Leg 41

Tingwall to Eday. Sunday 12th September

We had a bit of a lie in, as it was a long (and exciting) day yesterday, and the tides to get across to Eday are not good til early afternoon. We enjoyed making landfall on mainland Orkney, having got there under our own steam! We are nearly at our final destination and it sure does feel good. Its a pleasant sunny morning, and after a mooch on the beach, we enjoy a relaxing coffee on board. We are both itching to get going and finish the journey. A short conversation with the piermaster encourages us to get going a little sooner too, as the forecast is for it to get very windy later on on the day.

The wind is starting to build, and we make fast progress out of Tingwall under sail, with quite a strong tide. We are heading for the South West corner of Eday. Thr trick is to get there at slack tide. If we are too early and catch the tide heading south we will be swept all the way to Kirkwall, without passing go!! This stretch of water is called the Falls of Warness and have some of the strongest tides in Europe - which is why there is a number of tide turbines being developed there as part of a European initiative (EMEC). On this day it is only just past the biggest spring tides of the year (!) and in our impatience to get to Eday, we get to the Falls of Warness a little early, and do catch some tide!

It is a really odd sensation to be motor sailing (again at quite high revs) in a stiff breeze (12-14mph winds) with the bow pointed due north, into the tide, and find yourself travelling at about 1.5 knots in an Easterly direction!! We are just on our 2nd day sailing around Orkney and we are properly experiencing what the tides can do!!!

We inch our way across into the lee of the land, and start making our way in a more orderly fashion toward the East side of the island, to the pier. We get there about 2.30pm, and are really chuffed that we have made it at last. There are 2 new visitor moorings in the bay, so we hook one while we sort out the fenders, then come alongside the pier, step ashore and jump up and down on land in glee!!

This is the intended final destination on our trip round the UK. We know it means we haven't done a full circle as it misses out the East coast of Scotland, and beyond, down to Scarborough, but at this time of year we haven't got the weather with us to get there and back before winter.