Hartlepool to North Shields to Eyemouth

Hi all. Sorry about the big hole in the blogging. have forund a wifi here in Whitehills. The following has been written on the computer as we go awaiting a connection so the cronology might be a bit wierd as is the formatting.
Thanks and huge love to Sal for putting up the insert below and for putting up with me and leaving her to the pregnancy and the builders whilst I bugger off and play intepid explorer!

Days 17/18. 17th and 18th July 2007This is being written from our alongside berth in Eyemouth harbour, our first
stop in Scotland. In two days we've gone from "Why eye bonny pet" to "See you, ya
barm pot" unless you count the Welshman we met in the pub.We had a lovely evening aboard in North Shields. A great sunset, balmy
temperatures, a few cans and a sheperds pie from Chez Caskey. I think I might
have already mentioned this but I have no reference to what I wrote as I'm not on
line now. As a result of the convivial atmosphere aboard it was a late turn in
and a late departure down the Tyne at 1220 the next morning en-route to Amble.
Another calm day, so we motored most of the way, with the odd moment when the
wind allowed us to un-furl the genoa (foresail) and gain a bit of extra speed.
Along the way I decided to have a quick nap and of course while I wasn't on deck
there was the shout of "whale" from Rick who was on the helm. By the time I got
there the sea was empty and I had been the only one not to see the whale breach
and dive again. However there was lots of wildlife to see - puffins (boring now),
many seabirds which still can't be identified, plummeting into the sea to catch
their prey, the odd seal, and best of all, about 300m away a couple of dolphins
leaping for joy out of the water. They were going straight up and clearing the
surface by their own body length before gracefully flipping over and diving back
head first. An amazing sight and such a shame it was so far away.Amble was quite pretty but otherwise un remarkable. A visit to a couple of pubs
and then some tuna and pasta moosh from the kitchen of Chez Steve back on board.
Another still evening aboard, with a couple of drinks and lots of giggling in the
cockpit as the sun went down. It's remarkable how light it remains to a very late
hour up here compared with home "darn sarf". Rachel was awake at 0300 and says it
was a bit light even then. We still have a couple of hundred miles to go
Northwards so perhaps we'll get to see 24 hour daylight.Another early start out of Amble to get the fair tide up to Eyemouth. A wise
decision as we had a fairly ripping tide going our way as we passed the Farne
Islands and Lindisfarne on the coast of Northumberland, under full sail and a
close reach in 15kn of wind. The only thing lacking from this otherwise fantastic
sail (the best so far) was the sun and about 15 degrees of temperature. It was
freezing and overcast. We were all wearing full waterproofs, gloves, hats and
scarves. July - shmuly. As a result of the good wind and tide we arrived in
Eyemouth just after lunch, shortly after low tide. So with heart in mouth I
decided to go for the harbour entrance and the shallow bar there anyway, having
calclated that there was in fact enough water. I never thought that all those
exam questions I did for my Yachtmaster would actually come in useful one day.
Thanks Shawn!Eyemouth is a real live working fishing harbour with a proper fishing fleet.
Fishing boats everywhere - from little single handers to big deep-sea boats and
as I started this they all left the harbour as one on the top of the tide as did
the smell. We've just returned from a look around the town where we've managed to
clock up another 3 pubs. I should explain that at the end of Mike Fellows'
account of his trip around the block last year he gave some statistics including
the number of pubs visited. Pete and I have selflessly taken it upon ourselves to
better this total. Unfortunately to date we are sadly lacking. But (I'll get my
excuses in early) Mike had 3 months of hanging around pubs to get his total
whilst some of us have some hard sailing to do and an itinerary to keep to!
However, Mike - you might be a bonny lad but you're a shandy swilling northern
****** and we reckon we can double your score!! So 756.8 miles down, 1050 odd to go but we've passed the "third of the way
round" point, which, I think, requires a trip to a pub!Hope you all heard our mention on BBC Radio Cornwall this morning. What do you
mean, it's for old gits? Never! I'm going to try to get a couple of mentions a
week. Don't touch that dial.Pete says - Duncan get in touch and leave your e-mail address.