Our new docking sticks prove a great success

Coming into our mooring with a docking stick at the ready

Ravensdale was beginning to look a bit like the bearded lady, which is not a good look, so we took her out to sea this week to clean her hull.

It was a good excuse to go fishing – not that an excuse is needed – and we took the opportunity to clean out the bilges at the same time.

I also decided to try our docking sticks for the first time and they are brilliant.

Poor old Phil has spent most of the fortnight since we returned from Scotland suffering from “man flu” – a particularly nasty strain of influenza that only affects the male of the species 😊

But he managed to recover sufficiently to skipper Ravensdale when we took her out into the Solway Firth on Monday.

Cleaning Ravensdale’s bilges

Phil pressure washing the engine room floor gratings

Phil scrubbing the bilges

The gate at Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK, wasn’t due to open until around 2.50pm on Monday, so we used the morning to have a bit of a clean-up in Ravensdale’s engine room.

Phil removed the gratings from the floor and cleaned the bilges with Bilgex and a soft brush.

He then put some water into the bilges in the hope it would slosh around while we were out at sea before it was pumped out.

He tried to scrub the gratings with a brush, but they were still quite dirty, so he left them on the pontoon until he had time to use our pressure washer on them.

They’ve since been cleaned and returned to the engine room and the last of the oil that was in the bilges was soaked up using spill mats supplied by our marina.

Cruising in the Solway Firth

It was great to be heading out of the marina gate into the Solway Firth again as it was two months since Ravensdale’s last outing.

Ravendsale heading out from Maryport

This was the first time we’d taken her out to sea since Phil removed the heat exchanger and intercooler on the port engine for cleaning and replaced all the jubilee clips when he refitted them.

We knew the engine was running fine while she was moored up, but we were keen to check that it was equally fine at sea and, thankfully, it was.

We’d also noticed there was some growth developing along the waterline around Ravensdale’s hull so a good blast through the water would hopefully help with that too.

The bilges were in need of cleaning, Phil wanted to go fishing and, last but by no means least, we needed to fulfil our promise to scatter the ashes of fellow liveaboard Phil Lee at sea.

So, despite Phil still feeling pretty rough due to man flu, he decided that he was well enough to take the boat out, even though we may very well have broken our single figure rule where the wind was concerned.

On Sunday, when he definitely didn’t feel well enough to go to sea, the wind speeds were around 2-3mph for most of the day. That said, a recurring sea mist could have made it a less pleasant outing.

By Monday, the forecast for the afternoon, when the marina gate would be open, was 9-10mph south-south-westerlies, gusting to 14mph, but we decided to go anyway and were very glad we did.

Ravensdale at sea

When we left the marina, we had wind speeds of 10-11mph, but it dropped to 7mph by the time we returned.

We knew a few local fishermen who were going out that day and we’d already discussed fishing locations with them.

We decided to anchor off Allonby Bay and try our luck there.

The new deck table and chairs were securely attached to the stanchions and guardrail and were no trouble at all, but they do get in the way of my photos. That said, it’s great to be able to sit out on the aft deck and eat in comfort when we’re moored up so I’m not complaining.

After dropping the anchor, Phil set up two fishing rods using his new rod holders that are fixed to the guardrail along the sides of the aft deck. He had lots of bites but, despite all the interest, he only caught three dogfish, all of which were thrown back so sadly nothing for the pot this time.

One of Phil's new rod rests

One of the three dogfish caught on this outing

However, we enjoyed a cup of tea in the sunshine on the aft deck and completed all the tasks we'd intended to do while out, including scattering our former neighbour's ashes.

A docking stick in action

And giving a good blast on the engines while heading into the waves on the way home worked a treat and Ravensdale is clean shaven once again 😊

Before we left the marina, I realised that I'd never tried the docking sticks we bought last year to enable me to put ropes ashore if there’s no one available to catch them as the boat is too high for me to jump off onto the pontoon to moor up.

We searched for something to do this job online and the best solution we could find was these docking sticks that we ordered from the States.

The stick clips onto the end of a boat hook and holds the rope in a loop while it’s slipped over a cleat.

Once in place, a sharp pull on the boat hook unhooks the stick and the rope is securely over the cleat.

I’d tried them from the boat while moored, but it was good to find that they worked perfectly when used for real. I’m sure it helped a lot that Phil came in really slowly, making it very easy for me to get the rope loop over the cleat.

Me holding the boat hook with docking stick ready to hook the cleat

Phil went down to the engine room to carry out the routine checks and close the seacocks on our return to discover water in the bilges, despite having pumped them out at sea.

He immediately checked the port stern gland and found it was leaking again, but not as much as last time we took the boat out. This time, he knew what the problem was and was able to fix it himself.

We're planning to repack the stern glands next time we take Ravensdale out of the water.

Fitting Ravensdale’s galvanic isolator

The galvanic isolator we’ve had sitting on Ravensdale waiting to be fitted for months was actually installed this week.

The marine electrician who supplied it turned up to do the job on Tuesday.

Ravensdale's new galvanic isolator fitted above the 240V fuse box

I have to say I'd never even heard of a galvanic isolator let alone had any idea what they do until he suggested that we should really have one fitted.

I now know it is a device used to block low voltage DC currents coming on board a boat on the shore power ground wire.

These currents could cause corrosion to underwater metals, such as propellers and shafts, so will hopefully make our anodes last a bit longer before they need changing.

Also, if there are any faults, it will stop power discharging into the water in the marina.

The pigeonhole and the prawn pot

A pigeon taking nesting material into the hole

The pigeons that have been nesting in the hole in the harbour wall near Ravensdale have been coming and going regularly again.

We saw a previous nest washed out of the hole, which provides drainage into the marina from the road above, and they started rebuilding it before we went to Scotland on holiday mid-April. 

I don’t know if it has been washed away again since and, if so, how many times, but the daft birds have spent this week carrying more nesting material into the hole. It seems they will never learn...

The rockling we caught in the prawn pot before it was returned to the water

Meanwhile, all the small crabs we usually catch in our prawn pot seem to have disappeared as this week we only caught three larger crabs, a very small rockling and a dogfish.

Holiday snaps – bearing in mind that every day’s a holiday 😊

We had lovely weather here over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, so I just had to get out and about with my camera again.

I took it on a walk around the shore, marina and harbour on Saturday and again on Sunday.

Some of the fishing boats in Maryport Harbour on Saturday

A small fishing boat returning home to Maryport on Sunday

And a trip out on Ravensdale is always an excuse to take many more images, even though they're mainly of sea and sky 😊

A beautiful cloud formation over the Solway Firth with Scotland in the distance

Robin Rigg wind farm, which is just off the Scottish coast

The most difficult thing for us to get photos of is Ravensdale at sea as we have to rely on others and I was delighted to this week be sent two photos that a local man had taken in early February.

Ravensdale passing the end of the old pier on the way out of Maryport

Ravensdale in the Solway Firth

Meanwhile, I missed a good sunset on Monday evening because we were still getting sorted after returning from our fishing trip and, by the time I noticed the colour in the sky, it was too late.

Maryport beach at sunset on Tuesday with one Scottish hill just visible in the distance

On Tuesday, I went out more than half an hour before sunset, which was 9.01pm, but the sky didn’t colour up anywhere near as well as it had the previous evening – not that I let that stop me taking photos 😊

Thursday provided another opportunity to get out for some lovely sunny photos of Maryport Harbour.

Maryport Harbour basking in the sunshine

Painting class

Me at the art class

A while back, a local artist called Roy Simmons, whose work I admired, contacted me out of the blue on Facebook to say he liked my photos of Maryport and to ask if he could use some of them as reference material for his paintings.

I was delighted and very honoured to be asked so I said yes.

During our messaging about this, he mentioned that he ran painting classes at a cafe in the town. I said I’d like to attend and this week there was a vacancy so I went along to give it a go.

I really wanted to learn to use pen and watercolour wash and they were working in gouache this week, but it was interesting to see how Roy uses it and then to attempt to use a Turner painting as inspiration for my own work of art.

It was great fun as I hadn’t even picked up an artist’s paintbrush since my children were little and they’re both in their 30s now.

Roy seemed to think I’d made a good first effort, but I think he was just being kind.

My first attempt at painting for almost 30 years

Let’s just say, I won’t be making millions forging the old masters anytime soon 😊

Pudding from my childhood

I made a dessert this week that took me right back to my childhood.

Bread and butter pudding

My mum used to make bread and butter pudding when I was little.

I haven’t made it since my children were small, so it was a very long time ago 😊

But we had half a loaf of bread that needed using up, so I decided to introduce Phil to this delicacy as he’d never had it before.

I’ve just Googled bread and butter pudding and discovered that it goes back to at least the 18^th century and used to be known as whitepot.

It’s made by layering slices of buttered bread scattered with raisins or sultanas and sprinkled with sugar in an ovenproof dish, then pouring a mixture of egg and milk over the top and leaving it to stand for half an hour before baking.

So simple and great for using up bread that’s past its best.

I love it with custard, cream, ice cream or just as it comes…

Gnome Gnuptials

Bridge and groom garden gnomes in a local supermarket

I can't help thinking this is royal wedding fever gone totally bonkers 😊

We came across these bride and groom garden gnomes on our way into the Asda supermarket in Workington last week and I couldn't resist snapping them with my mobile phone.

I mean, they don't even look much like Harry and Meghan 😊

This week’s weather

The weather was pretty good over the Bank Holiday weekend when there was lots of lovely sunshine and it hasn’t been too bad for the rest of this week.

I guess I would summarise it as dry, bright and fairly windy.

We had a cloudy start to the day on Saturday, but the sun came out in the afternoon and temperature climbed to 10.9C (52F).

Maryport Marina in the sunshine

There was a cool wind, but it was still warm enough to take my camera out for a walk in a T-shirt without feeling cold (I was wearing the T-shirt, not my camera, in case you were wondering 😊).

It was calm and mild overnight, followed by a very misty start to Sunday. The sun started burning it off during the morning, but the mist hung around until lunchtime.

The misty view from Ravensdale's aft deck on Sunday morning

Maryport Marina in the mist on Sunday (Ravensdale is far right)

The average wind speed for much of the day was just 2-3mph and the temperature went up to 16.8C (62F) so we both put our shorts on for the first time this year.

Me wearing shorts for the first time this year

Sunday night into Monday was very mild with temperatures falling to just 9.3C (49F) and we awoke to a beautiful sunny morning.

There was a bit more wind than the previous day, but it was still fairly calm and this time there was no mist.

The wind dropped off during the morning and the temperature went up to 16.7C (62F). The wind speed started to build again after lunch and was 10-11mph when we left the marina on Ravensdale, dropping to 7mph before we returned.

Sunshine and a good wind while cruising on the Solway Firth

Tuesday started mainly dry, but we could feel dampness in the air and it started raining around lunchtime. The top daytime temperature was 11.1C (52F). The average wind speed during the morning went up to 19mph, dropping to just 5mph in the early evening. 

Wednesday started dry and fairly windy, with the southerly wind strengthening during the morning. The top average wind speed recorded locally was 21mph, gusting 30mph. The highest temperature recorded during the day was 9.9C (50F) and it started raining mid-afternoon.

Yesterday (Thursday) was bright and sunny, but very windy. The temperature went up to 10.9C with wind speeds averaging up to 18mph. 

Blue sky and fluffy white clouds over Maryport yesterday

We had another mild night last night (Thursday/Friday). The wind dropped overnight then started to build up again this morning.

So far today (Friday), the temperature has reached 11.8C (53F) and wind speeds are averaging up to 29mph, gusting to 40mph.