Water in the bilges?

Sorry for the shortage of posts just lately. I have been either too lazy, too tired or have had no internet. This leaves me so much to catch up on so here goes, starting at Arbroath. We stayed here for a few days as it is a pleasant little town with good rail links to Dundee and Aberdeen. We visited the ship RSS Discovery that Scott of the Antartic expedition sailed in, explored Montrose but were also becoming concerned about a small but not insignificant ingress of water into our bilges. We decided to ask for a professional opinion and were lucky to find it in the Mackay Boat Building Yard in Arbroath. They shared our concern and arranged for us to be slipped on the town slipway and the leak to be investigated. They did this by filling the bilge with water and watching to see where it came out. It turned out that the seal between the stern tube and the hull had failed allowing water into the bilges. They had the rudder off, stern tube out and sorted in fairly short order and we were back in the water after only three days. The job was made difficult as the hot water tank had to be moved to access the tube. Well a very good job done by Duncan and his team who were brilliant. Thanks loads guy's.

26th July we left Arbroath and arrived in Stonehaven five hours later. The shore line is made up of beautiful cliffs and the sea full of Lobster Pot markers as we slalomed our way through. Our joy at being mobile again soon vanished however as our prop shaft came out of its retaining bracket. Oh dear, Chris quickly got a local fisherman to tow us up onto the beach within the harbour and we contacted Duncan for help. Duncan was on scene the next morning and soon had the problem sorted. The retaining bracket was tightened and a further pair of bolts put in to stop it happening again. We saw two pods of Dolphins close inshore whil'st we were there.

30th July we set off for Peterhead which took 5 hour again. On the way we saw more Dolphins sometimes really close up alongside ZIGZU. Peterhead Marina is pleasant and modern but sadly a long way from town. Ok as an overnight stop and reasonably priced.

31st July We set off for Whitehills around the notorious Rattry Head. We gave it a wide berth going 3 miles off shore to avoid the overfalls. The swell was really amazing lifting us up 20 to 30 ft into the air and then down again. The swell stayed with us until we approached Whitehills. Whitehills is a lovely small harbour with a small crew room, laundry, showers and toilets. All these are immaculately cared for by Bertie the Harbourmaster. Thanks Bertie, you have some of the best facilities on the east coast. Equal only to Wells next the sea. Whitehills also has an excellent Fish and Chips cafe called the Rock and a brilliant pub called the Seafield Hotel.

3rd August. The wind dies down a little and we are able to set out for Lossiemouth a four hour journey away. Lossiemouth is a pretty little harbour and has a large village green sort of town square. It is very noisy with jets flying overhead, practise landing and taking off. I forgot to hand in the key. Very red faced message left on the harbourmasters telephone promising to return it on our way back.

4th August. We arrive at Inverness Marina having seen more Dolphins on the way and outside the entrance to the Marina. The Marina again is very new but also very bleak surrounded by open reclaimed land and an industrial park. We went into Inverness by taxi, found a nice Italian restaurant and indulged as a sort of celebration at reaching the canal.

5th August. Entered the canal at Clachnaharry Sea Lock approx 0800h. The lock is reall well organised and staff were there ready to take our lines. We were soon through the second Clachnaharry Works lock into Muir Town Basin and tied up in Seaport Marina. The Coop Supermarket is close by so we stocked up and prepared to set off up the canal in the morning enjoying a relaxed day on the boat.

6th August. We negotiate the four locks at Muir Town followed by a further lock at Dochgarroch and swing bridge at Tomnahurich. We then entered Loch Ness and Wow, its big and its surrounded by mountains. It took 3 hours from one end to the other at Fort Augustus. Fort Augustus is very pretty with its flight of six locks. We stayed here two days deciding we didn't see the point in going up the six locks and having to come down again the next day. It was time to turn round and head for home.

8th August we head back to Seaport Marina at Inverness refueling and staying overnight before getting back into the Moray Firth on the 9th and making our way back to Lossiemouth. I missed my brother Mark all that day and couldn't get him out of my thoughts. I miss him very much, especially at that point as it was the last thing we had planned to do together. Sail the Caledonian canal. Got rivers in my eyes. God bless you.

10th August we arrive in a very wet Whitehills. The weather is set to change so we decide to stay in Whitehills until it blows over. Today is the 11th and boy has it rained so have got the blog up to date...... Yipppeeeee