south for Peterhead, 167 miles away. Sadly, this meant that On arriving from Peterhead, we could see a dozen rig
we could not call in at Fair Isle, but we did go outside it, support vessels anchored outside Aberdeen harbour and we
and so have still gone ‘outside everything’. were told that we couldn’t get in for another hour. We’d just
anchored behind the breakwater when we were told it was
our turn after all. So in we went, dwarfed by large vessels
BACK TO THE MAINLAND towering over us.
By midnight we had passed Fair Isle, silhouetted against the
There were just two other yachts in town. Our £20 charge
darkening sky. I tried to take a picture of it when the
for a short stay was certainly well over any other charges we
lighthouses at either end flashed simultaneously, but ten
had paid, but then, this is not a yacht harbour. John arrived
shots later I owned up to being beaten by the delay on the
back from Sheffield on schedule, and by 22:00, we were off
camera shutter.
again, leaving Scotland behind and heading down the North
Sea direct for Lowestoft.
PETERHEAD
Peterhead has a Port Control system in view of the large HEADING FOR HOME
number of oil rig support vessels coming and going.
The main impressions of the trip down the North Sea were:
Permission to enter was granted. We couldn’t raise the marina
westerly winds and flat seas, the water getting brown and
on the VHF but went in and there was a suitably large space,
silty, favourable tidal streams for nearly eighteen hours, lots
but now complete with Jim ready to take our lines.
of oil and gas rigs, wind farms and sand banks, a quick trip
to Lowestoft but no birds.
That night, as forecast, the big wind came and once again
we were in harbour, and now a day ahead of our schedule.
Then we had a slow uncomfortable trip down Channel
I thought we might hire a car and visit Speyside because
bashing against WSW wind and tide until at last the wind
one of our number is a confirmed Malt man and was denied
went south, the tide went west and we sped past the Isle of
any visits to the Scottish west coast distilleries as they were
Wight at 12 knots.
too far inside our ‘outside everything’ track.
The Commodore gave us a wonderful welcome back at the
We drove up to Fraserburgh with its fleet of enormous deep
Royal Southern, and suddenly it was all over and within a day
sea trawlers and visited the Northern Lighthouse Board’s
or so, just a memory as the day-to-day routine of life ashore
Museum, and then carried on to the Strathisla Distillery,
takes over. We had travelled 2,332 nautical miles on the log,
the home of Chivas Regal. At our next visit to GlenDronach
had some great experiences with the natural world and
distillery, John was also able to buy a limited edition of
especially the bird life, the comradeship at sea, fun times
Benriach’s ‘Maderensis Fumosus’ - one of the few peated
ashore, and the further north we sailed the better everything
Speyside whiskies. This made John a very happy man as he
was. We had wonderful weather in the Outer Hebrides and
flew back to Sheffield for his daughter’s graduation.
Shetland, and the joy of joining in with the island communities
as they made their own entertainment. We will surely go back.
ABERDEEN
So, thank you for reading the Scottish part of our trip Round
The pilot books say ‘no facilities for yachts’ about Aberdeen, Britain and Ireland, outside everything.
another big oil port. I had emailed the Harbour Master in advance
and got back a very nice reply, ‘Just turn up, call my colleagues on You should do it yourself some time, because if we can do
Ch 12 and they will look after you’, as indeed they did. it, so can you!
www.oystermarine.com 41
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80