054:58.176 N
005:57.088 W

Glenarm, Northern Ireland

We forgot to mention a terrific find yesterday. Bol and I were walking along the beautiful shoreline in Jura when he, hawkeye, spotted a stray bright pink round fender. Chuffed? Just a bit. So after a good scrub it is now sitting proudly in the cockpit (the perfect shape for the Caledonian Canal). Some things don’t change, when Bol worked with JB at Spinlock in Cowes, JB would say Bol ‘runs like a longdog’ to rescue stray fenders, that’s why we have so many around TC, all shapes and sizes.

Anyway, today began early with 16 knots from the north blowing across the deck. We couldn’t get out of the anchorage fast enough to make the most of this unexpected and fabulous breeze; there is a powerful tide that whips around the top of Northern Ireland which we needed to maximise, and use to help us south.  However, by the time we were up and away, the wind had dropped to 11 knots, and by the time we had the spinnaker flying it was down to 5 knots. Unbelievable to see it just slowly ebbing away.

As we had 6 hours to make a 40 mile journey we sadly reverted again to the engine ~ the pilot book advises if you mess up and don’t get to the destination by the time the tide turns, you generally have to turn back and have another go tomorrow.

We did feel the benefit of the tidal stream and enjoyed a couple of hours going 9-10 knots which really helped us reach Glenarm just as the tide was turning. The journey was pretty uneventful except a wild ride around the corner through some violent overfalls, this had the poor 40 year old Bukh engine working hard to push us through.

So we picked our way through flocks of fishing Gannets, Terns, Shearwaters and Guillemots, before passing the fish farm outside Glenarm. The town is just as beautiful as it was on our way up and we knew where the ice cream shop was this time. This will probably be the only town we’ll revisit as it is a useful distance from Scotland to make in one tide. We are now in the sea area ‘Malin’ and listening to Belfast Coastguard on the VHF, so definitely feel like we have left the north.

It was a chilly crossing but is now baking hot and mirror calm in the marina, one of the six churches in this tiny town is chiming each hour and there are many people enjoying being on their boats. The ancient harbour wall is full of Black Guillemot nests, the parents are busily feeding their chicks and each time one pops into one of the holes, there is a sound of frantic cheeping, they are really very endearing birds with their red feet and rather clumsy take off and landings.

Probably a day ashore tomorrow as the forecast is too light to go anywhere.

Commiserations to England, we’ve just watched the semi-final on our phone.