After the day of education in Sunderland it was off to Amble ( 55:20.2N, 001:35.2W), approximately 30 miles up the coast, passing the Tyne along the way. It was another grey day ( getting very used to these), with a light wind, rarely getting above a F2, and even that was from the north, so was blowing directly on the nose. So, it was to be a motoring day.

We had a lazy morning, and left just after lunch, to catch the north going tide, which helped push us the 30 miles up to Amble in just over 5 hours. The big problem with this trip was the swell. Once again we had a significant swell coming in from the NE, which was much greater than we would have expected ; clearly there were some big storms out there somewhere in the far north east. This made the trip a little uncomfortable, but it was when we got to Amble that it really came into its own.

Amble is a difficult harbour entrance in bad weather, and can be untenable. We had called in advance and checked it was all ok today, and with the light winds we had it should have been no issue at all. Our trip timing got us to Amble at the right time of the tide, so we had enough depth, but as we approached the entrance the swell looked quite intimidating. This was not helped when a big  fishing boat went in and got in a real mess, rolling violently and spinning round and rubbing the quay wall. We assume that it lost engine power, but it was not exactly reassuring.

We decided to hang around a while letting the tide build, and then we were joined by a few other yachts waiting to enter. The strategy now was simple ; let them try it first and we would follow. Eventually someone went for it, without too much difficulty, so we aimed for the entrance, picked a wave, and gunned the engine through . Once inside, all was  peace and quiet, and we were soon moored up in Amble Marina.

It was soon pouring with rain, so it was a quick explore of Amble ( not a big task, but strangely it has two co-ops), and then back to the boat and bed.