We're going stir-crazy due to bad weather but hoping we've solved our storage problem

Wild weather on the shore at Maryport in Cumbria, UK

We’re getting pretty fed up with the wet and windy weather we've had here over the past month or so and this week has been no different ☹

We’ve had some lovely sunny spells in between the rain, but the wind never seems to let up enough for us to take Ravensdale – our Neptunus 133 motor cruiser – out on the water.

I know our weather here at Maryport in Cumbria, UK, pales into insignificance when compared to the horrendous weather that Hurricane Dorian has inflicted on parts of the US, but we would expect it to be better than this here at this time of year.

Meanwhile, we’ve found a solution to the storage problem that has been blighting our liveaboard lifestyle since we moved onto Ravensdale almost three years ago 😊


Wild weather

Big waves whipped up by high winds crashing onto the shore at Maryport

Another week of wild weather has prevented us from leaving the marina as there wasn’t a single day that came anywhere near our single-figure rule – we don’t take Ravensdale out on the water unless the forecast is for wind speeds of 9mph or less.

Water creating waves in Maryport Marina as it pours over the closed sea gate

And there were some days that we wouldn’t have been able to leave the marina even if we’d wanted to as it was so windy that the marina didn’t even open the sea gate that holds water in the marina when the tide goes out.

The gate is kept closed if there’s a big swell, which usually coincides with high winds.

Water pouring over the closed sea gate at Maryport Marina on Saturday

When the gate remains closed a lot of muddy foam is created by the water coming through the holes in the gate and over the top of it.

Seafoam gathering by the Sea Cadet boats in Maryport Marina

This is blown around making the boats at the gate end of the marina pretty messy and one visiting cruiser ended up particularly dirty on Saturday morning.

The cruiser that was streaked with muddy seafoam

Thankfully we’re at the other end of the marina and unaffected by the seafoam phenomenon.

We’re so looking forward to being able to take Ravensdale out on the Solway Firth again.

Since the Trawler Race on August 3, we’ve only been able to go out fishing on three occasions, the last of which had to be cut short due to a big swell, which made fishing too dangerous.

We really had hoped to be able to get out more often during the summer.

The forecast is better for tomorrow (Saturday), but the gate times aren’t great as the high tides are 06:22 and 19:00 and the marina gate is only open for around two and half hours either side of high tide.

Ravensdale at Maryport Marina during a calmer period

We’re hoping we may be able to get out for a few hours tomorrow evening if the forecast stays the same and the wind speeds really are 3-7mph as is currently expected.

Storage wars

Ravensdale's forward cabin has become a store cupboard for stuff we can't find room for elsewhere

It looks as though we’ve found a solution to our storage problem, at long last.

We’ve found a local garage that rents out shipping containers as storage units and they had a new 20ft container delivered today (Friday) that now has our name on it (not literally, of course, as that would be really weird 😊)

It’s in Maryport, so right on our doorstep, and will give us more space than we have in our current shore-based unit, which is a 24-mile round trip from here, and we’ll have access to the new one 24/7, which will be brilliant.

We’re determined that this will be the point at which we have a really good sort out of everything we store in the unit, in the marina storage container and on Ravensdale as we’ll have the space we need to sort through it all properly.

We can get rid of stuff we haven’t used for months, years even, and the stuff we do keep can be boxed up, labelled and neatly stacked so we can find things when we want them.

We can make sure that the valuable storage space on Ravensdale is only used for the things that really need to be here.

And we will hopefully get our forward cabin back as it's become a dumping ground for stuff we can't find room for anywhere else on the boat.

I really can’t believe I’m so excited about renting a container. I’m sure it must make me a really sad person 😊


Anchor shackle

Phil fitting the new, larger shackle between Ravensdale's anchor and the anchor chain

The old and new shackles showing the difference in size

I’m pretty sure a hammer should not be necessary when pulling up an anchor at sea.

However, during recent outings on Ravensdale, Phil has had to ask me to pass a hammer out of a window to enable him to retrieve her anchor.

He realised the problem was being caused by the shackle, which attaches the anchor to the anchor chain, becoming stuck in the wrong direction because it was too small to move freely so the anchor could not be pulled on board.

He ordered a new shackle online which arrived the following day and he fitted it on Tuesday.

I was pleased to see that he thought to tie the anchor on before removing the shackle as I had visions of it disappearing into the water 😊

We’ll find out whether this has solved the problem when he brings the anchor up on our next outing.



Ruby of Ravensdale

Ruby on look-out duties on Ravensdale's foredeck

Poor Ruby’s stomach upset didn’t clear up over the weekend, so we had to take her to the vet on Monday and she was put on six in one intestinal care medication.

Ruby sitting on Phil's knee for a cuddle

However, she was still no better by Wednesday, so we phoned the vet who prescribed antibiotics and said to keep her on a bland diet of rice, pasta, chicken and scrambled egg.

Her spaying operation, which had been rescheduled for yesterday (Thursday), was cancelled again and has been rebooked for next week.

And now the vet is wondering whether Ruby’s stomach upset is a reaction to the medication she’s taking for the allergies that cause her to scratch her ears and chew her paws leading to ear and nail bed infections so we’ve had to stop her giving her these tablets for a while.

It struck me that it would be pretty ironic if she turned out to be allergic to her allergy medication 😊

Meanwhile, she seems happy enough in herself.

She’s much the same as usual while on the boat with us and her usual excitable, over-enthusiastic, super-friendly little self when we take her out for walks.

Fingers crossed she’ll be well enough to have her operation next week as, if it’s left for too much longer, we may have to wait until three months after her next season.

Phil and Ruby on one of our regular dog walks in Maryport

We rolled the carpet in the saloon back at night for a few nights when Ruby developed the tummy upset in case she had any accidents while we were asleep then decided to leave it rolled until she was better.

Ruby chewing her Nylabone on the rolled-up carpet

She obviously didn’t approve of this move and wanted something softer than a wooden floor to lie on while chewing her Nylabone, so she laid on top of the rolled-up carpet.

Ruby's tummy upset seems to have cleared up but she was scratching and chewing her paws again this morning (Friday) so I phoned the vet, who told us to try restarting her allergy medication.

We're really hoping it won't set her stomach problems off again as we will then have to try another medication for her allergies.


Phil’s cough

Phil on Ravensdale during our last proper trip out on the water

In June, I returned from a visit to my parents in Salisbury with a nasty cough and cold, which I very generously passed on to Phil.

My cough and cold were gone in a few weeks, but his cough has hung on and on.

At the time, I told him that at least I’d brought him something back from my holiday and it turns out that it’s the gift that keeps on giving 😊

He went to the doctor with his cough again this week.

The doctor couldn’t find an obvious cause and has referred him to the hospital for a chest x-ray so fingers crossed that will be clear as well and his cough will eventually go away on its own.


Photography

As usual, I enjoyed photographing the wild weather on Saturday.

I took my camera for a walk along the beach to capture the giant waves that that had been whipped up by the high winds crashing onto the shore.

Spray being blown across the pier at Maryport by high winds

High winds whipping up the waves at Maryport

White-topped waves around Maryport pier with the Scottish hills in the distance

Big waves rolling onto the shore

Waves battering Maryport pier

On Saturday evening, while walking Ruby I noticed that there was a lovely light on the harbour but I hadn’t got my camera with me, so I took a few snaps with my mobile phone just to make me even more annoyed with myself for not taking my camera 😊

Golden light on Maryport harbour

Fishing nets drying at Maryport harbour

Sunset across Maryport basin

Heavy clouds over Maryport with rain in the distance

On my return from the harbour on Saturday evening, Phil pointed out a lovely rainbow behind me, so I dived into the boat, grabbed my camera and took a couple of shots of it.

The full arc was visible, but I couldn’t get it all in one photo and the masts and rigging, coupled with the movement of the boats, meant stitching a number of images together for a panorama was out of the question.

Rainbow over Maryport Marina

The other end of the same rainbow

The light was pretty good again on Wednesday evening as I returned from walking Ruby, so I took my camera over to the harbour in the hope of getting some better images than I’d managed with my phone.

The light wasn’t quite as good as Saturday evening, but I was fairly happy with my photos from that evening.

Maryport harbour

Ellenfoot Bridge at Maryport harbour

Dark skies over Maryport

Another view of Maryport harbour

Christ Church at Maryport

Fishing boat Chelaris in Maryport harbour

Weather watch

There’s been a distinctly autumnal feel to the weather over the past week and not in a good way ☹

But I suppose it shouldn’t really be too much of a surprise given that meteorological autumn started on Sunday, September 1.

We’ve had more than our fair share of wind and rain here in Maryport, Cumbria, again this week and the average temperatures for most days were a degree or two down on last week.

Phil’s back in long trousers, or “big boy trousers” as he calls them, but I haven’t given up on my shorts yet. It’s still summer in my world 😊

Maryport Marina when the weather improved on Saturday afternoon

It was very windy overnight Friday into Saturday and throughout the morning on Saturday up until the early afternoon. We also had some heavy showers, particularly during the morning. The wind dropped and the sun came out for a while later in the afternoon.

The top temperature was 15C (59F) and the top average wind speed was 38mph, gusting 48mph.

Sunday was mainly dry and bright with showers and much less windy than the previous couple of days. The top temperature was 15C (59F) and the top average wind speed was 26mph, gusting 33mph.

Monday was very wet and windy. It rained almost all day varying from light rain to heavy rain, which eased off to spitting with the occasional dry spell.

Grey skies over Maryport Basin on Monday afternoon

The top temperature was 14C (57F) and the top average wind speed was 29mph, gusting 38mph.

Tuesday was overcast with showers during the day followed by heavy rain in the evening.

The top temperature was 16C (61F) and the top average wind speed was 19mph, gusting 31mph.

We had another cloudy start to the day on Wednesday with a little light rain during the morning. It was very windy during the afternoon with sunshine and showers.

Wet weather at Maryport Marina on Wednesday

The top temperature was 15C (59F) and the top average wind speed was 40mph, gusting 53mph.

Overnight Wednesday into yesterday (Thursday) we experienced some high winds with gusts of up 46mph.

Yesterday was mainly dry and bright with a little bit of light rain around lunchtime. It was still fairly breezy but nowhere near as windy as the previous day.

The top temperature was 15C (59F) and the top average wind speed was 25mph, gusting 34mph.

Storm clouds over Maryport Marina yesterday (Thursday) afternoon

Last night (Thursday/Friday) was another windy night with average wind speeds of up to 32mph, gusting 44mph.

And today (Friday) the weather has been mainly dry with a few showers. It remained windy with a top average wind speed of 29mph, gusting 47mph. The top temperature was 14C (57F).