After leaving Berwick-upon-Tweed, we had planned to go a little further South, but the weather had other plans. As soon as we left the harbor it started raining quite heavily, sailing in the rain isn't too much fun, so we decided just to head back to Eyemouth.
As we didn't go South as planned, we got back a bit early and had to hang around for a bit to wait for the tide to rise enough for us to enter the harbor. We anchored in a nearby bay and the crew was permitted on deck to have a look at our temporary surroundings...
Later on, after the tide had risen a bit, we entered the harbor without any problems and got on the pontoon before it got dark.
On our mini-sea-trial we uncovered a few things that I had either forgotten about or just not bothered to do....all small things like greasing the sail-slugs, so the mainsail doesn't jam on the way up or down - a sail jamming in the wrong conditions can be a real problem...forgetting to plug the Main VHF radio back in was another tiny thing that was hilariously overlooked. (We have a small hand-held VHF which we use when topside, sailing solo I'm rarely at the Nav Station where the main radio is.)
But overall, nothing major was discovered and everything worked pretty much as it should, you never know what to expect after a long winter - something is almost always broken or about to break - and keeping track of the condition of everything you rely on can be a bit overwhelming at times, and it can be too easy to overlook something.
The Crew also performed well, not have been out on the sea for a while I had expected some form of a complaint from at least one of them, but both are salty sea-cats now....lol
We're going to stay in Eyemouth for a few days, repair what needs repairing, and I think we're off again - But Where to you might ask?
Well, we're not exactly sure, planning to go North for a few days which should take us right up to the top of Scotland, with a few interesting sights along the way...we're still deciding the exact route and selecting anchorages...As a rule, we try and stay away from Marinas as they just cost too much money and Covid-19 has killed this year's budget, so we're just gonna have to go 'Full-Pirate' and do our best to live 'on the hook'.
Once we get up to North of Scotland we will have to assess the situation and see where we go from there - 'go as far as you can see and when you get there, you'll know how to go further' - you never know what's going to happen, or what opportunities that may spring up along the way, I mean, you can try and make a rough plan but too much of a plan, I feel, is doomed...and you just can't plan for everything!
You can only do the best you can, and whatever happens.....just happens.
At this point, we're just waiting for a nice day to leave here... Our next blog post will see us in a new place!