Best place in West Scotland/England or East Ireland for leaving boat over winter

Stromness Marina, Orkney. Have left my boat afloat every year since it opened without problem. I remove my sails as am away for the winter but most there don't bother. Also reasonable price for a six month berth. If you drive up during the winter leave the car at Scrabster and come across as a foot pasenger on the ferry, it berths close to the marina.

Stromness Marina is indeed lovely. We were there last Spring

Details here http://yacht-albatross.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/something-about-stromness-marina.html
 
Thanks for lots of good advice on possible places to station our boat for the winter. We are looking forward to cruising the Scottish waters and will surely make use of one of the good places, you have pointed us to.
 
Time is close now and we have our boat right now at a mooring in Plockton. We will go back to Plockton next week to continue our journey.
Found that the flights to/from Dublin to Copenhagen are VERY cheap. Anybody got experience with Malahide Marina there? They offer reasonable rates and communicate well (guess most do in a sales process!).
We have a small blog - albeit in Danish, maybe you can make something out of it using google translate: http://gracecruising.wordpress.com/
 
If you're thinking Dublin, you might also like to think of Liverpool. You're in the heart of the city with plenty to do throughout the winter.

The flights for comparison would be from Manchester, which is a short train ride away.
 
Hi Leif
You may remember we chatted on here and exchanged an email. Coincidentally we are leaving Ardfern next week and going north, probably passing places that you will if you are going south - maybe our paths will cross .....

I cannot remember the name of your boat ..... Edit : Grace !

cheers
Paul

I will try to call you on Ch16 every couple of days at 08:30 ish to see if you are around
 
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Anybody got experience with Malahide Marina there? They offer reasonable rates and communicate well (guess most do in a sales process!).

Malahide is fine. Access is not 100% of the time because of the shallow channel, but for a winter berth that does not matter. Close to the DART station, and the right side of Dublin for the airport.
 
Mkkk

If you're thinking Dublin, you might also like to think of Liverpool. You're in the heart of the city with plenty to do throughout the winter.

The flights for comparison would be from Manchester, which is a short train ride away.
Yes, Liverpool is a possibility. Quite reasonable rates ashore and a v. good marine engineer (Geoff Dixon). You would have to take your mast down imo because they do not chock the boats traditionally but use metal stands with straps - not ideal but the yard is sheltered by houses.

Loads of cheap flights to Liverpool & Manchester and as Tim said you are in the heart of the city which is lively and lots to do.
 
Troon.
We did West Coast, Orkney, Shetlands, Fair Isle, Inverness, Caledonian Canal and back to Troon last year.
Excellent marina. Good value. Easy access from England by air / rail etc.

http://yacht-albatross.blogspot.co.uk/
+1 Easy access to Prestwick airport, train access, good services, the lads in West Coast Marine are hard to beat. Forgot to add - the Clyde can be reasonably sheltered if you fancy some winter sailing and even if it does blow up a bit there are many bolt holes in which to ride out the blow
 
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Anybody got experience with Malahide Marina there? They offer reasonable rates and communicate well (guess most do in a sales process!).

They're OK. Well done on getting reasonable rates. Malahide village is quite touristy and it's not far from the Airport.
 
Hi Leif
You may remember we chatted on here and exchanged an email. Coincidentally we are leaving Ardfern next week and going north, probably passing places that you will if you are going south - maybe our paths will cross .....

I cannot remember the name of your boat ..... Edit : Grace !

cheers
Paul

I will try to call you on Ch16 every couple of days at 08:30 ish to see if you are around

Paul, sent you pm long time ago.
We are arriving Oban today. Do let me know if you are around!
 
Paul, sent you pm long time ago.
We are arriving Oban today. Do let me know if you are around!
Hi Leif

Arrived in Plockton around 10 days ago and my wife was looking around the anchorage with binoculars and said "there is a Danish boat over there". I was surprised when she said the name was Grace ! Tried to call you on VHF but I do not think you were onboard as there was no dinghy visible. There was a nasty south easterly gale when we were there but you will be pleased to know your boat was in a good position and protected by the trees on the eastern shore.

Plockton is a pretty place and convenient with a train station. Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise, unfortunately we will not be able to meet as Storyline is now laid up for the winter due to my wife's work commitments. We managed 6 weeks on board this summer and had some wonderful times. No doubt you have now also fallen in love with Scotland !

All the best
Paul
 
Well done for coming up into Loch Carron, not many boats do. I'm guessing on your blog, you are talking about the tidal range in Loch Carron and the difference to the shoreline between high and low tides, there are currently quite amazing!
 
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