Day to stretch the legs

Nothing like cutting it fine - we cruised into Arbroath harbour yesterday evening with about 15 minutes to spare before they closed the gates! It was one of those frustrating wind days, it was on the nose the whole way out of the Forth - all 25 miles of it - then when we escaped the Forth it decided to die!! So unfortunately we had a large amount of motoring to do but hopefully the wind will return tomorrow and we can have a great sail to Stonehaven. Had a cracking day today along the cliffs towards Auchmithie - we were led to believe it was a 3 mile walk but definately not, on arriving at Auchmithie we saw a signpost to Arbroath 4 3/4 miles. Anyhow it was still a fab day, with sea stacks and cliffs, it was very cool to see the young gulls on the cliffs trying to fly for the first time. My in laws drove out to meet us at Auchmithie and without their help I think we would not have managed to ‘catch’ our dinner. Our dinner being Arbroath smokies - well we had to eat local and this was as local as we could get!! So it was a real Scottish feast for dinner, Arbroath smokies and salad, crackers with smokie pate and Tayside raspberries and strawberries with cream courtesy of my in laws again - thank you :-) It’s now only 1930, we’ve eaten dinner and all washed up - so that can only be one thing - Articulate time :-)
Karen out

First day of sailing yesterday - sailed all the way from Edinburgh to Arbroath. It wasn’t the best weather to sail and everyone was more or less quesy. In addition, we were against the time to get to the marina, as they were closing the gates at 8. When we finally arrived in Abroath, I bet everyone was happy to stand on the land. Today’s been absolutely fantastic day. We stayed in Abroath, which is a lovely, peacful town, and walked along the cliffs for about 5 miles to a nearby small town called Auchmithie. It was such an amazing view from the cliffs, absolutely fantastic! The weather was nice too, not too cold and we had a bit of a shinshine as well. One of the funniest parts of the day was when Caren, Cathy, Larvell and I saw the village we were heading and decided to walk back to the guys who were left behind to tell them that there’s no village and we need to walk all the way back. The look on their faces and moaning, it was hilarious! Once we got to the village the bus was just heading back, so we decieded to take the next one, which was supposed to be in an hour, and we headed to the beach. Of course the next bus wasn’t until two hours and we had to wait for another hour at the village. Finally back on the boat we had Abroath smokies - smoked fish - for tea and strawberries and cream for pudding. That was lovely! Now, it’s time to have a cup of tea and play games. Looking forward to tomorrow when we’re sailing to Stonehaven. -Maria

Me legs are stiff after after the 9 hour sail yesterday and the 9k walk today. but tomorows sail should be interesting if we manage to get some decent weather. seem to have gotten a knack recently for getting sunburnt, after i put some cream on yesterday and it chucked it down with rain then today didn’t bother as it was overcast and still got burnt. Also the smokies today were...an acquired taste greasy and not that much taste, but not really a fish person well part from a friday fish supper :) -jonathan [28/06/09 20:00]