Round Britain again

snowleopard

snowleopard

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We are thinking about going round again next year. Not sure whether to go round Ireland as well and we will go through the Caledonian as before. It's a cruise so we're not interested in going round the outside just to tick boxes.

Anyone else with similar plans?

Any must-see places?

There are a few we missed out on previously that we'd definitely like to get to, e.g. Iona & Staffa, Islay, Lindisfarne.

These are the places we visited in the previous trips:

Dover
Boulogne
Ramsgate
Burnham
Grimsby
Bridlington
Port Edgar
Peterhead
Burghead
Inverness
Caley canal
Craobh
Oban
Kerrera
Tobermory
Carrickfergus
Douglas
Preston
Menai straits
Milford
Padstow
Scillies
& most ports along the S coast.
 
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Going round the outside is not about ticking boxes, it's about the scenery and visiting some of the remotest communities in the UK. Why not try something new and visit places like Edrachallis Bay and Loch Coul?
 
Round Britain Again

Hi,

I am interested in a similar trip next year, and am looking for a boat. Would be going alone with the ocassional friend joining. Any advice or tips? As for suggestions just came back from Dartmouth, up river is a little place called Dittisham. It is gorgeous and as a bonus has the most eccentric fun pub you can tie up to. Definitely will be on my itinerary.
 
snowleopard said:
If you want to read about getting cold, wet and miserable while you sit in the warm, read this and leave me out of it!
Click to expand...

Aye, your boat would be no blurry good in the Argyll pack-ice. Ye'd be beset all winter, with only that loon Webbie for occasional company, it's haunting cry of "Yer all wrong!" echoing through the dark and the swirling blizzards.

Mind you, I have clear memories of motoring out of Newlyn on a December morn not long ago, to find snow down to the waterside all round West Penwith.

Global warming my arris!

;)
 
bilbobaggins said:
Aye, your boat would be no blurry good in the Argyll pack-ice.
Click to expand...
Once spent October & part of November in the Caley canal. I don't like looking up and seeing snow on the hills from my boat which was designed to be cool in the tropics. The only heating we had was a small fan heater which did the job apart from one Saturday when we took a day trip up to Loch Ness and got back to find another boat had pinched our berth so we were without electricity until Monday.
 
Round Britain?

Nothing against your intentions, or your quest for advice on places to visit, but it is a bit insulting to half of Scotland, when you refer to going "Round Britain", when you are actually going through the Caledonian Canal.

Have fun, even if you intend to miss out the best bits.
 
Round GB

Hello,
We are also hoping to get round, we hope to whizz through the solent as we spent several seasons there already. Looking to leave end of April and get back about this time of year 2010 (longer if weather same as today!).

Can anybody recommend a pilot for NW Ireland from say Galway to N.I.. Was also trying to get to Scillies at one end, and Shetland at the other. Missing out Wales (sorry).

I think the hardest part will be pushing on all the time!. I hope to set up a blog but still learning.
On that note I am looking at a netbook Samsung N110 (follow on from Nc10) any comments good or bad on this appreciated.
Ta
 
AngusMcDoon said:
Going round the outside is not about ticking boxes, it's about the scenery and visiting some of the remotest communities in the UK. Why not try something new and visit places like Edrachallis Bay and Loch Coul?
Click to expand...
I would but I need to visit a location on the canal and I won't have enough time to go back and round the top as well. I'd quite like to go back to Skye where I spent some time climbing many years ago. I liked Libby Purves's account of some of the places on the north coast and I like the idea of the Orkneys. Probably wouldn't go to the Shetlands after reading an account of their rabid xenophobia though!
 
I was sailing in Shetland this summer.

I was not aware of any "rabid xenophobia": quite the opposite, everyone I met was extremely welcoming and very friendly.

There was a very international gathering of yachts in Lerwick and all the visitors to the islands seemed happy to be there. I did not hear one complaint.

Interestingly, there were more Union flags to be seen in Shetland than in other parts of Scotland, Shetland flags were everywhere, but no Saltires.

To get back to the origonal question of what should be included in a "Round Britain" then certainly the Northern Isles should. They even get to sent an MP to the UK parliament!
 
I read 'Offshore' by Ben Fogle. He had a chapter on his visit to Shetland and the reception he and other journalists received when they wanted to see Up Helly Ya. One of the Scandinavian crews gave up on trying to see anything and made a film about the xenophobia instead. I'm sure all Shetlanders aren't that bad but life's too short to be bothered trying to find the ones who aren't.
 
snowleopard said:
Probably wouldn't go to the Shetlands after reading an account of their rabid xenophobia though! ........
I read 'Offshore' by Ben Fogle. He had a chapter on his visit to Shetland and the reception he and other journalists received when they wanted to see Up Helly Ya................ I'm sure all Shetlanders aren't that bad but life's too short to be bothered trying to find the ones who aren't.
Click to expand...

What a crying shame!
Up Helly Ya is the high point of the Shetland year, takes a huge input of time, effort and resources, and if there was any time when southerners and journalists would get short shrift for asking damn-fool questions and poking long lenses, that would be it!
All you have to do is visit in any month but January! I have visited Shetland many times, in many different harbours. In Lerwick, after an excellent dinner in a welcoming household, I was dressed in the ceremonial gear and had the helmet placed on my head: I have always found Shetlanders more friendly, hospitable and helpful than anywhere else in the UK: only Orkney comes close (but very close!).

Some years ago I entered a small Voe to seek anchorage in foul weather to find several local moorings filling the most anchorable ground, most with boats riding on them. While doing a depth survey inshore, trying to find space, a cottage door opened and a man ran out, shouting and waving. He came down to the beach, wearing only trousers and jersey in the cold driving rain. I hove-to, expecting a warning: instead it was an invitation to use his mooring and visit his home.
I have found that typical.!
 
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