A Trip to the Far East

Clearly we are not talking hot and sandy kind of Far East. More the “A ken a ken im, but a da Ken far a ken im fra” Far East.  But before we forget about the west totally, we found a few pics that we took with Jenny’s camera that we thought sums up one of the things we both love in the west coast.  The beautiful evenings (before Midge season)

 

 

Pace of Life

We finished our last post half way up the canal.  I have to say it was a beautiful trip.  Very slow pace of life.  No point in being in a hurry, the canal has its own pace and own way of doing things and you can either go with the flow or push on in an attempt to move quicker, but fail and get exasperated.  We had a couple of road bridges fail on us that if we had been pushing things would have cost us a day.  The locks close “around 5 ish” and depending on the time of day, train times, traffic and other mysterious influences the bridges may open when you arrive or may not.

Nessie Hunt

So with Sonar on and binoculars at the ready we set off up the loch. Well you have to don’t you! (20 kts on the nose so no sailing)

I have to confess, probably one of the few disappointments of the trip for us. No we don’t mean no Nessie, more the loch itself.  There is nothing. Yes it is beautiful, but it is the same beauty all of the way up.  As one of the locals said “yep its boring . One castle and that’s your lot”.  Yes there is lots of history and lots of facts, but in terms of interesting things to look at ………..  I feel a bit sorry for the people who come and hire pleasure cruisers to see the loch. I suspect that the children are setting fire to each other after 2 days for some entertainment.  I am sure I am doing it a great disservice, but we did it on a nice day and that was our impression. Maybe it is more interesting in heavy rain. Maybe it would have been more interesting if there were more places you can tie up to go ashore and have an explore but there is really only Urquhart Castle unless you find someone to ask permission from but we didn’t know who or where.

Interesting People

Not sure if we have mentioned it before (apologies if we have, but I cannot be bothered re reading to check), but one of the best things about this trip has been the people we have met.  There is a bit of me that would like to have taken a photo of everyone and then write a para or two on them. They are all just so interesting. Everyone from the Lockkeepers to the Fishermen, the people who run the Marinas, the other Sailors…..  It makes you realise what a big world it is out there. Sorry of that all sound a bit puke making , but I am fascinated by it (yes I am an embarrassment to Jenny when I corner some poor stranger and try and extract their life story). I gave up being embarrassed by him decades ago, I just monitor the conversations to make sure they don’t think he’s some mad stalker extracting information for his own nefarious purposes!

I came across this one evening ( this was taken the next day).  I had heard it come in and when I wandered round with my Spanish inquisition mind on, there were a couple of blokes standing on the stern. After my usual pre amble I get the invite on board.  Fascinating wee boat.  I was convinced it was a restoration project. Nope – brand new and been in the water for 2 days.  The guy who owned it works on the steam railway in Aviemore.  He had always loved old boats so he had the basic boat built (the rivets are false) then he did all the wood work and fitted the engine ( a 2 cylinder lister – Fred , Joe  you will remember these).  He had a coal burning stove in it.  The interior was done as it would have been done 100 years ago.  Even down the types of blanket on the small bunk.  All the controls were obtained through his connection with the steam railway.

Exiting the Canal

Inverness to Peterhead

Lossiemouth – famed for RAF these days but once a thriving herring port. In 1685 the first new jetty was commissioned from a German Engineer and after some early setbacks was completed in 1764.  So let that be a lesson to those who complained about late delivery.  This was a German (so no messing about)! only “Early Setbacks” (so not like a significant issue) and nearly 80 years !!!  So no more comments please John, Anne Marie and Andreana !!!!!!.  The current harbour was constructed in the mid 1800s for a very large herring fleet .  The picture below is of just one of the 2 basin’s and these were both packed with herring boats .  By 1970 the fishing was in steep decline and in 1991 the harbour company decided to put in a marina.  Now there are a couple of lobster pot boats and that is it.

It has potential to be a brilliant place , but I get the feeling that with the RAF there, they don’t put the effort in to attracting people.  The pub on the dock that you go to to collect the welcome pack fell silent when we walked in.   Once the tumble weed had cleared there was not a chorus of welcomes……..  It has a beautiful beach and I am sure if we had stayed longer we would have found the good pubs etc, but first impressions count.             (Sorry if anyone from Lossiemouth is reading this, but that is the purpose of this blog – to record our thoughts and experiences)

Whitehills. Same but Totally Different.

We loved this harbour.  Again a nightmare getting in, but the harbour master was there to meet us. He took the lines and told us all about the  harbour and where to go.  The harbour is actually owned by the local fishing families and run by 9 commissioners.  The harbour suffered the same fate as Lossiemouth in the 80s but the local fishermen agreed that they needed to turn it into a marina.  As you can see from the pictures below it was stunning.  We went to the local pub.  At the bar there were a couple of old boys, pictures of fishing boats on all of the walls (some of them looking very new and massive – proper off shore fishing boats).  If you walked into a pub like this in the west coast a few years ago you would have done a u turn !  Not here.  We sat and chatted to the old boys for about an hour.  They were really interested in what we were doing .  They were an ex fishing skipper and coast guard .  They took us round the pictures on the walls and told us very proudly where each one had sunk!!  “Aye this one went down in Rockall – bust sea cock – no loss of life ” This one went down when it got swamped – no loss of life”  “this one killed a lad when he went through the winch, he was a cocky lad until his jumper got caught. there was nothing left of him ye ken “.  So it brings it home, no matter your experience and the size of the boat the sea can be a nasty place and Fishing has never been an easy life.

 

So we are now sitting in Peterhead  ( sitting next to some off shore supply vessels )with crew arriving . Weather very cold and blowing a force 8-9 in the north sea so we are having a week here until we get a weather window.  May be the Shetland next or Norway…