Lossiemouth to Chatham - Day 4. Holy Island to ............

I'm on anchor watch 0330 to 0430, got my sketching gear out ready for the dawn, hopefully the mist will clear. Sketched the castle in silhouette as the mist began to clear. A curious young seal came to investigate and play around the boat for a while. I did 4 sketches by 0530 when I went back to bed for an hour or so. When I awoke at 0730 the mist had closed in again.

Lindisfarne silhouette.

The Breakwater.

Offshore island.

We got the dinghy out and inflated and were off the boat by 0900. Mist clearing fast getting hot and sunny. I sketched around the bay area with the sheds out of upturned old boat hulls and the famous castle.

I got 4 sketches done before needing to return to the boat. Lindisfarne (Holy Island) is one of my favourite sketching spots.

Upturned boat shed and the Castle.

The Castle from the approach road.

The Castle from the Staithe.

Tonic and Catzero at anchor.

Left Holy Island in full sun at 1400, we were back in thick mist within 10 minutes. Still no wing so motoring again, in the general direction of Hartlepool.

We couldn't see Bamburgh Castle or the Farnese Islands due to the fog, we were in our our own little cocoon with 100m visibility again. As we pressed on the visibility improved and the sun came out so it became a very nice afternoon but that was about to change.

At 1700 we heard strange squeaks coming from somewhere near the engine, soon traced to a leak at the rear of the water pump so it needed fixing quickly, we decided to head for Amble for repairs. We are getting there close to low water so getting in may be an issue...........it was we've ran aground in the harbour mouth....

Either Reeds Almanac differs a fair bit from the local conditions or we miscalculated, anyway we are stuck fast. We had to wait for two hours before getting off and trying again. We finally got tied up in the Marina at 0200. Many thanks to Coquet Yacht Club who stayed on to welcome us with food and a beer..much appreciated.