We are planning to attempt an anticlockwise circumnavigation of the UK this year in Flamingo, this is a huge undertaking for us and we are looking for help in a number of areas. I have included our planned itinerary and would very much welcome advice regarding worthwhile places to visit or avoid. We would also love to meet up with fellow Parkers and Seals along the route and would like to hear from you if you sail in any of the areas that we plan to visit. Procuring all of the charts and pilot books is proving to be very expensive and if anybody has charts or pilot books that they no longer require and would be willing to sell or would be prepared to loan we would love to hear from you. I have listed what we need below, I prefer to use Imray charts but beggars can't be choosers. I plan to use Navionics for up to date buoyage etc but out of date charts would be a huge help for passage planning.

If you have anything to loan it will be treasured and returned to you as it left, obviously we will cover postage costs.

Imray charts: C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C15, C23, C58 (Basically the English Chanel)

In our dreams we would also love to have the 2100, 2101 and 2400 chart packs.

We have most of the Pilot Books already but would like to get: West Country Cruising Companion; anything on the east coast of Scotland.

Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

Phill & Belinda



Port Days Stay Arrival Date

Brancaster 1 20/04/2020
Bridlington 2 21/04/2020
Scarborough 3 23/04/2020
Whitby 4 26/04/2020
Tynemouth 4 30/04/2020
Amble 3 04/05/2020
Eyemouth 2 07/05/2020
Port Edgar 2 09/05/2020
St Andrews 4 11/05/2020
Arbroath 2 15/05/2020
Peterhead 3 17/05/2020
Whitehills 2 20/05/2020
Inverness 2 22/05/2020
Caledonian 1 1 24/05/2020
Caledonian 2 1 25/05/2020
Caledonian 3 1 26/05/2020
Caledonian 4 1 27/05/2020
Caledonian 5 1 28/05/2020
Caledonian 6 1 29/05/2020
Fort William 1 30/05/2020
Connel Sound 2 31/05/2020
Tobemory 3 02/06/2020
Arisaig or Eigg 3 05/06/2020
Isleornsay Harbour 2 08/06/2020
Portree 3 10/06/2020
Uig 2 13/06/2020
Loch Harport 2 15/06/2020
Canna Harbour 2 17/06/2020
Tobemory 1 19/06/2020
Oban 2 20/06/2020
Ardfern 3 22/06/2020
Port Ellen (Islay) 4 25/06/2020
Campbelltown 2 29/06/2020
Bangor 3 01/07/2020
Ardglass 2 04/07/2020
Carlingford Lough 2 06/07/2020
Howth 3 08/07/2020
Arklow 1 11/07/2020
Wexford Harbour 1 12/07/2020
Milford Haven 3 13/07/2020
Biddeford/Barnstaple 3 16/07/2020
Padstow 3 19/07/2020
St Ives 3 22/07/2020
Penzance 2 25/07/2020
Helford River 5 27/07/2020
Fal River 3 01/08/2020
Fowey 3 04/08/2020
Plymouth 3 07/08/2020
Salcome or Dart 3 10/08/2020
Poole Harbour 4 13/08/2020
Keyhaven 3 17/08/2020
Bembridge 3 20/08/2020
Brighton 3 23/08/2020
Eastbourne 3 26/08/2020
Dover 1 29/08/2020
Ramsgate 3 30/08/2020
Blackwater 3 02/09/2020
Pin Mill 4 05/09/2020
Lowestoft 2 09/09/2020
Brancaster 0 11/09/2020

Well... That's one hell of a trip! Jealous and impressed in equal measure.

I can only advise on my little corner of the world, which is way down west.

St Ives. Dries out, and can be incredibly busy in the summer. Can't remember off hand whether there are any mooring bouys out in the bay or not. Lovely place. RAMMED in the summer, I can't stress that enough (I tend to avoid it between May and August). You'll probably need to book restaurants and the such like if you're eating ashore.

Round Lands End can be notoriously tricky. I've never been that far myself, only going on what the locals say.
If you get caught out there are some nice anchorages at Sennen, Porthgwarra, Porth Curnow and Lamorna along the south coast before Penzance. There isn't much between St Ives and Sennen and you'll get the full brunt of the Atlantic down there.

Penzance - You've got the choice of Mousehole (mowsel to the locals!), Newlyn, Penzance and Marazion. They all have their own harbours. Newlyn is a very active fishing harbour, so probably best to have that as a last resort.
There are some bouys out in the bay. There are a couple of visitor bouys right near St Michaels Mount at Marazion, but I expect them to be busy unless pre-booked. It's a lovely spot right at the foot of the mount.
They all dry out to some extent or another.

Helford and Falmouth. You can't really go wrong anywhere around here. Helford is amazing. Nice pub up the river too. Falmouth. Lots of visitor bouys. There are also anchorages and bouys at Mylor (not cheap) and Restronguet. The Pandora Inn at Restronguet is very nice. Does dry out though (I got caught by the tide once and had to stay at the pub for an extra six hours! shame...).
There is the Maritime Museum in Falmouth. The Chain Locker is a nice pub, and there are a million pasty shops and places to eat.
There is a lovely little pub right at the top of the Fal at Malpas, but it is a bit of a trek up the river to get there. You're also within striking distance of Truro at that point too. The closest thing we have to a city down here.
My own tub is up the top of the Fal at Loe Beach.

Fowey is, again, really nice but will be busy as hell in the summer. Don't get up that way all that much but had a very nice meal in the Ship Inn.
There is also Mevagissey and Charlestown just before Fowey. Both nice.
Charlestown is where they did a lot of filming for Poldark as it's one of those historic harbours.

That's about as much as I can say really.
If you've got anything specific, I can go and do some homework on it if needs be.

Good luck!

Jealous I'll accept, perhaps best to be impressed if we actually make it.
Thank you so much for your advice, that's just what we need. Perhaps we can have a sail in company if we make it to the West Country.

Phill

hi,

http://altair2016.blogspot.com/  - any questions let us know

Paul and Sarah

We went round in 2017. Mostly day sailing, I think we did four or five overnights

For the East coast of Scotland just about the only book we could find was the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club sailing directions - available from the club (who are in Blyth)

We used Navionics plus mostly Admiralty folios with larger scale Imray charts in places. We were able to get a lot of these second hand and sold most of them when we got back so the cost was not too painful.

We had planned to go anticlockwise ( from Brightlingsea) but the spring easterlies were very persistent so we went the other way. I would not be happy off the east cost of Scotland in strong easterlies.

My main thought is don't get too hung up on a fixed plan, expect the weather and your inclinations to change most things as you go along.

Happy to chat or answer questions if you want to get in touch

Martin

P335/50

Paul & Sarah, and Martin,
Thanks so much for your help, that's really useful.
Sarah's blog will be an amazing resource.

Phill

Hi Phil/Belinda, that sounds like an epic adventure!

I've just bought a Seal 28. In it there is about 40 charts. I'm confident at least some, if not all of the ones you want will be in there. If they are, you're very welcome to borrow them, as the furthest we'll get from the Firth of Forth this year will be Fort William. I won't get back to the boat until the weekend so don't go splashing out just yet. Hang on and i'll let you know what we have.

I've limited experience, but make sure you scope out the rocks in the middle of the Sound of Jura on your Ardfen to Port Ellen passage. They are not lit up at night and being in the middle of such a large sound, can be quite unexpected. There is no excuse for it really, but I've known someone to hit one in a night passage.

Lee

Seal 28

Whiskey Mac

Hi Phil and Belinda
Wow a superb plan .
We are based in Milford Haven and know Cardigan Bay and that bit of the Bristol Channel well so if you wish to know more contact me. Also would be good to meet up but have no idea where I will be when you pass through so try and contact me much nearer the time. Also ref Penzance, I would choose Newlyn instead accessible all states of tide and a nice little town. Finally , do you have an AIS transponder ? if not get one, could be a life saver.

Best of luck

Jan Newman

325/32
Blue Moon

Hi, okay of the ones you mentioned, I have C5, C7, C9 and C58. Not as many as I'd hoped so whether you think that justifies postage costs or not...

There's also some other imray and some admiralty packs that might be of use:
C61, C60, C12, Y33
Admiralty Sc5600, Sc5602, SC5604.

Don't mind posting if of use?

Cheers,

Lee

Hi Phil
Have you looked at the electronic option ,
Have already took at visit my harbour, they offer pillage notes and marine navigator charts ((UK waters is around£30)
No charts plotter required it runs on an android phone or tablet.
Of course passage planning paper back up is the fall back option, if it can go wrong at sea it normally will !!!!
Enjoy your trip
Regards Paul
Parker 275 Oi oi

Hi Phil
Have you looked at the electronic option ,
Have already took at visit my harbour, they offer pillage notes and marine navigator charts ((UK waters is around£30)
No charts plotter required it runs on an android phone or tablet.
Of course passage planning paper back up is the fall back option, if it can go wrong at sea it normally will !!!!
Enjoy your trip
Regards Paul
Parker 275 Oi oi

Hi Paul,
Thanks for taking time to help out.
We are going to use Navionics on our tablet and as they have now expanded how their app works we can use it on both of our phones too so even the loss of one device shouldn't leave us stuck. As you say if it can go wrong at sea it probably will so I prefer to passage plan on paper charts and have them in reserve. I also find passage planning on a small screen, especially with vector charts problematic. I'll have another look at myharbour.

Due to the kindness of PSSA member Lee and another Scottish sailor we now have almost all of the charts and pilot books that we need.

Thanks gain.

Phill

Lee,
Thanks for the offer of the charts, they are exactly what we need.
I have private messaged you my details if you are still willing to post the.

Thanks again

Phill

I did a semi Anticlockwise in a Parker 235 in 2015 (Bucklers Hard to the Forth then the union canal to Glasgow, finally getting out at Troon).
We took it easy (only daylight sails, broken by trips home on the train for a week or two from Lowestoft and Grimsby).

I would say the trickiest bits were crossing the Thames Estuary (Ramsgate to Brightlingsea), and Wells to Grimsby, where we could not leave till late morning due to the tide, and got into Grimsby as the light was failing, narrowly failing to motor over a cable between a tug and a rig.

Lowestoft to Wells was also a long passage, we got to Wells a bit early for the tide, but the navigation was straightforward (keep turning left). If you are prepared to overnight and press on under engine if the winds are light, then it must be tempting to miss out Wells but Wells is a delightfull stop with god fish restaurants. Grimsby is a bit 'grim' (Hull would be nicer), but both Wells & Grimsby are the first stops after long stretches of inhospitable coast, and Grimsby is the cheapest place by far to leave a boat for a couple of weeks on the east coast.

My Favorite places to stop were
- Brightlingsea (excellent Curry),
- Southwold (pretty, good fish & chips at the harbour)
- Wells (good fish restaurants),
- Bridlington (just generally pleasant)
- Whitby (fish & chips again,nice walk to the abbey)
- Holy Isle (just a romantic spot)
- Eyemouth (first Scottish port, genuine fishing port which accommodates yachtsmen on a pontoon, good museums, good restaurants)

Reasonable were Lowestoft (use the yacht club basin), Sunderland (conevnient for petrol), Amble (nice small town, but very shallow not much in the way of places to eat), Ramsgate, Walton (very help ful guy gave us a lift in his Jag to get petrol).

Eastourne (too big, ) Dover, (Grotty, go to Weatherspoons, the only place with life) Grimsby (a walk into town, eat at a chinese, but convenient), and Scarborough could all be missed.

We had problems getting petrol at a lot of the marinas, if you are diesel this won't be a problem, although it may be 'pink'.

At the more disadvantaged places weatherspoons might be the best place to eat (their low prices mean that they are popular, and the food quality is pretty reasonable)

If you want to chicken out of going round the top or even the Caledonian, the Forth & Clyde canal is good, but you have to book ,Scottish canals provide help for the locks.

Hope this helps
PS to reinforce what someone else has said , I would be wary of too fixed a schedule. In certain places (Wells, the Thames estuary crossing), the tide governs .

Jim Hamilton
Sandy Lady

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