waited, the water in the lock behind us started to overflow into our lock which initially was spectacular but suddenly the force of the water seemingly picked up Talora and rammed her bow forward and across into the wall of the lock. Ray struggled to keep control of the stern to stop her from hitting the Swedish boat beside us. Both the Swedish and French boats throw is lines to try to stabilise us again the flow of the water. Eventually, the lock keepers, who had left the lock unattended to help with the swing bridge, heard our crys and ran back to let the water flow through the sluice gates below in a more controlled fashion. Ray had rope burns to part of his hands and, needless to say, we were very glad to get out of that lock!
After exiting the final sea lock, we were very happy to be at sea again and had a fantastic 27 mile sail to Oban, arriving at 2010. Navigating our way through Loch Linnhe with depth readings of 100 metres, and around Shuna Island and Appin Rocks, the sun shone on the evening and it was beautiful.
Arriving in Oban, we had an emotional reunion with Jim from Goldfinch who, although we had kept in contact by phone, we had not seen since our problems in Amble over 3 weeks ago.
After a fish and chip supper, we headed back to Talora and at 11pm the evening was perfectly still and relatively light. We went to bed very happy and excited about the next few days but very tired.
Photo is us sailing towards Appin Rocks
