We had an enjoyable 4 days in Ballycastle. The wind and weather turned bad as forecast. M&N helped sort out the boat next door which was tied up badly and banging against the dock. Also helping was a nice 16 year old Scottish lad called Paul. He and his father Jim were sailing an old sailboat they had just bought and heading around the Mull of Kintyre the next morning to Campbeltown. They came on board for a drink and chat. Next morning they left in quite big seas and strong winds. They were back later. They were heading across to the Mull of Kintyre and their rudder fell off! They were towed back into Ballycastle by the RNLI lifeboat. A horrible experience for them.
M&N took advantage of a good bus service along the Antrim coast and headed off early to the Giants Causeway (see photo). They had been there 2 years ago but on a tour bus and it was really busy. Going by themselves and early there were only a few people there and it was much more atmospheric. They had a walk along the cliff path with great views over the causeway. They caught a bus to Portrush. Some lovely beaches and a pretty harbour but the town was a bit down at heel. The weather was very windy and the rain came. M&N took refuge in the Harbour Inn for their first Guinness for this trip to Ireland before catching the bus back to Ballycastle.
There was a forecast weather window for the next stage of the journey south down the coast. M&N decided to go straight to Bangor, about 45 miles. Of course the wind was much stronger than forecast and close to the nose. It was a tough and windy trip for the first half, with well-reefed sails and bumpy seas with the North Channel living up to its reputation. We were able to ride the strong tides in Rathlin Sound then down the North Channel. After going past an open bay the seas died down a bit in the shelter of the land, and it was much more comfortable. The wind moved further onto the nose so we motor sailed the rest of the way. We had been followed out of Ballycastle by a French yacht and they arrived at Bangor 5 minutes after us. We had also been followed by the Dutch tall ship which arrived later. It was nice to be tied up in Bangor being watched by the colony of black guillemots with their comical walks.
The weather forecast for the next several days was for Strong winds on the nose, High rainfall, Intense gusts, Torrential downpours and Excessive bad weather. In other words SHITE. M&N came up with a plan to make use of the enforced down time. Their car was still in the open car park in Ardrossan after driving up there from Dartmouth. It had to be picked up and taken the 500 miles home at some time and they were a little concerned anyway with leaving it for too long, so they decided to go and get it and take it home. They took a cheap flight from Belfast to Glasgow, train to Ardrossan and picked up the car which was still there and surprisingly not covered in guano (must have been all the rain keeping it clean!). They drove 150 miles south and stayed in a guest house in Pooley Bridge on Ullswater in the Lake District. It is only 10 minutes off the motorway and much nicer than a motel at a service station. Next morning they stopped off in Stretton for a coffee with Helen, Garry and Jack then spent a nice few hours with M’s Dad in Gloucester before driving south to Dartmouth.
M&N are in Dartmouth for a very short time and flying from Exeter back to Belfast on Saturday to rejoin me at Bangor. At the moment there is a weather window forecast for next week for heading south to Ardglass then the long leg down the coast to Dublin. Things may change with the weather forecast, but we will see.
Meanwhile, I will continue chatting to the other boats and the black guillemots and look forward to M&N coming back and resuming our journey south.
While I think of it, we have reached a milestone as M&N have now spent more than a year of nights on board. Hopefully there will be many more.
Bye for now.
Katrina
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