Lunar Sea around GB

Days 28/29/30 Day 28 - We spent a day recovering but I felt I needed some exercise so I did a 2 1/2 hour walk to the Summit of Howth. The first bit was a steep cliff path with a sheer drop on one side... I didn't look! However the climb was repaid by the spectacular view over Dublin Bay. We also visited the amazingly geeky but very interesting Hurdy Gurdy Radio Museum housed in the Martello Tower! The guide was as eccentric as the content, which was an amazing collection of radios, radio equipment and other miscellany. They also run a Ham Radio station from there in morse code. Sunset from the boat. Yesterday, the 29th June, we decided to catch the bus into Dublin, a half hour's journey along the coast. We had a seat on the top deck right at the front so were able to view the scenery. When we alighted from the bus in Talbot Street it was obvious there was something going on as there were a lot of people in rainbow colours...yes it was Gay Pride march day. There we...

Days 26 & 27. Day 26 We left Carlingford at 0850 on 26 th June to catch the tide which runs at about 5 knots, so it gave us a helping hand out of the Lough. That was fine but then it was very uncomfortable and lumpy outside, where the tide from the Lough meets the Irish Sea. Josh was his usual encouraging self, “It will be alright once we clear these overfalls at the entrance, it’s just choppy here.” Famous last words because it remained very uncomfortable and as usual the wind was a bit more than the predicted 15 knots. It was supposed to die down but didn’t so for the whole 7 ½ hours we had a horrible sea and the boat was rocking violently from side to side like a manic metronome. Josh was OK with it but even he admitted it was not very nice. I stayed below the whole trip except for the first and last half an hour. I couldn’t put the kettle on at all …a tragedy as far as I am concerned because I can face anything with a cup of tea in my hand…. everything was rocking from...

Josh putting up the Irish courtesy flag Day 24/25 We arrived in Ireland yesterday after a rather unpleasant six hour trip. It was, what I would describe as, a "Rock and Roll" journey, which in context means I wasn't able to put the kettle on for the first three hours! We had an early start just after 7 a.m. so arrived just after 1 p.m. After a sleep (we were both tired) we went up to the marina bar for a Guinness and a G&T. A very welcome Irish Gin & Tonic  We are now in Carlingford Lough, a very picturesque setting with the Mourne Mountains on the North bank, which is in NI, and the Mountains of Slieve Foye on the South, which is in Ireland. The village of Carlingford is a 15 minute walk from the marina and is a very quaint medieval town awash with tourists of all nationalities. Our marina has good modern facilities, a very nice bar and probably one of the best Indian restaurants we have ever eaten in. We sampled it last night as we were too tired to ...

Suzy the Sailor Cat. Day 21- We arrived in Ardglass yesterday (21 June mid-summer day) after a short one and a half hour's pleasant sail from Portaferry. We were sad to leave as it is a lovely little town with lots going on and always the option to jump on the ferry for the short crossing to Strangford. We said goodbye in style by visiting the sailing club on Friday night, where there was an Irish band playing. It started with four players and by the time we left there were nine, with a variety of instruments from guitars to banjos, several fiddles, a flute, a recorder and a strange looking bagpipe! Ferry Street, Portaferry, with the "smallest pub" and Lunar Sea in background (with the dark blue hull). We went whooshing (correct spelling Ali!) out on the tide once again and later were told that there is only about half an hour of slack, 15 minutes either side of high or low water (or flood and ebb as they confusingly call it here.) As the sailors we have met in ...

Day 20 - Since arriving in Belfast, our first stop in Northern Ireland, we have come to realise that Game of Thrones is a big thing over here. A lot of the filming was done on location all over Northern Ireland and in the Titanic Studios in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast. It has made a huge contribution to the much needed tourist industry here. The tour guide on our hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus in Belfast was the first  to mention this. She grew up in the Troubles and said how important it was now that tourists come to NI. She was quite emotional when she told us of friends at Uni who had been "lifted" and were never seen again and of the bomb scares and checks which were an everyday occurrence. To see tourists back in NI meant to her that the Troubles were now over. The GoT tourist industry has also helped enormously. We followed the "Glass of Thrones" trail in Belfast which has six stained glass windows each representing scenes from series eight. Glass win...

Day 19 - we decided to stay put for another day and take the short ferry crossing to Strangford, which is Old Norse or Viking for strong fjord on account of the fierce tide which we experienced yesterday. Strangford Strangford old quay It is only small, pop 475, but very picturesque as you can see from the pictures. It has a strong Game of Thrones connection, as do a lot of places in Northern Island, as we have discovered. I will do a Game of Thrones blog soon as there is lots to tell. It was a pleasant morning and we had coffee in a local pub, the Cuan, in the centre of this conservation village. They were expecting a coachload of GoT visitors and the landlady said that the wolves would be arriving across the square at 12.45 so we decided to go for a stroll and come back. Eventually the wolves did turn up, a bit later than scheduled but we have come to realise they work on Irish time here, in other words an approximation. The wolf handlers had lots to tell us about GoT and ...

The Pretty Marina at Portaferry Day 18 - (18th June) Here we are, this evening, sitting on deck in the sunshine with a glorious blue sky and a gentle breeze. We arrived in the pretty little village of Portaferry, on the Ards Peninsula, which sits at the mouth of Strangford Lough. There is a little ferry that runs across the "Narrows" to Strangford on the other side of the lough. Portaferry Quay What we hadn't realised when we got here (and no mention of it in the Almanac) is the strength of the tide. It was racing in at 6 knots. We did have good tide with us all the way and averaged 6 knots which is very good for us. When we got in the entrance we were doing over 11 knots! To understand this better, imagine you average 50 to 60 mph in your car and you suddenly find yourself doing 120 m.p.h. Those of you reading this who know the Run in Mudeford, it was like that but times three. There were all sorts or eddies and whirlpools to negotiate. It was very hairy gettin...

Lovely Bangor Marina Day 17 - started with lovely sunny weather but as the morning went on we had very heavy showers. It wasn't so bad because in between the showers we had quite warm sunshine but the showers were pretty fierce in between. Lampposts decorated with sails in the Main Street. Ali got the train to Belfast to do some sightseeing and we stayed around Bangor. It is a lovely little place,very smart and well looked after in every respect. The high street lamp posts have been decorated with sails and there are benches in a sail shape. Ali had taken a walk around town yesterday evening and he had said that there are even wave patterns of coloured lights in the pavement at night. However respectable it is now it has had a rather colourful past , as this blue plaque on one of the local pubs illustrates. I checked out the local swimming pool in the afternoon and was very impressed. It is new and has two pools which are sectioned off but these sections can be rem...

Day 16...Ali B our friend from Broadstairs Sailing Club joined us yesterday and seems to be enjoying being on board. He has also brought us some good weather, as we woke to a bit of blue sky and intermittent sunshine. We set off from Belfast Marina at 11.30 on high tide to undertake the 12 mile trip to Bangor, along the coast from Belfast. The sun remained out as we sailed down Belfast Lough and it made it pleasant to be on deck and have a good look around. Life on Lunar Sea - always something to laugh about! We did get radio-ed up by Belfast Harbour to a rather gruff "Strike your sails Lunar Sea" because weren't supposed to have sail up until we got out of the harbour channel past no 12 buoy and into the Lough. Oops! There were two cruise ships in and Ali was tempted to jump ship at that point and travel in style! However, he didn't, and things got even better as we managed to cut the engine and actually sail for about half the trip which was very pleasant. ...