UK cruising/circumnavigation planning - big questions so far

[ylop]

Just out of interest then, why have you done it? There is a bit more than a few ragged rocks to experiance.

Steveeasy

Steve - remember the rule. It’s shit up here. Overrun with midges and tourists. Best nobody else comes.

 

[Tranona]

Just out of interest then, why have you done it? There is a bit more than a few ragged rocks to experiance.

Steveeasy

If you go south from Portsmouth rather than west and north you get a fair choice of rocks and scary tides and as a bonus an even more incomprehensible language when you stop for a bit of a rest. (perhaps I have been watching too much of the new Rebus adaptation!0

 

[Tranona]

Worth looking at the thread above. Portsmouth to Conway in 6 weeks. Not continuous owing to weather and other commitments but gives an idea, particularly when you read the specific legs how tough it can be port hopping.

 

[capnsensible]

No, not since some marketing prat came up with Route 500 around the north of Scotland - part of which is single track roads. When sailing in years gone by we used to laugh at cars with caravans crawling along narrow roads at walking speed breathing each others exhaust fumes, now its camper vans and motor homes mixed with tour buses. Though admittedly by October and November the roads were a bit quieter, but that was over ten years ago.

Too late to go in November you are gonna need snow chains.

 

[Daydream believer]

Agree, but that would mean a different charter boat coded to Cat 2 which is 60 miles from safe haven. Most charter boats are of this type (and therefore bigger and more expensive) as they offer more possibilities for charterers.

Dover to Cap Griz Nez is about 20 miles so not more than half that mid way. Well within the 20mile limit. The same for parts of the hop CIs to French coast near Granville. ( Possibly no more than 40 miles not sure) & Granville has some Schengan agreements with the CIs I believe. Then sail along the French coats to keep within 20 miles. to St Malo etc

 

[steveeasy]

Steve - remember the rule. It’s shit up here. Overrun with midges and tourists. Best nobody else comes.

I’m sorry.
Steveeasy

 

[Daydream believer]

Just out of interest then, why have you done it? There is a bit more than a few ragged rocks to experiance.

Steveeasy

Yes, rain, heather, sheep & Adders ( been butted & bitten. - Both b..y hurt ) for starters.
Bit like the reason I did yachtmaster. The Instructor queried why on earth I was bothering. But so long as he confirmed that I scored 100% in 3 of the 4 tests & 90% in the 4Th; whereas my friends had nothing like that it was all I needed.
My friends had not done a circumnavigation, (cally)so I had to do it SH to go one up & stop the " Oh have you not been there then?" comments. It is all down to club bar punditry.
I did it twice to drive the nail in.
You have to realise that my parents dumped me up north as a kid, so I spent a lot of time wandering around the borders etc., getting used to midges. (little ones not the really big killers north of Oban) Even so, they worry me a lot less than they do a lot of the resident locals.

 

[steveeasy]

Yes, rain, heather, sheep & Adders ( been butted & bitten. - Both b..y hurt ) for starters.
Bit like the reason I did yachtmaster. The Instructor queried why on earth I was bothering. But so long as he confirmed that I scored 100% in 3 of the 4 tests & 90% in the 4Th; whereas my friends had nothing like that it was all I needed.
My friends had not done a circumnavigation, (cally)so I had to do it SH to go one up & stop the " Oh have you not been there then?" comments. It is all down to club bar punditry.
I did it twice to drive the nail in.
You have to realise that my parents dumped me up north as a kid, so I spent a lot of time wandering around the borders etc., getting used to midges. (little ones not the really big killers north of Oban) Even so, they worry me a lot less than they do a lot of the resident locals.

Your a funny man.

Steveeasy

 

[Daydream believer]

Your a funny man.

Steveeasy

You did ask

 

[dunedin]

Yes, rain, heather, sheep & Adders ( been butted & bitten. - Both b..y hurt ) for starters.
Bit like the reason I did yachtmaster. The Instructor queried why on earth I was bothering. But so long as he confirmed that I scored 100% in 3 of the 4 tests & 90% in the 4Th; whereas my friends had nothing like that it was all I needed.
My friends had not done a circumnavigation, (cally)so I had to do it SH to go one up & stop the " Oh have you not been there then?" comments. It is all down to club bar punditry.
I did it twice to drive the nail in.
You have to realise that my parents dumped me up north as a kid, so I spent a lot of time wandering around the borders etc., getting used to midges. (little ones not the really big killers north of Oban) Even so, they worry me a lot less than they do a lot of the resident locals.

But you have said you never anchored on your round (most of) Britain trips. So by definition you missed 90% of the best places in Scotland, which are almost all anchorages.

 

[Daydream believer]

But you have said you never anchored on your round (most of) Britain trips. So by definition you missed 90% of the best places in Scotland, which are almost all anchorages.

How are they the best? In what way do you rate that please?

 

[ylop]

How are they the best? In what way do you rate that please?

It’s very easy, they are remote, quiet and generally picturesque. On an objective scale you can measure this by counting the number of people who are rushing round Britain complaining that the top half is Heather covered rock (other complaints like “no McDonalds for miles, phone reception is poor, can’t get warm flat beer on the pub”, etc all count too). The quality of an anchorage is inversely proportional to the quantum of such complaints which can be heard, (or imagined by a reasonable person).

Alternative nautical criteria can be applied like shelter, swell and holding but they can only make an anchorage good or bad, never the best.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

wrong thread

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I didn’t mean to post in this thread but having read it. Any idea of a partial circumnavigation ending in October is imo a non starter. As is going up to Scotland with a return journey down the west coast in September or October. Both of course doable but likely to become a tour de force in the later stages. The option of going to Dover and then crossing and working to the CIs and N Brittany is good and very doable with easy « return / rescue « options even very late in the year. The alternative is cruising the east and SW coasts in involving some back tracking. It depends on your experience and where you have been before and if you want to revisit places you might have been to previously.

 

[Daydream believer]

It’s very easy, they are remote, quiet and generally picturesque. On an objective scale you can measure this by counting the number of people who are rushing round Britain complaining that the top half is Heather covered rock (other complaints like “no McDonalds for miles, phone reception is poor, can’t get warm flat beer on the pub”, etc all count too). The quality of an anchorage is inversely proportional to the quantum of such complaints which can be heard, (or imagined by a reasonable person).

Alternative nautical criteria can be applied like shelter, swell and holding but they can only make an anchorage good or bad, never the best.

So it is what I said, rain, heather, sheep & Adders. Rocky crags. All the same. Nothing of much difference. Then there is nowhere to go except up a hill. Might get the odd deralict castle or graveyard & drystone wall. When you do go ashore you have to ponce about with the dinghy. No exceptional pubs or restaurants that one cannot find anywhere else.
I have done the hiking bit. My grandfather dragged me on 20 mile trecks when I was only 6 years old. He was a mountain guide. ( I had to show my kids where we went to convince them)
So really I have missed nothing exceptional & I did not risk being stuck in a dangerous anchorage at night, when the wind suddenly blew up in an unexpected direction.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

So it is what I said, rain, heather, sheep & Adders. Rocky crags. All the same. Nothing of much difference. Then there is nowhere to go except up a hill. Might get the odd deralict castle or graveyard & drystone wall. When you do go ashore you have to ponce about with the dinghy. No exceptional pubs or restaurants that one cannot find anywhere else.
I have done the hiking bit. My grandfather dragged me on 20 mile trecks when I was only 6 years old. He was a mountain guide. ( I had to show my kids where we went to convince them)
So really I have missed nothing exceptional & I did not risk being stuck in a dangerous anchorage at night, when the wind suddenly blew up in an unexpected direction.

Rubish

 

[NormanS]

So it is what I said, rain, heather, sheep & Adders. Rocky crags. All the same. Nothing of much difference. Then there is nowhere to go except up a hill. Might get the odd deralict castle or graveyard & drystone wall. When you do go ashore you have to ponce about with the dinghy. No exceptional pubs or restaurants that one cannot find anywhere else.
I have done the hiking bit. My grandfather dragged me on 20 mile trecks when I was only 6 years old. He was a mountain guide. ( I had to show my kids where we went to convince them)
So really I have missed nothing exceptional & I did not risk being stuck in a dangerous anchorage at night, when the wind suddenly blew up in an unexpected direction.

Enjoy wallowing in your miserable existence.

 

[ylop]

So it is what I said, rain, heather, sheep & Adders. Rocky crags. All the same. Nothing of much difference. Then there is nowhere to go except up a hill. Might get the odd deralict castle or graveyard & drystone wall. When you do go ashore you have to ponce about with the dinghy. No exceptional pubs or restaurants that one cannot find anywhere else.
I have done the hiking bit. My grandfather dragged me on 20 mile trecks when I was only 6 years old. He was a mountain guide. ( I had to show my kids where we went to convince them)
So really I have missed nothing exceptional & I did not risk being stuck in a dangerous anchorage at night, when the wind suddenly blew up in an unexpected direction.

Certainly with the childhood trauma that you appear to be suffering from and which has left you with a desire for large populations, lacking in confidence in your anchor or abilities and a need for a pub you are probably best off keeping away.

You did miss a number of Michelin starred and rosette awarded restaurants in the process as well as characterful little tea rooms etc.

 

[dunedin]

So it is what I said, rain, heather, sheep & Adders. Rocky crags. All the same. Nothing of much difference. Then there is nowhere to go except up a hill. Might get the odd deralict castle or graveyard & drystone wall. When you do go ashore you have to ponce about with the dinghy. No exceptional pubs or restaurants that one cannot find anywhere else.
I have done the hiking bit. My grandfather dragged me on 20 mile trecks when I was only 6 years old. He was a mountain guide. ( I had to show my kids where we went to convince them)
So really I have missed nothing exceptional & I did not risk being stuck in a dangerous anchorage at night, when the wind suddenly blew up in an unexpected direction.

I agree - people should focus on cruising, around muddy creeks with plenty of concrete buildings and cities nearby. Much better

 

[Daydream believer]

I agree - people should focus on cruising, around muddy creeks with plenty of concrete buildings and cities nearby. Much better

No I am not into muddy creeks either. Once you have been up one, you have been up them all. If i wanted to see deralict concrete etc. I would go up the Medway.