China Girl, UK Circumnavigation - Year 5

Here we are hanging off a buoy in Clare Island harbour where we have been since Sunday. We set off from Sligo for Killala. Half way there a small craft warning from the Irish Coastguard comes over the VHF. Strong NE winds are forecast. Killala harbour is not suitable in NE winds. Bummer. We have no passage plan for anywhere else. (That won't happen again). Next port of call after Killala was to be Broadhaven, so we went straight there. Turned a 30 mile day into a sixty mile day, but that's cruising for your you. we had left early and had plenty of daylight left. In the end we arrived by about 1930 so plenty of daylight left; don't you just love June. After a couple of nights in Broadhaven to recover, around Erris Head to Blacksod village in Blacksod Bay. Although one of the major heads in Ireland, Erris is a pussycat as far as tidal streams, overfalls and all those things that make sailing difficult are concerned. There's no facilities in Broadhaven and little more in Blacksod. This is the real off the beaten track part of the circumnavigation.

What's come to light (no pun intended) is that we can't keep our batteries charged and sail as much as we want to, we need to motor; bad news. So now we are in discussions with a chap in Kilrush about getting a wind generator fitted.

So, back to the tale of Clare Island. The main place to visit is the old monastary. It's only about a 50 minute walk (we can't get our bikes ashore in the dinghy). When you get there it's locked shut, despite being an essentially derelict ruin. Ho hum. However, the views across the bay on the way there make it well worthwhile.

Now, why the title to this blog? Those dedicated readers with a working memory will remember the tale of the submerged outboard motor on Lundy. It's happened again!! The only downside to the harbour here is that the ferries don't care too much about hope much wash the kick up as they move in and out. We had the dinghy secured to off the back of the boat fore and aft. The ferry wash lifted the stern of the yacht, trapped the dinghy underneath and flipped it over. The motor was only submerged for seconds but it still took us two hours to dry it out and get it going. It got us ashore, where I'm writing this using the community centre wifi. It remains to be seen if it will start to get us back. It could be a long paddle.

The photo is an attempt to capture the amazing view from Clare Island across Clew Bay using the 'panorama' setting on the phone. it doesn't really work, the road is actually straight; I have a brilliant video but I can't find a way to upload videos to this blog.