Amble

As to be expected the Spring Bank Holiday Monday dawned grey and overcast making Blyth seem even less attractive. We had several hours to kill while we waited for the tide so set off for a walk to see a bit of the town. A short walk from the harbour we stumbled across a beautiful park with tended flowerbeds children's play areas a splash area and formal gardens- sadly we didn't have time to explore it to its full extent but at least we left Blyth with little more of an idea of what this Northumbrian town was really like rather then the industrial dock area we could see from the boat. 

Just after lunch we slipped our lines for the relatively short passage to Amble, the weather forecast was for winds of F2/3 and overcast. The wind was very light and because we had to make Amble with enough water to cross over the cill into the marina we couldn't afford the luxury of simply drifting in the light winds. Tidal gates are a real issue on this part of the coast and not something you can ignore - if you miss the tide you have to be prepared to stay at sea for another 6-8 hours until you are able to make the next harbour or tide! So we carried on under motor up this rather bleak coast. The weather report didn't mention the monsoon style “shower” that engulfed us a couple of hours in - we hastily put on our wet weather gear and ended up arriving in Amble in bright sunshine with the day-trippers wandering about in shorts and tee-shirts watching the two of us motor into the harbour in full foul weather gear including wellies! (We were a bit hot!)

The entrance into Amble was our first real experience of East Coast rocks - we are far more used to sandbanks and mud! The pilot books gave dire warnings of the rocks extending out from Coquet Island (a small island just off the coast) and a reef lying close to the entrance. Following the chart plotter and taking a few bearings we made a text book entrance through the pier heads and on into the Marina where the staff had already allocated us a berth.  I am sure a day will come when I don't get that dry mouth feeling when approaching a difficult or unfamiliar harbour entrance but for the moment entering every harbour is a new and exciting experience!

Since Flamborough one of our favourite games on passage had been Puffin spotting - I had been a little disappointed that we had seen so few of the funny little birds however as we approached Coquet Island (which I later discovered is an RSPB reserve) this was to change! There were hundreds of them swimming about the boat fishing and diving. The skipper did get a little fractious when camera in hand I asked him to slow down for photo opportunities! All I can say is they are lovely little birds and every time we see one it brings a smile to our face!

Whilst in Amble we took the opportunity to walk along the river into Warkworth and spend some time exploring the castle which was the home of the very influential Percy family - Dukes of Northumberland in the 1500’s. The castle is great and unlike a lot of English castles the walls of the keep are more or less intact it’s just the roof that is missing! During our walk along the river we spotted a large grey seal, a beautiful grey heron and plenty of eider ducks. The eider ducks were also much in evidence in the marina checking every inhabited boat for possible food options!

We planned to stay in Amble for a couple of days but on the day before we intended to leave the skipper was doing his routine engine checks when he noticed one of the fittings that go through the hull was starting to weep a little. After a long (30 second) discussion we decided that we would really rather get this fixed than risk a major leak through the hull when at sea. The boatyard next door to the marina said they were able to lift us out, rebed the fitting and put us back into the water on the tide the following morning as long as we were in the lifting  sling 2 hours before high tide. So it was the next morning we were motoring slowly into the lifting slings - another first for us! 

True to their word we were back in the water about 2 hours later and we could in theory have left for Eyemouth then and there but being a confirmed coward I suggested to the skipper that going back into the marina for another night to let everything bed down and make sure there were no leaks would be a good idea - to which he agreed. So we found ourselves back in the berth for another night - however there are worse places to be stuck!