Portpatrick and Girvan

JumbleDuck

JumbleDuck

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A couple of quick reports in case anyone else is thinking of visiting ...

Portpatrick. Plans for pontoons have been abandoned, I'm told, because of the notorious dwell. Berthing alongside the walls, access to the top by vertiginous ladders. Floating fenders have been added, running on fixed lines to each side of each ladder. Very poor facilities - the harbour provides none and the council-run toilet is a single tiny stall after 5pm. No water taps. For my 8m boat they wanted £14.30 per night, which I think is very high for the little offered. Worthwhile as a bolthole, but I wouldn't go back from choice.

Girvan. Nice new pontoons and fingers in the inner harbour. Seven official visitors' berths, but I think they could take more. Clearly marked on the right as you enter by huge "Visiting Yachts" signs on the fence round the harbour walls. Entrance has silted and harbourmaster recommends entry/exit above half tide for 2m or more. Public toilets available 10am - 8pm only. No showers. Amenities block hoped to be ready next year. Town centre 2 minutes' walk away. £2/m/night, which is a little high in view of the lack of amenities.

Of the two, I found (am finding!) Girvan much more pleasant. Well worth it as a destination for a longer outing from the northern Clyde.
 
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JumbleDuck said:
Portpatrick. Plans for pontoons have been abandoned, I'm told, because of the notorious dwell. Berthing alongside the walls, access to the top by vertiginous ladders. Floating fenders have been added, running on fixed lines to each side of each ladder. Very poor facilities - the harbour provides none and the council-run toilet is a single tiny stall after 5pm. For my 8m boat they wanted £14.30 per night, which I think is very high for the little offered. Worthwhile as a bolthole, but I wouldn't go back from choice.
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On the other hand, they got some dredging done, so seems pretty accessible at my 2.1m draught, albeit I still try to play safe and stick to HW+-3.

Floating fenders are a welcome addition and I noticed they have new bitts fitted on the quay. Cost £18 for my 43'. I can't see that they get much revenue to pay for many improvements.

Got a holding tank, so toilet not a prob.

And there's some decent pubs ashore.
 
I have GREAT memories of Portpatrick, but as a land based visitor staying at the rather wonderful Crown Hotel - informal but fantastic food & good rooms in my day - 1980's-early 90's.

The Fernhill above ( not the big place on the hill, go directly up from the Crown ) is well worth a go too but a bit less informal.

We dealt with the Range Safety Boat ( a big Air Sea Rescue type job ) and the Test Range at West Freugh - I must say I often looked out of my hotel window at the entrance to Portpatrick with rock island in the middle, strong tide, and dubious shelter - if lucky by the wall with the range & lifeboats - and thought ' sod that ! '.

Nevertheless there always seemed a stream of Irish boats visiting, one can see Ireland from there.

If anyone should visit, it would be criminal not to try the fillet steak in whisky & cream, the surf n turf or the scallops at the Crown, still beloved of aircrew I understand.
 
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lpdsn said:
I noticed they have new bitts fitted on the quay. Cost £18 for my 43'. I can't see that they get much revenue to pay for many improvements.

Got a holding tank, so toilet not a prob.
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The new bitts are rather sporadically placed. I had a choice between "far too short" and "ridiculously far away" for my stem line. A few more would be good. The thing I liked least was that the walls are so high that even at high tide you're still at bottom of a pit - and of course there I'd nothing any owners could do about that, so I don't hold it against them. Per night they charge more than Stranraer or Kirkcudbright, both of which have toilets, showers and, at Stranraer, a laundry. It would be nice to know what they spend the money on ... if they are saving up for new facilities it would sting less.

I really like Portpatrick as a place to visit, but I'll stick to going there by car,
 
Don't know if he's still there but the HM at Girvan couldn't have been more helpful when I was storm bound there about 10 years ago
If you think PP fees are bad try Amlwch, Anglesey: £18 on an unfendered quay covered in rotting fish and zero facilities. Just after I decided not to stay I wsd told I would be woken at 4am as the pilot boat would be going out.
 
The changing order of sailors needs. Portpatrick was and remains a great place to pull into for a break when on passage north or south. Yes there can be swell and yes the entrance can be challenging but personally I'm glad the planned idea to install pontoons has been shelved leaving this beautiful little harbour unspoilt for those of us who don't mind rafting and enjoy setting shorelines, can climb a ladder, enjoy the cliff top walks, pitch and putt, water from the spring and a couple of good pubs, rather than sanitised marina bars.
 
Quiddle said:
Don't know if he's still there but the HM at Girvan couldn't have been more helpful when I was storm bound there about 10 years ago.
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Roderick Leitch is the HM here (Girvan) and very helpful indeed. I believe he has been here a long time, so may well be the same as you met.
 
claymore said:
The changing order of sailors needs. Portpatrick was and remains a great place to pull into for a break when on passage north or south. Yes there can be swell and yes the entrance can be challenging but personally I'm glad the planned idea to install pontoons has been shelved leaving this beautiful little harbour unspoilt for those of us who don't mind rafting and enjoy setting shorelines, can climb a ladder, enjoy the cliff top walks, pitch and putt, water from the spring and a couple of good pubs, rather than sanitised marina bars.
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I love using harbours, know how to set shorelines and don't mind rafting, thank you very much, and I agree that Portpatrick is a useful stopover, but if I'm paying marina-scale charges then I prefer to get marina-scale facilities. Thanks for reminding me that there are no water taps at Portpatrick.
 
lpdsn said:
.................so seems pretty accessible at my 2.1m draught, albeit I still try to play safe and stick to HW+-3.

Cost £18 for my 43'.
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We've just done Troon - Stranraer - Peel. I was a bit wary of Port Patrick from its reputation of high walls and rafting plus the timing of our arrival would have denied us access. We entered Stranraer marina at LW on a Sp and there wasn't much water under the keel. Boat is 2.1m, 41 ft. Very friendly and accommodating Harbour Masters. We telephoned in advance and was told "there'll be no one to meet you upon your arrival so I'll text the gate access number" Cost was also about £18 / night.
 
Claymore,

I tend to agree; though I thought the development would be good for the locals, now that the West Freugh test range only takes overflights, not visiting aircraft to stay as in my day; employment is scarce in that area and I feel for the underused hard working people there.

The walks from Portpatrick are indeed worth a mention, particularly to the East along following the cliff pattern but a few hundred yards inland; I remember the ruined old castle - well worth a look, though it's the sort of walk which requires sturdy footwear.

Somewhere near there is a little bay with a lighthouse on top, and the wreck of the small coaster ' Craigantlet ' directly beneath; the story is they set the lighthouse as a waypoint, then hit the whisky so forgot to turn...

Portpatrick still has a transatlantic navigation & comms system, I forget the name.

PP was meant to be some sort of steamer base with a link to Ireland & probably transatlantic, as shown by the railway cuttings and remains of old harbour just West of the breakwater, but it didn't work out.
 
claymore said:
The changing order of sailors needs. Portpatrick was and remains a great place to pull into for a break when on passage north or south. Yes there can be swell and yes the entrance can be challenging but personally I'm glad the planned idea to install pontoons has been shelved leaving this beautiful little harbour unspoilt for those of us who don't mind rafting and enjoy setting shorelines, can climb a ladder, enjoy the cliff top walks, pitch and putt, water from the spring and a couple of good pubs, rather than sanitised marina bars.
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Took the words out of my mouth - the only thing Claymore failed to mention is that is a rarish beast, a proper Victorian harbour that does not dry and is not full of fishing boats. It is one of the few places that we go to that brings back memories of drying out in harbours around the Irish Sea. As pointed out above it is a very useful stopping off place on the trudge north/south and on several occasions we have been extremely grateful to tie up there after a battering in the North Channel. Have been storm bound in there and left the boat for a coupld of weeks under the sole charge of the ex harbour keeper (still always up for a chat in one of the pubs). Also very pleased the harbour is now in civic ownership and the crazy pontoon idea has been dropped.

Edit: Forgot the Black Guillemots

oh, and the the tide gauge in the north west corner that can be viewed online at the Bidston Observatory web site.
 
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JumbleDuck said:
The new bitts are rather sporadically placed. I had a choice between "far too short" and "ridiculously far away" for my stem line. A few more would be good. The thing I liked least was that the walls are so high that even at high tide you're still at bottom of a pit - and of course there I'd nothing any owners could do about that, so I don't hold it against them. Per night they charge more than Stranraer or Kirkcudbright, both of which have toilets, showers and, at Stranraer, a laundry. It would be nice to know what they spend the money on ... if they are saving up for new facilities it would sting less.

I really like Portpatrick as a place to visit, but I'll stick to going there by car,
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I appreciate the difference. Not often I can go alongside a wall in a deep draught boat that would dry out awkwardly. Even the high walls are useful as at low tide I'm about level with the lower spreaders and a can have a peek at where the mast sections join.

Actually cheaper for me than Stranraer, but that's just the way the pricing bands turn out. I can't see Portpatrick making more than a few hundred a week in peak season so I doubt they'll ever be able to invest heavily in facilities.
 
On a practical note, I heard a rumour that the sand bar that had built up running across the inner harbour entrance was dredged when they built the new Lifeboat pontoon - anyone know if that is true ?
 
Seajet - I take on what you say, just not sure how much employment would be generated from the installation of Pontoons and indeed whether it might prove counter productive in that it might turn some visitors off. Anyway, it's all a bit academic now!
 
lpdsn said:
..... Not often I can go alongside a wall in a deep draught boat that would dry out awkwardly. Even the high walls are useful as at low tide I'm about level with the lower spreaders and a can have a peek at where the mast sections join.
.....
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Yes, very useful - we always take the bins up at low water to check all appears ok at the top of the mast.
 
davidjackson said:
We've just done Troon - Stranraer - Peel. I was a bit wary of Port Patrick from its reputation of high walls and rafting plus the timing of our arrival would have denied us access. We entered Stranraer marina at LW on a Sp and there wasn't much water under the keel. Boat is 2.1m, 41 ft. Very friendly and accommodating Harbour Masters. We telephoned in advance and was told "there'll be no one to meet you upon your arrival so I'll text the gate access number" Cost was also about £18 / night.
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I went into Stranraer on the way south as a diversion from Portpatrick, which I would prefer not to enter in F5/6 from the west and 2m waves. Very nice people, but I completely failed in attempts to contact them in advance - I tried VHF and every phone number I could find all the way down Loch Ryan, mid-afternoon. The dredged areal down the side of the marina is very tight and I had a, cough, short delay waiting for the tide to rise ... inside the marked channel
 
Seajet said:
Claymore,

I tend to agree; though I thought the development would be good for the locals, now that the West Freugh test range only takes overflights, not visiting aircraft to stay as in my day; employment is scarce in that area and I feel for the underused hard working people there.

The walks from Portpatrick are indeed worth a mention, particularly to the East along following the cliff pattern but a few hundred yards inland; I remember the ruined old castle - well worth a look, though it's the sort of walk which requires sturdy footwear.

Somewhere near there is a little bay with a lighthouse on top, and the wreck of the small coaster ' Craigantlet ' directly beneath; the story is they set the lighthouse as a waypoint, then hit the whisky so forgot to turn...

Portpatrick still has a transatlantic navigation & comms system, I forget the name.

PP was meant to be some sort of steamer base with a link to Ireland & probably transatlantic, as shown by the railway cuttings and remains of old harbour just West of the breakwater, but it didn't work out.
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All covered by the Portpatrick to Killantringan walk in "Coast - The Walks", available from all good bookshops. The castle is Dunskey and the railway line from Portpatrick to Portpatrick Harbour had the distinction of being the shortest lived line ever built in Britain - services lasted about six weeks. You can still see the Harbour Station platform. Smeaton built the breakwaters - you can see the joddle and trenail system he developed for Eddystone IV - and Rennie extended them, but the extensions and some of the originals were destroyed in a single winter storm.

Curious fact: Portpatrick served the same function for Ireland as Gretna Green did for England. No blacksmith involved, but the house next to the old church had a marriage room for runaways to use.
 
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