A lumpy ride to Amble

We said goodbye to the arctic terns in Newcastle and left Royal Quays marina at 0920 this morning. We knew that the wind would be from the north (i.e. directly from where we wanted to go), that the tide would be against us for the afternoon, and that one of the forecasts had predicted 'moderate' seas, i.e. waves up to 2.5m high (but another, the one we decided to believe, predicted waves only half a meter high). We decided we were man enough to deal with a bit of lumpy stuff anyway, should the need arise.

As we edged our way out of Newcastle harbour the tide was indeed in our favour initially. The waves soon grew to 2m, then 3m and eventually 4m with the odd 5m wave thrown in for good measure. We went up hill, down hill and turned this way and that. Eventually we worked our way past Blythe (an alternative port) at which point the sea seemed to be calming down, so we pressed on. So did the sea, and we dealt with 4m and 5m waves for most of the rest of the trip. We  finally rounded Coquet island off Amble so as to approach from the north east, as recommended by the almanac. We could see waves breaking on and over the harbour wall, and other waves surging through the narrow entrance into the harbour. The approach looked a bit dodgy so Roger radioed the harbour master for advice while I turned the boat around so as not to enter until we had some advice. The harbour master did not reply, but the marina office advised that entry should be OK under today's conditions. So we went for it, and absolutely surfed down the waves into the harbour with an audience of onlookers standing along the harbour wall! (Personally I think we deserved a standing ovation, but strangely it didn't happen). After today's journey we decided that we definitely do not want to deal with any more lumpy stuff!

Once tied up in the marina Roger did a fridge audit (the fridge smelled of.....something....). The audit revealed that we had an excess of cheese on board, and we made a cheese offering to the marina manager (about half a dozen packs of different cheeses, all with good dates) along with a request for a special 'charity' berthing rate. The marina staff thought we were completely nuts turning up and dumping all the cheese on the counter.

After today we decided that we needed a rest, and plan to walk along the river to explore tomorrow. Much flatter seas are forecast for Saturday!

Arctic terns gather on the pontoon at Newcastle

View from the marina at Amble

Amble high street

Dining on Blue Star :-)

A look back at the harbour entrance in more benign conditions