As you know, we finally set sail from Wick after a good time off. We sailed through some wet, nasty weather and out into the clear, To our right there was the Beatrice Oil Field looking like something from Mad Max! The chart suggests you sail around the marked exploration area, so we did just that. Our sailing varied from a brisk 8.5 knots down to 3.00 – so we had the “Ior n Sail” off and on as we went. We arrived at Lossiemouth right at the predicted time and found another yacht sitting just off the harbor entrance. The chart showed only 0.4 meters of depth (to which you have to add the appropriate tide). In this case we arrived a couple of hours after Low Water and so we should have had the required 2 meters to enter (that’s the depth of our Keel). We dropped and rolled the sails and motored over to the other boat to see what was what. We had 3 contradictory pieces of information. 1) The Chart showing very low water 2) The Almanac showing the harbor/marina dredged to 2 meters and 3) Barry’s iPad showing 3 to 4 meters of depth. The other boat was drawing 0.5 m less than us so they said they were going in and would radio to tell us what they had under there keel as they went in. They did just that and told us they had 1.0m under there keel so we were in business. We entered at very low speeds (me at the helm) and made the 180 degree turn straight from the narrow harbor mouth and in to the East basin where the visitors births are. We could see immediately that the very last easy birth had been taken by the boat in front of us! We had been trying to raise the Harbor Master and Marina all day – but without any luck. As we entered the basin our low depth warning alarms started to scream. I first tried us on a short pontoon birth but I could feel the keel slide into the silt! I backed out of there, swung the boat around in a very close space (she does turn nicely_) and tried to head out and up to the West basin. This time the Alarms really screened and I stopped the boat dead as the indicator went to 1.8m (we need a minimum of 2.0)! Now I backed up and had to wrestle the boat into a space where we could raft up. We looked ridiculous – rafted up to the biggest boat we could find, but so, so much smaller than us. This was later corrected when the skipper of the other boat returned and offered to swap places – with us on the pontoon and him rafted to us. In any event, we were in and the boat made good for the evening. We then headed out to dinner and celebrate the last night as the total group. We’d already lost James and we were about to lose Lloyd (sorry Barclay). We entered up in a place called 1629, a white tablecloth Italian inspired Asian up market cocktail come wine bar With the most extensive menu I’ve seen n a long time. With only a resident population of about 5,000, surprisingly, there are 5 Indian restaurants in Lossiemouth, but not a lot of other choices! We retuned to the boat and after the usual gathering around the Salon table, we headed to bed. I had already told Barry that I wouldn’t be joining the team the next day if they went out to sail in the bay, I wanted some shore time ahead of the last push down the North Sea. 
So here I am in Elgin, sitting in a Costa Coffee writing this dribble. I had a nice walk through Lossiemouth where it seems everyone is nice and wanting to speak. I was given local insight that the bus service to Elgin was circular and went both ways. There were 2 bus stops and 1 bus shelter. The next bus would be from the stop opposite the shelter. So I walked up to the bus stops (it was now raining) and was about to cross over to the stop for the earliest bus (33 minutes ahead of the later bus, and only 5 minutes off) when I noticed a couple of folks in the shelter. I popped my head in and just confirmed the next bus to Elgin went from the stop opposite.
“Oh it does indeed”

“Are you waiting for it here”

“Not at all – I’m getting the later bus into Elgin”

“Oh, do they go to different places”

“No – but I like the direction of this one better”

The other person in there seemed to not be with us. Her jaw was sucked in, in the way that some Scottish folks jaws are – possibly as the result of bad dentistry – who knows. Her eyes were sunken and distant. She was smoking a roll up with practically nothing in it and drinking from a can of own label beer. She didn’t answer.

On arrival in Elgin, I made my way here to the Tourist Information Office, which happened to be the Public Library. I hadn’t been in a British Public Library for over a quarter of a century (nor any other to be honest) and I was shocked – positively shocked. Firstly, this library is busy, which may be a function of other things to do in Elgin, but I think not. The Library staff function both as Librarians and also the local Tourist Information Officers. Earlier, I asked about Distillery Tours (I know, this is starting to look like a fascination – and so it is)! I was shocked to find that they had an expert on hand and a young librarian collected information and then put his own personal tough on it, but endorsing a tour of the Glenn Moray Distillery (conveniently close by).

And so with such a glowing recommendation – it would have been rude not to have gone and done the tour (which I have now done did with 4 friends from the crew – see later section on “The People of Tonic). Before doing the tour, I sat upstairs in the “Resources” center and admired this hive of activity while knocking out some e mails and researching a few things. It does seem to me that Scotland is much better organized to help its people and it brands it regions in a proud way, not a commercial way, like England. There seems a more obvious sense of community and a real presence of being in Europe (which they are about not to be – may be). There is evidence everywhere of things being funded by The European Commission of WHATEVER. In England – the funding probably came from the National Lottery (which clearly some people see as being the same is Europe).

The tour was very instructive and a great hit with my new Swiss friends, Oli and Yvonne (not really – it’s Ivan – pronounced Yvonne though). They turned out to be the stars of the crew in the week they were with us – more to come later on this very modest loving couple.
The trip to Elgin was rounded out with a walk about the town center, lunching at a “zippy” Belhaven formula pub and a bus ride back to Lossiemouth. The bus return bus ride made me sad – not because I was returning to the boat – but because of an incident getting on the bus. Remember the lady from the bus shelter in Lossiemouth? She got on my bus coming here – can of beer and roll up cigarette? We’ll she coincidently tried to get on my return bus – looking even more jaded and drunk. This time the bus driver refused to let her ride without paying a fare. “Right too” was the attitude of my fellow passengers who laugher and looked at each other each time she tried to get on. It was clear she had no means of paying her fare and so she was ejected from the bus, three times (she had resolve). This was a very sad scene and I watched it play out and sat realizing I had a pocket full of change that could have resolve the issue and I hadn’t moved. I was very disappointed in myself. Bernadette and I long ago resolved to always try and help people in the streets who clearly deserved a hand up. Luckily for me, the opportunity presented itself when we had to get off the bus we were sat on when it was declared out of service (knackered) and we moved to the bus next to us. Annie, the drunken lady was ever present(I knew her name because she was known to the bus inspector who came to supervise the transfer over and he called her out and told her not to get on the bus). I pushed a small note into her hand and told her “that’s for your bus fare – not for a bevy”. A young guy saw me doing this and told me I was ridiculous. It made my blood boil. I told him it wasn’t and he should mind his own business. I was sad that it took me so long to do something so simply done in the end. I was mad that the folks around me were clearly lacking in any humanity at all – and I had become one of them for a while and I was really sad to think there was no obvious avenue for this poor woman to have a normal life. I have no idea what her circumstances are or what led to her present state – but whatever it was – it was sad, not ridiculous.

The following day was incredibly hot and sunny and nice. I said goodbye to John the copper as he dashed to get his early bus and start his long journey back to the Midlands. I was sad to see him go – he was a character and a nice man. He provided balance and he was funny! He was happy to be the butt of other people’s jokes and ride them out. I said goodbye to the other departing crew members (Oli and Ivan), welcomed the new crew member (Peter and Graham) and prepared the boat for our late evening departure for the long haul down the Scottish coast and over into English waters and to the beauty of the Northumbrian Coast line. 

More to come of the storms and incidents we were about to face!

Pip pip 

N