A very busy morning!

I probably managed a couple of hours sleep altogether, divided up into half-hour stretches, eventually waking properly as daylight started to creep into the boat.
I first checked I was still in the same place, although I'd been doing that all night by GPS. I wouldn't have been too popular if I'd dragged onto the gas pipes coming ashore at Easington!
Happily I hadn't moved, even better, the wind had piped up from the west. This was about F3/4 and, if it continued, would get me safely across the Humber.

I got ready, not difficult as I was still fully dressed, and pulled up the anchor. The tide was in my favour, and with the wind being helpful I was soon heading towards the very busy mouth of the Humber.
Without an engine I'd have to judge it carefully, if things were going wrong I'd be able to head north again, but changing direction in that sort of way isn't recommended in front of a few thousand tons of tanker...

I'd put plenty of waypoints in the GPS, many of them were buoys marking the ship channels, so at least I knew where I was!
The river was as busy as usual as I made my approach, ships heading both into and out of the river, pilot boats, windfarm boats, fishing boats. The bum cheeks were firmly clenched...

As I neared the channel the flow of traffic out of the river eased, it was obvious that not much went against the river current. This made the job a little easier.
There was still plenty of metal heading into the river.
I had to sail around a while waiting for my gap to cross, by the time it came the wind had got up to F5, which would help.

I headed across the channel with bum cheeks still clenched, keeping an eye on the one ship heading in which, if it was going particularly quickly, could spoil my day.
About halfway across the channel (so out of the inbound lane) it became clear that it was going particularly quickly! I was halfway across the outbound channel as it passed astern. Closer than I would have liked, but I don't think I upset anyone as the VHF stayed quiet!      
I was soon across and clear of the shipping channel, bum relaxed...

The only thing now between me and Saltfleet was the Donna Nook bombing range. This meant heading out to sea for about 4 miles, before coming back in just south of it. If the range was closed I could sail straight down the beach to Saltfleet. Then the VHF came to life. One of the windfarm boats was asking if the range was open. It wasn't. He headed out around it, I followed.
I did sneak inside the buoys marking the furthest corners of the range, I didn't expect bombs to rain down there, and it would save me a few minutes.

The problems began when I turned back to reach Saltfleet from near DZ4 buoy. The wind was still F5 from the west, which wasn't too much of a problem, but the tide was running strongly south. On the port tack I was making a little progress north, a little west. On starboard tack I was going south!
I tried for an hour, and made my way slowly to a point around halfway between DZ4 and DZ5, about half a mile. I had another 3 miles to go. At that rate I'd not make the channel at Saltfleet until after high tide if I made it at all.  
I phoned Billy, Commodore at Saltfleet to see if there was anyone around who could give me a tow. He said to give him a few minutes to see what he could do.

After a while I had a call on the VHF from the Coastguard. Billy had been in touch with them to explain my situation, he'd not been able to find me a tow without coming out in the RIB, which wouldn't have been a good plan in the current conditions.
The Coastguard had tasked the Mablethorpe lifeboat, which was already on it's way to me. They were soon in touch by VHF and astern of me within 15 minutes.
A crewman was put onto my boat and the tow was soon set up. Being towed at 6 knots through 4ft seas, I got wet. Very wet, but relaxed and very happy to have the help.

The lifeboat cox was having trouble finding the tidal height at Saltfleet and asked my advice. I'd been planning on heading into the river at around 11.00, and said that anything before 10.30 would be pushing our luck, so we waited for a while. Around 10.30 I rang Billy again, he said it would be OK to head in, and he'd meet us in the RIB, so our little convoy headed upriver, Billy in the RIB, the inshore lifeboat, then me on the end of a rope!
The lifeboat dropped me at the visitor's mooring, then left after a few laughs and many thanks. Billy took the engine off the RIB, I swapped it for the little Yamaha and headed up to my mooring, three weeks and a day since I'd left.

I was exhausted. The last couple of days had taken all I'd got left.
In the clubhouse, Billy made the tea and we had a chat for a while before he drove me back to his place where I'd left my car. He said he'd got jump leads if it wouldn't start after being sat for so long. After all the engine trouble I'd had I wouldn't have been surprised to have more....
It started as though I'd only been gone an hour!  

Scarborough to Saltfleet. Almost....

After a few days of rest at Scarborough, the weather looked like it was going to let us do the final leg back to Saltfleet. The plan was to sail as far as possible towards the Humber and anchor somewhere there, before heading into Saltfleet the next morning. Much like I'd done on the way up three weeks earlier.
Bridlington was going to be avoided for two reasons. Firstly, I felt like I'd been away from home for long enough, I was aching and tired - I needed a proper rest. Secondly, Brid isn't yacht-friendly. The walls are tall and the ladders are vertical and dirty. At the moment they've got a dredger and barge working which takes up a lot of room, this means visiting boats are forced into a distant corner, sometimes rafted 3 deep.
Ali has never been keen on ladders, and with her not feeling too well since we left the Tyne, I thought it best to miss brid and head straight for Saltfleet.

So, early on Sunday morning we left Scarborough and headed south with a nice F4 N/E to carry us along, the downside of this was it would be a "rolly" day with seas having hundreds of miles of the North Sea to build up behind us....
Quite early on it was clear that Ali wasn't enjoying it much.

With Filey Bay behind us, Flamborough Head was the next landmark and a big milestone in the journey home. I was a bit worried that the seas off the head would be rough as the N/Easterly was still blowing F4/5 as we approached. I decided to stay at least a mile off to avoid the worst of it.
A mile off turned out to be too close!
The seas were being reflected off the cliffs north of Flamborough, making it quite an "interesting" passage. Confused seas with the odd 8ft wave coming from any direction, the boat felt very small and was being thrown about like a cork.
A headed a bit further out to sea with little difference, a mile and a half away from the cliffs was still unpleasant. I knew that we would be in the lee of the cliffs soon, so gave up on trying to avoid the worst of it and headed back closer to the cliffs as we were now almost due east of Flamborough head. Half an hour of being thrown around, collecting a few bruises and a few more aches, and we started to get in the lee of the cliffs.
It was like being picked up and dropped into a different sea!
5-6ft seas (with the occasional big one!) suddenly became 1-2ft. Time to relax at last.

The last few hours had left me very tired, even after a few days in Scarborough I had little spare energy. I was aching all over and needed a rest.
The wind eased as I headed down the coast, gradually making my way inshore, until I reached Ulrome. The tide was now against us and progress had slowed. Ulrome looked like a couple of houses surrounded with caravans. I did't mind. I dropped the hook, dropped into the cabin and dropped off!

Not sure how long I slept, maybe 30 minutes.
I woke to find Ali looking green and extremely unhappy. The boat had been rolling badly in the swell coming from the N/E as I'd slept.
I pulled up the hook and started sailing again, I knew the motion of the boat would be much better under sail, although it didn't seem to help Ali...
With the wind now down to F2-3 and the tide running against us, we were making very little progress. I'd decided to carry on as the tide would be changing soon, and I wanted to make as much progress south as I could before dark.
Then the weather forecast came over the VHF. Tonight would be F4-5, and still from the N/E.
With Ali looking worse all the time, I was worried she could be seriously ill if we spent the night rolling badly at anchor. The only choice then would be to call out the lifeboat.
I turned the boat round, started the engine, and headed back for Bridlington.

After a while Ali poked her head out of the hatch and looked confused, although ill, she still knew the coast was on the wrong side of the boat!
I explained my decision and she went back below clutching the bucket.

The engine seemed to be coughing a bit more than normal as we approached Brid, I'd been used to the odd moment of spluttering, but it was now every couple of minutes.
I called Brid harbour on the VHF, but got no reply, so headed in.
As we rounded the first of the fishing boats inside the harbour I was directed to tie up to the dredger until the tide was high enough to reach "Yacht corner".
I'd stopped the engine to hear the directions, it took a good few pulls before it reluctantly fired. It pushed us towards the dredger and stopped again. We waited there for a while, then were told to move further into the harbour. The engine didn't want to play again. A couple of aborted starts got us towards where we were going. I was getting too tired to keep pulling on the starter, so got out the big oar and paddled us up to the side of the extremely tall fishing boat I'd been told to tie up to.
This boat was so tall all I could reach to tie to was a ladder set into it's side. Ali was getting worried that she wouldn't be able to get off at all!
I guessed that with all the comings and goings, we'd be able to move to somewhere more suitable soon. Eventually we were rafted on the outside of two fishing boats of a more reasonable scale. Ali wasn't really comfortable, It would still mean climbing across two boats and then tackling the vertical ladder, but there was no alternative.

We decided it would be best for Ali to go home by road, and she called her sister. The next day she would drive down from Newcastle, pick Ali up, then take her home before driving back up to Newcastle!

I then set to trying to sort out the engine. It was now refusing to start at all.
I stripped out most of the ignition system (again....), cleaned plugs and points, checked all the wiring. Still no sparks...
I then got some help from a boat moored nearby, "Sunshine" turned out to be from the Humber, crewed by Steve and son Michael who were long-time friends of a good friend of mine - Ted, another Humber sailor and almost a neighbour!
It turned out that Steve was a motorcycle mechanic. He came aboard and went through my electrics, coming to the same conclusion as me - the condenser was on it's last legs.

He offered me the use of his dinghy engine, a tiny 2hp Yamaha. After some work to get it running (it had lain unused for over a year) it ran well and seemed to move the boat around the harbour OK when we had to move to allow a long keeled yacht to lean against the wall.
So, with my engine lying on the cabin sole, the plan was to set off the next day using Yamaha power!

The weather forecast in the morning wasn't so good. F6 mentioned. I decided it might be a poor plan to set off into that with only 2hp to get me out of trouble if I'd needed it crossing the Humber.
I got on the phone and ordered a new condenser from Bill Higham in Manchester, he couldn't get hold of the right part, but told me he'd send one that would do the job although it would have to be mounted differently.
I pulled the big engine back up into the cockpit and fitted it back in the well ready for the new part...

It turned up the next day and I spent an hour or so bolting it on and wiring it in.
It still wouldn't start.        
I'd now really had enough. Yesterday's forecast had been wildly wrong, I could have been back at Saltfleet by now.
I decided to swap engines yet again, then  set off as soon as possible with 2hp behind me!
I'd got everything ready to go, so went to start the engine. It wouldn't!!!!
I'd been bought up on old 2 strokes, so guessed a new spark plug would help. I found a motorcycle shop in the town, replaced the plug, then tried again. It started first pull!

There was quite a bit of chop in the harbour entrance as I edged slowly out, the little Yamaha screaming away, but I was soon out and pulled up the sail and stopped the little Yam.
An hour or so after leaving I could see the clouds building over Brid. Big and black. As they edged out from the coast I was reminded of the squall I'd met just before reaching the Tyne. I pulled on all my wet weather gear and got ready for the deluge.
It didn't happen!
The cloud rolled over me, hiding Bridlington from view altogether, but although the wind picked up considerably, there was no rain. Just thunder and lightning! Lots of it.
The weather eventually blew over and I continued south, trying to get as far as Easington where I could drop the hook for the night.

As the light started to fade I started to make my way inshore, the wind had now gone S/W - better for a night at anchor, but on the nose for getting close enough to the beach to drop it!
I started the little Yam, pleased as it fired up and ran like a little sewing machine. Making a couple of knots I gradually got closer to the cliffs. Then it stopped! Suddenly. In a "seized up" sort of way.
Pulling on the starter said different, it wasn't seized but did feel very tight. It would fire, but no way was it going to run.

I thought of dropping the hook, then remembered that the tide was still  going the right way!
The wind had almost died now, but the little bit there was helped get me further south. Very slowly.
As  it began to get dark I was passing Easington gas terminal, then the wind died altogether.
The tide and my planned course just happened to coincide, so I drifted slowly past. I watched the GPS and decided to drop the hook once I'd stopped going south.
I just made it past the gas terminal when it stopped. I dropped the hook and gradually let out chain as I started to drift back north.
Too stressed to sleep properly, I crashed out on top of the gear in the cabin. I knew that if the wind didn't co-operate in the morning I'd be getting a tow from the lifeboat...

Runswick Bay to Scarborough.

After all the excitement of yesterday, with big seas and dragging (floating!) anchors, I was hoping for something a little easier today.
It's about 20 miles from Runswick Bay to Scarborough, passing Whitby on the way. Although a pleasant spot, I'd decided against going into Whitby and getting as far south as possible as Ali was still feeling under the weather.

We left the bay under sail, but very slowly, and, with the tide ebbing against us, the pot markers along the route were keeping up with us! Engine on again...
The wind picked up a little later, and the foul tide eased, so we could do some sailing.
Whitby was soon behind us, the destination for a Dutch boat that gave a friendly wave, a welcome sight on a fairly boat-free stretch of coast.

I was still having to tack as we passed Robin Hood's Bay and progress was slow.
As we neared Scarborough the wind had changed and we were pushing along at 4knts, aiming to reach the harbour around high water.
The last couple of miles flew by as the wind increased to a good F5 and the tide got behind us, at one point I  saw 7knts on the GPS!

Near the castle I radioed in to let Neil at the marina know I was back, then dropped the sail. As we motored in Ali made her first appearance in the cockpit, still feeling very "green".
She was just in time to see a porpoise ahead of us, then a little later a group of 3, it looked to be 2 adults and their offspring. Ali loves dolphins, but this was close enough to make her day!
All that was left was to beat the daytrip boat into the harbour and tie up.
I'd remembered that Scarborough Yacht Club bar opens on a Wednesday evening, you'd be forgiven thinking I'd planned to arrive on a Wednesday.....

The usual friendliness of Scarborough showed itself again when I asked someone where I could buy petrol, almost without thinking he offered to take me in his car, so this time that job was done early!
Eddie made us welcome in the club in the evening, giving me use of their computer to check the weather forecast. It didn't look too clever, and with Ali still needing a break, I decided we'd have a few days "holiday".
The plan was to do the chip shop, beach, rock and all the tourist bit before leaving on Sunday.
To be honest, after the last few days of sailing solo, I needed a break as well!

Engine update.

I got the head gasket yesterday, decided to take my time with the rebuild, so spread it over 2 days.
Just finished bolting it back together, dropped it onto the test tank (big blue bin!) and connected the fuel.
5 pulls and it started.
Runs better than it ever has, starts really easily now, usually first pull.
Left it running in the tank for a while for things to settle in....

Happy chappie!

Heading south.

After a weekend ashore, which helped to recharge my batteries, it was time to start the return journey. Ali was going to be coming with me, so I was hoping for an easier trip as she was good on the helm.
The plan was to go down the Tyne with the tide, it's 7 miles and seems a lot longer! The snag was that the ebb started in the afternoon, which didn't leave much time to get anywhere after the run down the river. I decided to drop down to the mouth of the Tyne in the afternoon, then drop the hook off Herd Sand, South Shields, for the night. We could then set off south early the next morning.

So, extra gear loaded, I said my goodbyes to the excellent staff at St.Peter's marina and we headed off downriver.
The engine still had the occasional miss-fire, but nothing unusual....
The wind was behind us, so I had the sail up as soon as possible, sailing is what I was there for! With the tide ebbing, we were soon at South Shields and dropping the anchor.

The pilot book had warned of the chance of the anchor fouling on the bottom there, so I buoyed it just to be on the safe side,  we were only in about 2-3 metres of water, but I didn't fancy having to jump in to free the anchor if it got stuck!
The wind and tide were conspiring to cause the boat to shear about, so I tied a line onto the chain, let a few more metres out, then took the other end of the line back to the cockpit. With this pulled in, the boat sat at a better angle to the wind and the shearing stopped.
We eventually settled down to a peaceful night's sleep, but I wanted to be up early as Runswick Bay was the target, and in a straight line it was 35 miles away...

Up at around 5am, I got the boat ready to go, then went forward to pull the anchor back up, half-expecting to have problems. Despite the pilot 's warnings it came straight up, so the chain, anchor and still-attached buoy were dropped into the anchor locker. Something I'd regret later....
Out between the piers and the sailing was perfect, the wind was from the west and about F3. Marsden Grotto, Souter lighthouse, then Sunderland were soon behind us.

As Seaham came abeam the tide was against us, and it seemed to take forever before Hartlepool came into view. The wind wasn't helping much either, having gradually backed and increased all morning until I was hard on the wind with the seas building to 3-4ft. Uncomfortable.
Due to the early start, Ali had still been asleep when I left the Tyne, and as the bouncing and slamming increased she was reluctant to sit in the cockpit, so stayed below, reading.
A while after passing Hartlepool the wind backed more, and was now a S/E F5 with some stronger gusts. Tacking with the tide against us didn't seem to be getting far, I worked out that it would be dark long  before we reached Runswick Bay, somewhere I didn't fancy entering without some daylight.

I made the decision and started the engine. A little later I dropped the sail as it wasn't helping a great deal!
After an hour or so the wind was up to F6 and the seas were getting bigger. I thought about a change of plan and consulted the pilot book. Hartlepool would have been easy to reach, dead downwind, but the pilot strongly advised against entering in a strong S/E....
I hoped that if I stayed well inshore, once we'd passed Middlesborough we'd get a bit of shelter from the coast until we reached Runswick Bay. So on we went.
For the next few hours the wind stayed at F6 and S/E, this meant that we were pushing into 6-8ft seas by the time we reached the shipping channel into the Tees. There was a fair amount of traffic here, so it meant a bit of hanging around for a good gap before I could cross. As soon as I started I could see a couple of large tugs on their way out, but guessed correctly that I'd be across the narrow channel safely before they reached my  position. A bit of added stress I didn't really need though!
As we approached Redcar and the coast, I realised the shelter from it was going to be minimal, at least the seas were down to 4-5ft...
This didn't seem to help Ali much, she was suffering from seasickness and I couldn't persuade her to come out of the cabin.

Anchored off Redcar, right where I wanted to sail, was some sort of floating platform, enormous - oil rig scale. A bit of research tells me it was the "Tog Mor" http://www.allseas.com/uk/59/equipment/tog-mor.html  This meant I had to get a little closer to the beach than I'd planned, it gets a bit shallow here. At one point the depth showed less than 1m below the keel, with the wave height still at 3-4ft I was more than a little nervous!
Salt Scar is a long reef off Redcar, and I had to head out to sea to make sure I cleared it, but once past that, the way was clear to Runswick Bay, still another 12 miles away.
We passed Skinningrove, a place I'd like to visit in better weather, then were amazed to see half a dozen or so swimmers off Staithes! In wetsuits, probably surfers, they seemed to be having fun as I shivered, wet and tired past them....
Port Mulgrave, or what's left of it after being blown up to prevent the Germans invading North Yorkshire, still held a few small fishing boats. I've no idea how they manage in any northerly gales!
Eventually, after 7 hours on the engine, bouncing around the cockpit, being drenched in saltwater, aching all over, I could see into Runswick Bay. Relief!

I motored into the S/E corner to get as much shelter as possible, then, in about 4m of water I cut the engine and went forward to drop the anchor. I dropped it overboard along with the buoy I'd tied on at South Shields. I let out some chain, no idea how much really, I was absolutely shattered. We'd left the Tyne around 6am, it was now about 9.30pm. I'd had nothing to eat or drink all day, and felt like I'd been on the wrong side of Mike Tyson...  
Ali was still ill, so I ate something - no idea what, a lot of this evening is a bit of a blur.
I'd been keeping an eye open on our position until I dropped off to sleep, we seemed pretty much static, so the anchor must be fine I thought.

Around 4am I woke up and had a look around. The cliffs that had been fairly close last time I'd looked were different somehow, more distant. Out of the other side, the village wasn't there at all.
I jumped out into the cockpit to discover we were drifting gently out to sea!!!
It was fairly calm and we were still in the middle of the bay, so luckily in no immediate danger. I went forward and pulled up the anchor. There was a lot of chain out and I couldn't work out why we'd dragged. That was until I realised the buoy I'd tied on at South Shields was the problem. It was on about 5m of line, plenty for where we had been when I needed it, but as the tide had risen at Runswick it had lifted the anchor out!
I untied it, then went back to motor us back into the bay.
I dropped the anchor (without buoy!) and went back to bed, although I couldn't sleep after that scare.

Engine problems.

Since getting home, I've had the chance to sort out my outboard once and for all. I hope...

The problem has been ignition-based. During the trip various "repairs" had made a difference. Cleaning up and setting the points, insulating the cracked wire to the condensor, new spark plugs, etc.

At home I'd got an almost complete engine for spares, the snag was that it had electronic (CDI) ignition where mine was the old points and condensor setup.
So I thought it would be better to upgrade the one I was using with the CDI setup from the old one. Couldn't use the other engine, it had a cracked engine block.

A quick look and things appeared fairly simple, the extra bits bolted onto the block, the pulser coil fitted where the points went, etc.

I might have been a bit wrong again!

Pulled off the camshaft pulley to swap the points out. The pulser coil didn't fit - the casting on the cylinder head was different, only slightly, but different.
So that'll be a change of cylinder head as well then!

The donor engine had a cracked block, this had been due to a seized and broken stud in the cylinder head. That meant I first had to drill out the broken stud, another job on the list...
While doing that I worked out why the previous owner had been trying to remove the head. The internal water passages were blocked with salt/calcium deposits, this had probably caused overheating and failed head gasket.
So cleaning the passages out was added to the list!
A couple of days later and I had a usable head.

I didn't have a head gasket for a rebuild (still waiting for that) so decided to leave what was left of mine in place and bolt the thing together temporarily so I could at least get the electronic ignition together and working.

So, head back on, pulser coil fitted, cam pulley bolted on.

The flywheel had to come off next, so I could change the ignition coil under there.
It actually came off easily and the parts swapped without a problem!

Then there were a couple more bits to fit. The CDI unit bolted onto the inlet manifold. Mine didn't have the casting to bolt to, so had to swap that with the one from the other engine...

Then there was the reverse switch. Of course, mine didn't use one at all. Fitting that included swapping the gearchange linkage and pivot arm!

Minor one, the stop switch connector was different, so chopped  off mine and fitted a bullet connector to match.

Eventually the wiring matched the diagram I had, so I fitted the spark plugs into the leads, held them against the engine and pulled on the starter cord.

It sparks!!!

Good big sparks, for the first time since I've had the engine.

So yes, you can convert an old Honda 10hp 4 stroke to electronic ignition.
But you need the cylinder head, cam pulley, inlet manifold and gearchange linkage as well as the complete CDI setup and wiring loom to do it...

Now I need that head gasket....

Running out of petrol.

I mentioned it in my last "trip" post, but only briefly. The whole story is a bit more interesting!

Since I'd fixed the engine in Scarborough (or thought I had....) I'd still had the occasional misfire, it would run rough for a couple of seconds before picking up again. This happened every half an hour or so. Looking back, it's something that has happened since I got the engine.
So, when it coughed and spluttered going up the Tyne I though at first that it was the same old thing. That was until it stopped!
I was near some moored fishing boats, some looked derelict, others were in better shape, not that it mattered much. I pushed the tiller over and hoped to grab hold of one...
The tide was ebbing, so I didn't quite make it. I was a few feet short of even attempting to grab anything, so I scrambled to the bow and dropped the anchor before I ended up back out at sea (or bouncing off a ferry!).
The anchor held and I tried starting the engine. It fired up, but not for long. This was when petrol crossed my mind...
After checking the tank I realised I wasn't going anywhere tonight.
I made a plan, which is an unusual thing for me to do. I'd start the engine, hoping for enough power to get me to the fishing boat   which was about 10 metres ahead of me and a couple of metres nearer the riverbank, get a line onto it before the tide took me back, then relax.
I tied  a line onto my boat ready for use, fired up the engine (after pumping the priming bulb for a minute or so) and aimed it at the fishing boat!
As expected, the engine died before I got there, but there was enough momentum to carry me up to a tyre hanging off the side of the fishing boat. If I could just get a line through it...
Leaning out of the cockpit, left leg through the companionway into the cabin, I just managed to grab the tyre by my fingertips as my boat came to a halt. Then the tide took over!
As the pressure of the river Tyne pushed the boat back my arms stretched, my leg stretched from the cabin and I realised I was onto a loser. I let go, the boat settled back onto the anchor.
Plan B was the same as Plan A, I just hoped that I could get a bit closer this time.
Pumped the priming bulb again, fired up the engine again, this time I opened the throttle wide and hoped for the best.
This time I managed to get a line through the tyre!
I tied it off and slumped into the cockpit, knackered.
After 10 mins rest I readied a couple more lines and climbed onto the fishing boat. Stepping over holes in the deck, I pulled Yuan Hang up level with it and tied up for the night.
I sat back in the cockpit for another rest...

It was about 11pm, so the chances of getting any petrol tonight were slim, but I thought I might as well go and explore a bit, at least find out where I was.
I climbed over the fishing boat (actually, the derelict ex-fishing boat) and onto some dodgy floating pontoons made from sleepers and plywood, then up a ladder into what turned out to be a scrapyard, locked. I thought the best plan would be to get some sleep, then surprise the scrapyard workers in the morning!

After an uncomfortable night, half-expecting the derelict I was moored to was going to sink and take me with it, I did the assault-course trip back up to the scrapyard. There was a guy working on a forklift truck who, as I explained I'd run out of petrol in a boat, didn't bat an eyelid.
He gave me directions to the, luckily nearby, petrol station, and I went for essential supplies.

Once the tank was topped up, the engine started easily and I made my way up to St. Peters Marina.
I couldn't have been made more welcome, tied up in the visitor's berth, my battery on charge in the marina offices, I had a shower before being picked up by Ali and her sister for a weekend on dry land.  

Just a quickie!

I'm home.

Since I've got back I've needed to rest, a lot!
Stiff and aching from 3 weeks on a small boat, tired from being short of sleep.
The arthritis has been coming on strongly for a while now, which has made the whole trip much harder.

Still have engine trouble to resolve, but working at home and at my own pace is much easier than working on a rolling boat under pressure....

I'll be posting the rest of the trip soon, including 8ft seas, seasickness, 2 failed engines and ending with a tow for the last 2 miles into Saltfleet.