Thursday 29th July

Today was our first full day in Royal Quays Marina. We spent the day catching up with some chores. We have done so much motoring in the light winds that a change of engine oil is due.  The nearest chandlery stocking the oil we need was a 20 walk plus a half hour bus ride so that trip took up the morning. As it was a lovely day we had lunch outside at the Lock restaurant in the marina. Back on the boat we changed the engine oil which always takes quite a while as sucking out the oil is a slow process. We also replaced our empty spare Butane gas cylinder. We spent some time reviewing our plans for the next leg of our journey with the prospect of some stronger winds coming next week.

Friday 30th July

Raining today. We got the metro to Newcastle and had a rather wet walk along the riverside, crossing over the Millennium Bridge to the Gateshead side, visiting the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, then back again over one of the other six bridges that cross the Tyne here. 

After lunch in Newcastle we returned to the boat, by which time it had stopped raining. We watched a cruise ship which had come in early this morning leave from its berth just outside our marina at 6pm. We also called ahead to Hartlepool marina to book a berth for Saturday night.