At last! The weather released its grip and I was off.

Of course, before setting out I wanted to fill up with diesel, so had to endure both casting off from a marina berth and then mooring again on the fuel berth. All went smoothly in quite confined space, to my relief, and off I went.

I hoisted the mainsail as soon as I was outside the marina, but at first, the promised north westerly was non-existent, so I motor sailed along the south shore of Belfast Lough to Donaghadee Sound - which cuts the corner just inside the small Copeland Island. Here I had enough wind to sail, so cut the engine and set the headsail as well. The tide runs through here quite strongly - I got 4kts at the narrowest point - so I was glad to have timed it correctly! At the crucial moment, where the tide tries to set you out of the channel, the wind failed, so back on with the motor for another 20minutes or so.

For the rest of the day, as the visibility reduced the wind increased and I had a great sail - but in ever damper and colder conditions. The local word is "dreich" which I first learned in Aberdeen - it refers to grey, damp misty clammy weather.

As it increased in strength, the wind also backed until I was close hauled, and being forced further offshore. I then tacked and for one judged the moment pretty well and had Ardglass on the nose for the final tack.

As I came into the bay, I dropped sails and began to rig mooring lines. I suddenly realised I was much closer in than I'd realised in the gloom, and had to head back out to sea to give me time to get ready to moor without running up on the beach. At moments like that I wish I had a crew!

The entrance is quite tight, but I got in no problem and found a berth straight ahead of me, so in I went. In the shelter of the harbour, mooring was easy. I got a friendly welcome from the elderly harbour master in the excellent facilities.

After a walk around town - several generations of harbour improvements to be seen - I had supper in an excellent Chinese restaurant. All in all, Ardglass was a place well worth visiting again - I'm sure its charms would benefit from good weather.

Log of this passage