Day 24 - Amble to Eyemouth

Amble

The 5 day stopover in Amble was a lovely break.  We got to meet up with Deidre's partner Steve's daughter Louisa, Darren, Freya and Pirate Sam. On our last night we even had 6 for dinner around our saloon table - another first for Lunar Sea.


The last sunset at Amble

The facilities at Amble were great and had some good innovations, ie. a reception and fuel pontoon combined where, out of hours, you could pick up a welcome pack detailing available berths and an access card for the showers, gate, toilets and laundry. The ladies even had a bath - that must be almost unique!  Also, around the pontoons were numerous SOS points marked with high red 'SOS' at the top of poles, containing fire extinguisher, life buoy, etc at each - an excellent approach.

Amble itself has gone through quite a change from the coal barges that used to load up in the river mid last century to quite a forward thinking town nowadays. The 20 or so recent 'Pods' by the lifeboat station, which are basically 12' square sheds used for either small businesses or an extension to an existing business, are a prime example - albeit they were closed (perhaps open at the weekends).

View of River Coquet

The castle at Warkworth, about a 30 minute walk, and the Coquet Yacht Club just a little further up the river were well worth a visit.  The Yacht Club in particular, only open at the weekends and run by volunteers, could not have been any friendlier and they did a hearty Sunday lunch.
The Berwick to Newcastle bus drops off at Amble (Fourways) to go further afield.


Amble to Eyemouth

But onwards we must go, so our next stop was Eyemouth, some 41 miles North.
Unfortunately, with a high water at 02:49 it was going to have to be an early start to make sure we got over the sill with plenty of water and on a falling tide. This meant prudently leaving at 04:30. The good thing about this was we would take the tidal stream North for the majority of the trip.

A course was laid through the Farne Islands and past Holy Island (Lindisfarne) and off we went.
The sky was fairly clear so we were looking forward to a warm, sunny day. The wind, what little there was, was almost on the nose as usual.  The journey itself was without incident again and the views of the castles and islands were stunning. The small tidal race through the Farne Islands was such that you wouldn't want to be going against it.

The Farne Islands

Holy Island (Lindisfarne)

Bamburgh Castle

We saw puffins and seals, but the promised sun didn't really have any benefit until we arrived in the sheltered harbour of Eyemouth at 12:45 and tied up 4th out on a raft.

Eyemouth - Gunsgreen Basin

The rocky approach to Eyemouth - St Abb's Head in Distance

The narrow entrance was tricky as were the outlying rocks and small shallows, but, as high water was 14:07, we actually had plenty of water and arrived safely.
Eyemouth's Narrow Entrance - rocks in background


We were now in Scotland . . . . . .

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