20th May 2021
We had planned to stay in Whitby two nights, hoping to explore the town a bit more. But the best laid plans...
The weather has got itself into a pattern of strong winds followed by a lull. According to the forecast, if we stayed another day in Whitby we would be doing the next passage in uncomfortably blowy conditions, and we still cherish the belief that at some level this is meant to be enjoyable. So we decided to leave Whitby and head up to Tynemouth before the nasty stuff arrived.
There was no call for an early morning start this time, so we slipped our moorings and went under the swing bridge just before 9am.
So far on the other passages we've had more motoring than sailing, either because there wasn't enough wind, or because there was too much in the wrong direction. (It is possible to make headway upwind by tacking, but sometimes when you have to get somewhere by a certain time you just have to swallow your pride and fire up the 'iron topsail')
But today, we had a nice fresh wind from just the right quarter, so we unfurled the sails and cut the engine. Apart from a brief interlude when the wind seemed to disappear, we sailed most of the way to Tynemouth.
To begin with, it was perfect - a slight swell from behind us encouraging us on our way. But as the day progressed, the wind began to freshen: the beginning of the strong blow we were trying to avoid. With the wind came the waves. The swell got more and more pronounced, and the experience changed from 'delightful' to 'exciting' to 'are we nearly there yet?'
The waves were rolling with us along the coast, but to enter the Tyne we had to turn so that they were coming from the side. At this point the dial moved up to 'please can it stop now?' as the boat was rolled from side to side, with the poor helmsman (me) struggling to keep her on a course that would miss both of the massive stone walls that guard the entrance to the harbour. Once inside the harbour, the uncomfortable rolling motion continued for at least quarter of a mile, before the water flattened out and we felt that we were almost there.
The people at Royal Quays Marina were very helpful and welcoming, and soon we were safely in our berth, within sight of a monstrously huge cruise-liner the size of a small town that was parked outside on the river. No, on second thoughts, quite a large town.
We dined on board that evening, on a prize-winning mushroon risotto by Mike. Some G&T and a couple of bottles of wine might have been involved too. Perhaps inevitably, Lindisfarne's Fog on the Tyne was played.
The next day we walked to Percy Main station and took the metro into Newcastle. I've never been there before, and was impressed by the grand civic architecture. The first sight that welcomed us as we came out of the metro was the Monument - a huge Nelson's Column-like affair commemorating Earl Grey, the 19th century prime minister who was instrumental in carrying through the Reform Act that sorted out some of the quirkier failings of the British electoral system (though not all: Wikipedia tells me that the Act defines a voter as a male person). He stands at the head of the street named after him, looking down at the classically-inspired columns and porticoes of the old mercantile city.
Down the steep hill is the river, straddled by an impressive collection of bridges, from the Tyne Bridge itself (virtually a scale model of the Sydney Harbour Bridge), to the inspired engineering of the old swing bridge and the phenomenally inventive Millennium Bridge. Near the latter we found a convenient pub and had lunch, joined by Steve's niece Karen, who lives hereabouts.
After lunch we visited the Baltic art museum, just over the Millennium Bridge. Maybe we're a crewful of old fogeys, but I don't think any of us found much there to enrich our lives (or however you define what it is that art does for us).
Then back on the metro to the boat for a freshener before heading out to dinner at a nearby Brewers Fayre - steaks all round.
The next morning we left Royal Quays in much more comfortable conditions than when we arrived.
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