An East Coast Dilemma

[mainsail1]

I had a cunning plan to sail from the Solent to Ramsgate and North along the East coast to the Caledonian Canal, followed by a transit to the West Coast. All taking place during the summer of 2022. But now I have done the planning the East Coast seems such a dump with long distances between nice harbours and a lot of dross in between. Am I wrong? Am I missing something?

 

[Bru]

I'm curious (as an East Coast lad born and bred) where the dross is?

Love the whole East Coast myself ... except for Middlesbrough which is a dump but there's no leisure boat facilities there anyway

 

[Daydream believer]

Whoever put the grim in Grimsby knew what they were doing

 

[Bru]

Whoever put the grim in Grimsby knew what they were doing

Good point ... Ok, that's Middlesbrough *and* Grimsby!

 

[Sandy]

Am I wrong? Am I missing something?

Nope. I did Plymouth to Peterhead last summer then turned round and came back, due to mental and physical exhaustion.

Plymouth to Ramsgate was good, no wind, sunshine and a long motor. Crossing the Thames estuary was lively in a F5/F6, but a cracking sail. Entering Lowestoft was 'interesting with 2.75 knots across the pier heads at midnight. Royal Norfolk and Suffolk YC was nice. Lowestoft to Scarborough was a 30 hour passage navigation is easy just follow the wind farms. Things then got better, I called in at Amble on the way up and Blyth on the way south. The Royal Northumberland YC is well worth a visit, good beer and a cracking steak. Eyemouth was fun, Arbroath was well worth a visit. I spent the night alongside at Stonehaven and Peterhead Marina is very welcoming.

Reports from others who headed for Inverness say the marinas between Peterhead and Inverness were good, but small. Distances between marinas are long unless you want to go well off the rhumb line. Once in Yorkshire the coastline improves and the wildlife gets more interesting.

Fog was a major issue on the trip up. One disadvantage is you will be heading into a foul tide for 8 out of 12 hours, at least it is not too strong.

 

[Vid]

The Sailing Brothers on YouTube did a round Britain last year and sailed from Scotland down the coast - they made it look more interesting than I expected it to be, with options for stopovers I hadn't considered.

 

[MoodySabre]

Grimsby is a big diversion. Lowestoft to Whitby. 24 hours plus but get the tides right. Lots of rigs and service vessels off the Humber.

 

[Slowboat35]

I'm intrigued to know what superior excitement the W coast offers between Mull of Kyntyre and Falmouth to prompt the original question? (And no, Ireland doesn't count)

 

[Daydream believer]

I'm intrigued to know what superior excitement the W coast offers between Mull of Kyntyre and Falmouth to prompt the original question? (And no, Ireland doesn't count)

Why does NI not count. My route both times was French coast, ( to avoid Solent & give it the holiday atmosphere) CIs, Falmouth, Newlyn, ( nice) Milford Haven ( Urgh!!), Dun Laoghaire, Ardglass, Glenarm ( lovely), Ballycastle ( super friendly) Port Ellen ( once only, never again) Croab Haven, (tidy) Oban ( The skanky bogs on Kerran have to be tried, so that the ones on Scarborough do not come as quite such a disgusting shock) Fort William. Cally canal.
What is not to like?

 

[Daydream believer]

Grimsby is a big diversion. Lowestoft to Whitby. 24 hours plus but get the tides right. Lots of rigs and service vessels off the Humber.

Being SH I found the 106 miles(18hours) between Lowestoft & Grimsby enough. Coming down past Yarmouth in between the sands at night when tired can be difficult at LW as well.
I came clockwise & went Hartlepool to Grimsby which was also a comfortable sail. I must admit that I found the Humber at night quite challenging, more so than the Thames estuary, without a chart plotter. The second time I had one, plus AIS . Humber VTS even notified shipping of my position, so I felt a lot safer knowing I was being watched.
I felt Whitby not worth the hassle for a SH sailor. Scarborough is OK though & quite nice. I called there the first time, but told there was no room second time. . Blyth is poor. Nothing of interest other than a big commercial harbour & a club in a lightship. Cannot even buy fuel there.

 

[mainsail1]

I'm intrigued to know what superior excitement the W coast offers between Mull of Kyntyre and Falmouth to prompt the original question? (And no, Ireland doesn't count)

Well, I find most of the harbours from the Solent to the Mull of Kintyre interesting and fun. I love Rathlin Island. I love the Isle of Man, West Wales has interesting harbours, North Cornwall and North Devon have a couple of interesting places to visit and then there are the Scillies........It is all just rather pleasant and most hops are a long day sail at the most. The tide is also more helpful if you get it right from what I can see.

But I have done all that and was enthused by the idea of going East ....until I looked into it all.

 

[westhinder]

I had a cunning plan to sail from the Solent to Ramsgate and North along the East coast to the Caledonian Canal, followed by a transit to the West Coast. All taking place during the summer of 2022. But now I have done the planning the East Coast seems such a dump with long distances between nice harbours and a lot of dross in between. Am I wrong? Am I missing something?

It al depends what you compare it with. The only harbour I found truly depressing was Hartlepool and the next time I go up or down the East coast I will do my best to avoid it. Apart from that most places are interesting enough or practical stopovers and the coastline may not be spectacular but has a certain rugged beauty.
It also depends what your plan is. If you want to cruise around Britain starting from the Solent, there is much to be said for going counterclockwise as you are most likely to have a favourable wind along the Channel coast. If you want to cruise the West coast of Scotland and do not mind retracing part of your itinerary, going round Land’s End and along the Irish coast is probably the faster and more scenic route

 

[The Q]

I liked Stonehaven as a nice place to stop, but Aberdeen was definitely not a place for Yachts..

 

[PetiteFleur]

We went to Whitby from the Deben last year and on the way back went into Kings Lynn which was interesting BUT don't use your chart plotter - you must follow the buoys as they change frequently.

 

[ean_p]

Mmmm Lowestoft- Wells-Kings Lynn- Grimsby- Any number of havens on the Humber- Hull- Bridlington- Filey- Scarborough- Whitby- Runswick Bay- Staithes...............

 

[Slowboat35]

I've been looking at both routes (after all, you have to do them both in a round Britain trip) and can't see much difference although the E coast offers less options (no islands and Ireland en route). Both have long stretches without a useful port at all. Is there reallt much difference?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

The main problem, as MoodySabre has alluded, is that the coasts of Holderness and Lincolnshire have no viable harbours (there are a couple of creeks, but nothing that could be regarded as a secure haven), and Grimsby and Hull are a long way off the direct track. Coming from the South it would be reasonable to go to Wells as the jumping-off point; the main reason I didn't consider Wells when coming south was that the entrance is limited by tides, and after a 24+ hour passage it wasn't reasonable to expect to be able to time arrival to coincide with high water! But south of Lowestoft and North of Whitby there are plenty of all-tide (or nearly all-tide) yacht havens. However, I chose the East Coast rather than the West because the West Coast route involves a very long open-water passage from Lands End to either Ireland or Pembroke, unless you coast along north Cornwall and Devon and then back along the south coast of Wales, adding vastly to the distance. I also happened to have some familiarity with the East Coast; my father kept boats on the Humber and in Dunbar!

Of course, the ports on the Wash are out of consideration, being a) even further off the track than Grimsby and b) separated from the open sea by many miles of difficult navigation.

 

[Daydream believer]

Without looking at the charts, I thought that Lowestoft to whitby was about 180 miles, not allowing additional distance for circumnavigating any windfarms.
From my log, Lowestoft to Grimsby is 106. Add about 88 Grimsby to Whitby ( guess) that is only 14 miles more. So not a very big diversion.
Bearing in mind that doing it in 2 hits can make it much less tiring for the crew, I would have thought that a sensible plan. I worked the tides in & out of the Humber & that gave me a really good push. Far better than trying to sail past that section of coast of adverse tide. May as well stop, wait for better tides the next day & then go on.
On top of that I believe that Whitby has issues with entry/ exit. I am also told that some years ago if one missed the 10-00 am bridge opening when exiting one had to pay a further full days berthing fee. I do not know if that still applies but it may mess up the passage plan for tides.
Perhaps those in the know can put us right on that one please.
I did have a short wait at Grimsby for entering the lock the first time; but when exiting, the free flow was quick & suited the tides.
How is the situation at Whitby. I avoided it because locals told me it was a pain if arriving at certain tide times.
Is it 24 hours?
But then I was single handed.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Without looking at the charts, I thought that Lowestoft to whitby was about 180 miles, not allowing additional distance for circumnavigating any windfarms.
From my log, Lowestoft to Grimsby is 106. Add about 88 Grimsby to Whitby ( guess) that is only 14 miles more. So not a very big diversion.
Bearing in mind that doing it in 2 hits can make it much less tiring for the crew, I would have thought that a sensible plan. I worked the tides in & out of the Humber & that gave me a really good push. Far better than trying to sail past that section of coast of adverse tide. May as well stop, wait for better tides the next day & then go on.
On top of that I believe that Whitby has issues with entry/ exit. I am also told that some years ago if one missed the 10-00 am bridge opening when exiting one had to pay a further full days berthing fee. I do not know if that still applies but it may mess up the passage plan for tides.
Perhaps those in the know can put us right on that one please.
I did have a short wait at Grimsby for entering the lock the first time; but when exiting, the free flow was quick & suited the tides.
How is the situation at Whitby. I avoided it because locals told me it was a pain if arriving at certain tide times.
Is it 24 hours?
But then I was single handed.

Whitby was fine when we were there in 2016. Waiting pontoon near the bridge, and the bridge opened half-hourly during the day. Harbour master was very helpful when we caught a branch in the propeller coming in; arranged a tow for us to the pontoons. The bridge only opens during working hours, though. I expect that if necessary you could use the waiting pontoon if you needed to depart out of hours.

There is a very strong cross current at the harbour entrance, which is ok if you're expecting it but if you weren't it would make trouble.

 

[westhinder]

If Lowestoft- Whitby is too long and you don’t fancy the detour to Grimsby, Scarborough is a good alternative. It shortens the trip by about 17 NM and is hardly off the direct track