I picked up Barrie at his home and drove through to Fleetwood and the Marina where we met up with Bob. Our personal gear was soon stowed on “Trinculo” and the three of us headed for the Supermarket for provisions. I have often stated that in these logs that taking Barrie shopping is a mistake, he always hits the supermarket shelves like there is no tomorrow. We spent £204, I left them stowing the provisions and drove home to pick up Chris, who later dropped me off at the Thomas Drummond a Wetherspoons pub in Fleetwood where I met up again with Bob and Barrie. A few pints later we walked back to the Marina in light rain.
FLEETWOOD TO KILMORE QUAY
Many different plans had been discussed in the run up to this voyage, we decided in the end to leave it up to the wind. Just before seven in the morning we left Fleetwood and moved out in to the river Wyre and then in to the Fleetwood Channel, eating breakfast on the move. The wind was from the North West and under sail we moved out in to the Lune Deep and set course for the South of the Morecambe Bay Gas Field. We were making a good speed in light seas and after rounding the southern most Gas Rig we turned on to a course for Dublin. The wind was forecast to back to the west and for once they were right, this would give us problems if we maintained our course towards Dublin. We had to turn towards the South to keep up a reasonable speed. We settled in to a watch system of four hours off and eight hours on. As the day wore on we were moving further South than our intended course and it was getting dark when we passed close to the Anglesey. The direction for Dublin was in to wind so we turned south and cut in between the Skerries Lighthouse and the island. Wicklow or Arklow on the Irish coast were now our favoured destinations, but the wind was still backing down towards the South West and a Gale warning was given out for Sunday. We sailed south down the St Georges Channel overnight and made the decision to keep going. By daybreak we were doing six knots under full sail when the wind died, the engine was started to keep us moving. Three hours later the wind returned and we were again sailing. A short discussion followed and we decided to make Kilmore Quay our landfall. Kilmore Quay is the first port on the South coast of Ireland. Tusker Rock which is just off the South East tip of Ireland was entered in the GPS as a waypoint and on we sailed. It was around lunchtime when we rounded Tusker Rock and mid afternoon when we entered Kilmore Quay.
It is four years since I have been to Kilmour Quay and nothing has changed, the pontoon was full and we rafted up to a forty five foot Sloop called “Achievement”. The Harbour Master was soon round for the berthing fees of twenty five Euros’ per night. We had a quick look around, and Bob went off to the Harbour Office to see if they could arrange fuel. Barrie and I had a look around the Harbour and the fishing boats, and called at the local butchers where we were told it was “pole dancing” at the John Keyhoe pub that evening. Yeah Sure. We called at the pub and Bob was not there, so we headed back to the boat and found him fast asleep. A short time later we were all fast asleep. That evening we had a meal on board and then made our way to the John Keyhoe, where instead of Pole Dancers we found a Hen Night party in full swing. Barrie was soon seated in the middle of all these young ladies when they got up and left. “Something you said ?” we asked, it turned out they were heading for another pub (the Wooden House) for Karaoke with Angie, whoever Angie is. We stayed put for the rest of the evening.
The following morning we were still feeling the effects of our long voyage and spent a quiet day on board, the weather was as forecast with strong winds. We called at the Wooden House for a couple of drinks in the afternoon. We had just finished our meal on board when the crew of Achievement invited us over for drinks, we accepted and took along a crate of Boddingtons Beer. Achievement was as we suspected a one off, it had been designed and built by its Owner / Skipper who was on board, after a tour and a few beers he showed us his new toy a chart plotter, which will show you position, course, speed etc on a screen anywhere in Europe or North America, using just one memory chip.
We left them and had a final drink and our usual supper of Crackers and Bowland Cheese on board Trinculo.
KILMORE QUAY TO HELVICK
The wind had eased the following morning and we contacted the harbour office about our fuel, who informed us that the tanker was not coming but could supply us with one hundred and fifty litres in cans. This we accepted and a man duly arrived and we poured it into our tanks. The price was a Euro a litre. Barrie disappeared off to the butchers (another mistake but we did not know this at the time). We left Kilmore Quay and were soon doing seven to eight knots in a north westerly force five. The sea was a little choppy but both the wind and the sea eased within a couple of hours and Dungarven Bay came in to view a few hours later. We pulled in to a small harbour at Helvick Head. There were a number of fairly small fishing vessels and one yacht in the harbour; we rafted up to the yacht. A couple of hours later the yacht wanted to leave, so we moved out to let him go and rafted up to three small fishing boats. Four fishermen were unloading their catch of mainly Dogfish and then one of them rafted up to the outside of us. After food we walked to the pub we had been in four years earlier. The same Landlady was still there, though quiet the pub has absolutely stunning views across Dungarvan Bay. We then had the honour of witnessing the Local Lotto Draw and even bought a ticket, alas none of our numbers came out.
HELVICK TO CROSSHAVEN
We awoke to bright sunshine and waited for the fisherman who was rafted up outside of us to turn up as he said he would. By ten thirty we gave up on him and slipped out tying his boat to where we were. We moved out of the harbour and turned west out of Dungarvan Bay. The sailing conditions were good in a northerly force three and we headed for our intended destination of Ballycotton. By lunchtime the wind had eased as had our speed as we approached Ballycotton. The first thing noticed was a crane on the dockside, now Ballycotton is too small for use by ships and the crane was too big for unloading fishing boats. We moved in and found the harbour wall under a major restoration. The small fishing fleet had taken the other berths, No room at the inn was declared, so we moved out and on to Cork Harbour. The wind eased further and we sailed slowly through the entrance to Cork Harbour despite being mobbed by a school of Dolphins. After entering Cork Harbour, which is huge, and then turning left we were approaching Crosshaven. We called Crosshaven Marina on the V.H.F. informed them of our size and requested a berth, the answer came back to “put her anywhere and we will sort things out later”. We had a look round and could only see berths for yachts smaller than our own. We moved on to the next Marina, that’s the beauty of having separate Marinas next to each other, where we tied up to the outer pontoon.
It was time for our evening meal and the steaks Barrie had bought in Kilmore Quay came out. They were the size of house bricks, Bob finally cajoled him to slice them in half and make two meals.. It was our own fault for letting Barrie in to a Butchers Shop on his own, one of us should have gone with him. It was as ever off to the pub, the first three pubs had no Ale, plenty of Stout, Lager etc but no Ale. I went into my usual rant to anyone who would listen, about how the Guinness Corporation one by one bought out almost all the old Irish Breweries and closed them. Guinness then succeeded in doing what the English Breweries tried to do and closed down all production of Real Ale. Given their only choice of any Ale is “Smithwicks” then I’m not surprised very few want to drink it. If the Irish had the choice available in England then I feel sure they would drink Ale. The fourth pub we went into had Smithwicks on and a fascinating collection of Sporting and Sailing memorabilia covered the walls. To help establish my case this pub even had two hand pumps on the bar, not used for decades, but still there.
CROSSHAVEN TO EAST FERRY MARINA.
The winds were light in Cork Harbour the following morning as we slipped our lines and hoisted the sails for a diversion and five mile sail to East Ferry Marina. The sail across was slow and gentle. We tied up to the outer pontoon of East Ferry Marina and read the notice that told us to pay our berthing fee at the bar, well you can’t turn down invitations like that. We made our way to the bar and were told that George the Marina owner was due in for his lunch very shortly and she would send him over. We sat down for a pint and George came over and introduced himself. He charged us twenty one Euros and offered us Diesel at eighty five cents a litre. It’s a pity we had paid one Euro a litre in Kilmore Quay. A couple of jobs on the boat followed. I winched Bob up the Backstay to attach a fitting for the Ensign, as often happens when your up there the locking pin would not go in, so I lowered him back to the deck. Passing showers delayed our progress and Barrie started moaning “haven’t you got that little job done yet” Bob replied “do you want to go up” certainly replied Barrie. The expression on my face must have said it all, for those who do not know Barrie’s weight is about double that of Bob’s. Well after some grunting, sweating, cursing and heavy breathing I managed to winch him up to the desired height. The evening was inevitably spent in the pub, where George the owner of both the pub and Marina joined us. He told us he had over charged us and gave us three Euros back. He showed us plans for the expansion of the Marina and we talked with him about sailing and boats, all evening.
EAST FERRY MARINA TO KINSALE
The following morning the wind was force two from the south. We left the Marina and sailed back across Cork Harbour towards the entrance and then tacked our way back out to sea. We were around three miles off Kinsale when the wind dropped to practically nothing. The engine was started and we entered Kinsale using the Iron Sail. After mooring to the outer pontoon, Bob went off to find Paul, the marina manager, only to arrive back with a young Lady. It turned out he was on holiday and she was looking after things in his absence. We walked in to the village centre and visited a pub (no surprises there) it was then back to Trinculo for food and then back to the village centre for the evening. The first pub had a singer / musician who was a bit loud for us, we then moved on to a bar with a young group playing odd ball 1960s material.
The following morning we found a yacht rafted up to us that belonged to the Irish Navy. It had flat batteries and the engine had stopped. Irish Navy engineers were coming to have a look at it later in the day. A couple of small items were wanted from a hardware shop; unfortunately the one in the village centre had closed down. Enquiries were made and we were informed that a new bigger one had opened about a mile out of town. At least the shop selling Calor Gas was still there. We took a walk along some country lanes and found the new store, where we purchased everything on the list and a few things not on the list, but we had Barrie with us so what do you expect. We took a different route back and passed a large farm factory which processes animal fodder. We then found Kinsale’s long since closed Railway Station as we made our way back. Our evening was spent in “The Spaniard” where a folk style Jam session was taking place and we drank a bit too much, I certainly felt it the next morning.
THE JOURNEY HOME
We awoke to find the Irish Navy yacht gone and made ready to leave, our bus to the Airport was on time and everything seemed fine until we made our way inland. The closer we got to Cork airport the foggier it became. We arrived in good time and checked in, the lady on check in then told us that the Aircraft had not yet left Dublin and advised us to hang around. Well three hours later the plane arrived and half an hour after that we boarded and were counted and then counted again and again and again. We were then informed that a number of passengers had given up waiting and made alternative travel arrangements. This meant that all with luggage had to get off the plane, identify their luggage and then get back aboard. All unidentified luggage would stay at Cork. We finally took off almost four hours late; this meant that we had missed our connection to Blackpool. A fellow passenger had also just missed his connection to Geneva. On landing in Dublin we made our way to the Ryanair desk and joined the queue. We then informed them that we had been on their delayed flight from Cork and missed our connection. She then told us that for seventy five Euros she would put us on standby for the Manchester flight at nine fifteen that evening or if that flight was full then she could book us on the ten thirty flight to Liverpool. We had little choice but to accept. Almost six hours later I had a word with the check in staff who confirmed that we were the only people on standby for that flight. We were there when it closed and sixteen seats were available. We were on. We landed at Manchester at ten thirty and made our way to the Railway Station where we were told that the next Train was not until twenty past one in the morning. We jumped on a train to Manchester Piccadilly and had a word with the stations duty manager who told us that the one thirty Train was in fact a Bus service. This is Barrie and myself ended up in Yates Wine Lodge at midnight drinking Boddingtons and watching young (and some not so young) ladies pole dancing, well that’s our excuse and were sticking to it. The station staff had their work cut out dealing with their drunken passengers. We caught a Bus which called at Bolton and then straight on to Blackpool North. We chatted to a young Soldier from Layton in Blackpool who was just back from Iraq. We arrived in Blackpool at three in the morning and went for a Taxi. We arrived to find a young lady being told that she could not take bottled water in to the Taxi, she simply threw then it to the road. It’s good to be home. The Taxi dropped us off at my house and I drove Barrie to Poulton Le Fylde where he lives and dropped him off at three forty five in the morning.
Bob had a later flight, direct to Liverpool, and a much better experience, arriving home that evening half an hour earlier than expected
Kev
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From To Miles Hrs
Friday 25th to Sat 26th Fleetwood Kilmore Quay 161.1 31.20
Monday 28th May Kilmore Quay Helvick 31.3 5.30
Tuesday 29th May Helvick Crosshaven 45.8 7.40
Wednesday 30th May Crosshaven East Ferry Marina 5.2 1.25
Thursday 31st May East Ferry Marina Kinsale 22.6 5.00
Total 266.0 51.05 hrs/mins
Engine Hours 13.
