Troon to Bangor 26 August 2022

 

Early morning rain sweeping along the Ayrshire coast

Up early and away from Troon marina at 06.30 for quite a long haul home to Bangor.  The sea is calm as forecast, and there is a bit of rain about, also as forecast. Although we started on the flybridge we had to retreat inside after about an hour.  This actually is the very first time since we got the boat that we have travelled in the saloon.  It feels a little strange, less connected to our surroundings.  I dare say we will get used to it.

Our inside helm with chart showing our position as we approach Ailsa Craig, with Ailsa Craig visible on the horizon 

The only excitement today was being the filling in a Lazaway sandwich, where the white bread slices were Stena ferries.  We could see the ferry from Cairnryan catching us from behind and the one from Belfast coming towards us - we were right down the middle. MarineTraffic showed it up rather well (as captured by Gordon):

The rest of the run home was uneventful, arriving Bangor just before 14.00, a rather damp dreich Bangor.

Bangor in the rain.  Home sweet home!

Our route:





















































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kinsale to Baltimore - what a day! 24 May 2023

Image
  Old Kinsale Head lighthouse  A very civilised start to the day.  We planned to leave our berth at 10.00 to make the most of tide, and because our destination, Baltimore, was only 4.5 hours away.  It was chilly on deck before we left, but rapidly improved once we started motoring. Leaving Kinsale by boat is dominated by Charles Fort - an impressive bit of military hardware first occupied in 1682 and now a visitor site managed by Heritage Ireland. Through the day we then passed a series of headlands, all of them wonderful to see, particularly this superb calm sunny day. Old Head of Kinsale where there is only access for the members (and their guests) of the Old Head Golf Club (where annual membership starts at €30,000pa!). Everybody else is not happy. Seven Heads - no lighthouse, but the remains of a watchtower.  Galley Head.  As we were passing the Mizen Head coastguard called us up on VHF radio (much to our surprise, and, initially, some consternation) to ask us to keep an eye out fo
Read more

Gola to Rathlin round the top 05 June 2023 updated at 19.10hrs

Image
  As we left Gola at 06.00 this morning  As we start the day, the weather could not be better.  Almost dead calm, sun coming up, no rain and cool but not cold.  Of course, what’s important on today’s trip is the sea state.  Rounding the west and north coasts of Donegal has always been one of our main challenges - it can be pretty rough up here.  However, as we start the day it couldn’t be calmer.  Fantastic.  The forecast is for the wind to pick up, but we hope we can get round Malin Head before it does. In the meantime, we’ve just passed Bloody Foreland on our right with Errigal just a bit inland, and we have Tory Island on our left.  We’re also passing a wee group of islands: (another) Inishbofin, Inishdooey and Inish Beg. Wonderful. Tory Island looking very close  08.00 Horn Head on our right looking splendid in the morning sun, with Dunfanaghy tucked in behind it.  Lots of Puffins. It’s got a bit colder (I suppose we are in the north now) with a gentle easterly breeze and a swell f
Read more

Gigha to Bangor the big leap 14 August 2023

Image
  Watching the 6am sunrise at Gigha Early start this morning to catch the tide.  We left Gigha pontoon at 06.00 with only the slightest of southerly wind, and no rain - all the rain had been used up while we sat outside having dinner yesterday evening. What a wonderful meal. Our progress south encountered an interesting array of sea states - all of them benign.  As we got close to Machrihanish we picked up an Atlantic swell that became quite lumpy, not rough but still the boat moved about quite a bit. Kintyre peninsula from the Machrihanish end. Beautiful morning.  Then as we reached the bottom end of Kintyre we encountered an area of quite rough choppy water - tide induced. This was soon followed by the rest of the Irish Sea which was dead calm, glassy calm for a lot of it. At the north end of the North Channel there was a 10 mile stretch that was thronging with seabirds in all directions.  Guillemots, Razorbills, Gannets, Kittiwakes and Storm Petrels, totalling thousands of birds. Gl
Read more