Yesterday was spent visiting the small tourist town of Carlingford. It is interesting as it has old number of mediaeval streets fortified ruins; some of which have been restored in a somewhat ‘Disneyfied’ manner.

Carlingford Abbey

We wandered around and found a lively pub with live music and the expected amount of Guinness.

Bread Making

Joe finally made bread on board using a premixed, but not kneaded, packet and the pressure cooker.

Note you don’t use the cooker at pressure just the heaviness of the pan and to avoid having to use up lots of scarce gas resources!

Another update tomorrow …

We ventured out, bound for Ardglass, but the prospect of 6hrs motoring with wind square on the nose soon had us securely tied up again!

Dawn Treader back in Carlingford Marina

The weather is due to blow this evening so we are here for the next 24 hrs at least.

Time to do jobs, read and explore. Carlingford is a pleasant little place, only 20 mins walk away, with shops, pubs and and old castle.

Joe will be making bread today on the boat. More on this tomorrow!

Malahide is lively place with a friendly yacht club an a large number of places to eat. We can recommend the Mexican restuarant on the front near the yacht club.

Malahide entrance is very shallow but we left at high water with plenty under keel – unlike the evening before – coming in with the depth alarm ringing in our ears.

A gentle reach for the whole day took us passed the Skerries Islands and across Dundalk bay. The sun shone and the wind was light (8-12knots on the beam).

Carlingford Lough entrance has big tides running in and out but we arrived at slack water and a calm sea so no problems. There is a big ship channel running up to Warrenpoint docks which made the navigation much easier.

Carlingford Lough and the Mountains of Mourne

Now in Carlingford marina – very quiet! The marina itself has a very narrow entrance with a cross tide but there is plenty of space to manoeuvre inside.

About to cook supper and plan for tomorrows trip to Ardglass.

Passage Stats

Time: 9 hrs

Distance run: 46nm

Sailed: 6hrs / Motored: 3hrs

Total distance since start: 398nm

New :have now add an overall Trip Statistics page.

Day off in Dun Laoghaire yesterday (Tue) due to howling winds outside. Lots of jobs todo on the boat including fixing the loo which was playing up and backfilling. A quick replacement of the ‘joker valve’ sorted it out.

Dublin Trip

Took the Dart train into Dublin centre and had lunch and a pint in the Temple Bar and saw the sights. Then returned and managed to gain entrance to the Royal Irish Yacht Club followed by an egg curry on board.

Today sees us moving on for Malahide. A small inlet about 13nm north of Dublin. Note showers in Dun Laoghaire marina the best so far!

David at the tiller

As we followed a mile or so off the shore we were hit again and again by by squalls. It was exhilarating sailing as we were flying along on a beam reach. This was the first proper sailing we had done since the trip to Falmouth. Our trip across the Irish sea had been mainly motoring punctuated with the odd half hour with the sails up.

The Irish coast-line north of Arklow and around Wicklow Head is dominated bay the Wicklow Mountains. Known locally as the Dublin Mountains they have peaks as high as 925 meters (3,035 feet) and make up the largest continuous area of granite in Ireland and Britain. We zipped past this mountainous scenery wishing we could spend time exploring it and soon were passing Bray, a seaside town which lies just south of Dublin, with its conspicuous Bray Head.

Squalls as we approached Bray Head

We made use of the channel between the Dalkey Island and the mainland, which saves considerable time when entering Dublin bay. The channel is well buoyed but care needs to be taken with the tide as the streams run hard through the islands. Dun Laoghaire is only a few miles further along the coast beyond Dalkey Island. Once through the channel we turned north west into the teeth of the wind; which had not dropped but increased. It was then a short but slow motor-sail into Dun Laoghaire marina. Dun Laoghaire is home to a major ferry port and it's marina is vast; the spacious marina layout was welcome though as we still had 30 Knot gusts inside.

Passage Stats

Distance run: 40nm

Time: 5hrs

Sailed: 3hrs / Motored: 5hrs

Total distance since start: 340nm

The plan was to leave at 06:00 the following morning and make Arklow on the East Coast of Ireland; we should arrive by late evening after a passage of 80NM. We duly set off next day and were treated to gloriously sunny morning; the air temperature though was only 10 deg C.

The passage to Ireland took us through Jack Sound, which separates the Welsh mainland from Skomer Island. A tiny 0.1NM gap which has rocks to be avoided using transits. We had Peter George on board who provided local knowledge for this tricky passage. I had been through Jack Sound before with Peter and was quite comfortable with his pilotage. We then headed for yet another time saving shortcut by cutting through Ramsey Sound at the north west end of Saint Bride's bay. Ramsay Sound has the notorious Bitches rock which sits out into the channel and the water 'boils' around it. We saved hours by using the sounds as well as gaining extra experience. I am sure we would not have done so had it been just David and myself.

Jack Sound, Wales

Once out into the Irish sea we saw hardly any traffic and started sailing once the wind shifted. Sailed for 4 hrs before having to motor sail.

As we closed the Irish coast the Arklow bank windfarm appeared; the tide turned against us so we had a tedious last 10 miles to close Arklow before sunset. Arklow, in County Wicklow, is a small town with a tiny marina. The town used to be known for its fishing and ship-building industries but nowadays is dependent on the chemical industry.

Approaching Arklow

It was time to hoist the Irish curtesy flag but the flag halyard was missing! A temporary attachment did us until next day when Joe was hoisted half way up the mast to set up a new halyard.

Dawn Treader in the tiny Arklow Marina

We squeezed into a berth in what must be the smallest marina we have ever been into, and having had supper before we arrived quickly set off in search of a pint of Guinness. A brisk walk into the town found us in a pub which was jam packed with a party for the new landlord. We were made welcome and celebrated our arrival.

The weather had turned against us, with rain squalls and thunderstorms, so the next day was spent exploring Arklow. Peter had to return home a day early than planned so from now until Oban, on the West Coast of Scotland, it would be just David and myself.

Next stop will be Dun Laoghaire just south of Dublin on Monday.

Passage Stats

Distance run: 81nm

Time: 15hrs

Sailed: 4hrs / Motored: 11hrs

Total distance since start: 297nm