Freezing temperatures followed by three days of stormy weather

Extra mooring ropes on Ravensdale in preparation for Storm Diana

Freezing temperatures followed by high winds and torrential rain have made for an interesting week on Ravensdale - our 43ft motor cruiser home.

At the start of this week, we had a period of cold, sunny weather during which we awoke to temperatures of 6C (43F) and 7C (44.5F) inside our boat and frost on the pontoons here at Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK.

Then the weather turned really wild as Storm Diana – described as a “double vortex super tempest” - swept in from the Atlantic bringing severe gales and torrential rain.

Unsurprisingly, we haven’t been out on the water on Ravensdale this week. Instead, we've been trying to sort out a few storage problems.

Other than the wild weather, which is always quite exciting, the highlights of my week were an unexpected ride on a horse and cart and finding my favourite hat that has been missing for months 😊

Falling temperatures and Storm Diana

Phil returning to Ravensdale during Storm Diana

It was very cold when we awoke on Monday morning with the thermometer in the saloon showing that the temperature had fallen to 6C (43F).

We put our Webasto 5 diesel heater on then climbed back into bed for a cup of tea while waiting for the boat to warm up.

When we got up, we realised that the sun shining on Ravensdale’s port side had warmed the curtains so opening them earlier would’ve helped to warm up the boat.

The following morning the temperature in the boat was 7C (44.5C) so we repeated the process, but this time we opened the port side curtains as well, leaving the starboard side closed and it warmed up much more quickly.

Ravensdale's curtains remain closed on the starboard side to prevent heat loss

Next time it gets that cold, I think we’re going to have to leave the heating on the economy setting overnight to keep the temperature up a bit.

We’ve been putting off doing this because it’s quite noisy when it kicks in and tends to wake us up, but I think the time has come that it has to be done.

The marina pontoons were frosty first thing on both mornings and were pretty slippery, but the ramp up to the facilities had been salted so that wasn’t a problem this time.

The weather changed dramatically during the day on Tuesday.

It warmed up a lot but, as usual, warmer temperatures meant heavy cloud and rain.

And we were well aware what was coming as the Met Office had issued yellow “be aware” warnings for strong winds.

The Met Office warned that Storm Diana would batter large parts of the UK with 70mph winds and torrential rain.

The warning period started at midnight on Tuesday, but it was very obvious that the weather was revving up to it from mid-afternoon on Tuesday.

So, we put on extra mooring ropes and made sure everything outside that could possibly get blown about was either stowed away or tied down.

Ravensdale with extra mooring ropes ready for the storm

The forecast was for the bad weather to continue throughout the day on Wednesday, with more wind and rain for yesterday (Thursday).

And it wasn’t wrong 😊

The wind got up and it started raining heavily from about 2.30pm on Tuesday and kept it up until just before sunset.

The highest average wind speed recorded locally during the day on Tuesday was 40mph, gusting 59mph.

But Storm Diana didn’t really hit this part of the UK until Wednesday.

The wind and rain got worse during the morning, peaking around lunchtime and continuing during the afternoon when the top average wind speed was 45mph, gusting 64mph.

Ravensdale was rocking wildly as she was buffeted by the wind but, thankfully, the wind direction meant she was being blown away from the pontoon, which is so much better than when she's blown up against it.

Surprisingly, our mooring ropes didn't creak anywhere near as much as they have done in far less severe conditions.  

The view from Ravensdale's port side window during the storm

We often go over to the Aquarium on the harbourside for our lunch on a Wednesday and we decided we might as well go despite the weather, especially as I wanted to get out there with my camera.

Getting off the boat was interesting as there was a huge gap between the boat and our steps on the pontoon, but we managed to cross it without falling in.

And we walked down the right-hand side of the pontoon because the wind was gusting across from right to left. The idea being that, if we got hit by a big gust, we had a better chance of not ending up in the water.

When the wind is that strong, we wear our lifejackets when we go out and tend to leave the boat together so that if anything happens to one of us the other is there to assist.

If, for any reason, we need to go out separately the other one watches from the boat so they can raise the alarm if anything untoward happens.

Marina staff putting extra mooring ropes on one of the boats in preparation for the storm

We usually walk to the Aquarium as it’s very close to the marina, but this time we drove there so we could take the car round to the beach to get some photos of the big waves after we’d eaten.

At times, it was difficult staying upright to take photos, especially when I tried to stand at the entrance to the pier to capture the water being thrown up over it.

Spray being blown across Maryport Pier by the strong wind

I got absolutely soaked and annoyingly the photos weren’t great because I got salt spray on my lens.

Giant waves breaking on the shore and pier at Maryport

The wind and rain continued throughout the evening.

The wind speed dropped a little overnight. It went down to 19mph, gusting 30mph, at the quietest point.

The wind picked up again early yesterday (Thursday) morning and continued blowing a gale throughout the day, peaking at around 10am, when it was 41mph, gusting 57mph.

Storm Diana, which was named by Portuguese weather service, was dubbed a “double vortex super tempest” when it merged with another low-pressure system from the Atlantic, which led to high wind and heavy rain continuing into today (Friday).

New china

I was convinced crockery in a cupboard by the galley had been smashed to bits in rough conditions during our last trip out on Ravensdale.

New plates and cardboard dividers in the storage drawer 

Fortunately, nothing had been broken on that occasion, but our everyday china had become increasingly chipped and cracked since we moved on board two years ago.

This was mainly caused by the various items sliding around in the drawers in which they’re stored.

We’ve tried putting packing material between them but don’t always remember to replace it when we put them away after using them.

This week we bought a new set of cheap china from a local supermarket and cut up the cardboard box it came in to make spacers for the drawer in which it’s stored.

We’re really hoping that the cardboard will do the job.

However, if it doesn’t, at least the china is nothing special so we can just replace it as and when necessary.

We do realise that plastic crockery would make more sense but neither of us likes using it so we'll just have to do our best to make sure our china lasts as long as possible.

Storage wars and the return of my favourite hat 😊

We decided to have a bit of a sort out of the stuff we have in the marina storage unit this week as it was looking a bit higgledy-piggledy.

We pulled everything off our shelf in the container and put it back tidily.

And, while doing so, we found my favourite woolly hat.

Me happy to have my favourite hat back

It was hiding in the bottom of my rucksack where it had been since our holiday in the Scottish Highlands in April.

I am so pleased to have it back as it’s really warm, has flaps over my ears and I can tie it up under my chin to stop it blowing away in high winds - and we’ve had a few of those this week 😊

Horse and cart ride

I totally love the random stuff that happens to me here in Maryport, Cumbria UK.

On Saturday morning, I walked up to town to post a card and was taking photos on my way back when I got chatting to a man, called Dave, with a horse and cart.

I took some photos of him and his horse, Blue, and asked him if he would take a photo of me with Blue.

Me with Blue on South Quay at Maryport

He then offered to take me back to the marina on his cart.

I’d intended to take photos around the harbour on the way back, but I couldn’t turn down an opportunity like that.

He asked whether I would rather make the short journey via the main road or the harbour and I opted to go around the harbour.

It was great fun and, whereas I’m usually the one taking photos of other people, several people snapped away as we passed them but, sadly, no photos of us have turned up on any of the local Facebook groups.

My lift back to Maryport Marina

I snapped a few shots of Dave and Blue when they dropped me off at the marina.

After he’d gone, I walked back over to the harbour to take the photos I wanted.

Maryport Christmas lights switch-on

Maryport’s Christmas lights were switched on at a special festive event in the town centre on Saturday.

The main street was closed to traffic and a mobile stage was set up at one end of the closed section. 

There were also children’s fairground rides and food stalls and no Christmas event would be complete without a visit from Santa 😊

One of the fairground rides at Maryport Christmas lights event

One of the food stalls at the Christmas lights event

I didn’t go to the whole event that went on throughout the afternoon.

Instead, I walked up to town shortly before the lights were due to be switched on at 5pm.

Santa on his sleigh

I was amazed by the number of people who had turned out for the event. 

The area around the stage was packed solid with adults and children watching and listening to school children singing Christmas carols before the countdown to the big switch on.

Local children singing carols before the Christmas lights were switched on

It was the first time I’d attended this event since we moved to Maryport two years ago and I totally loved it.

Christmas lights on the main street in Maryport

I will definitely be going again next year, assuming we’re still in Maryport…

Photography

My main photo opportunities this week were provided by the wild weather during Storm Diana on Tuesday, Wednesday and yesterday (Thursday).

Spray being blown across the pier at Maryport

A large wave practically obliterates Maryport lighthouse

Oystercatchers flying above the waves on the shore at Maryport

Sunset on the shore at Maryport

I also took my camera for a walk around the harbour on Saturday and again on Monday.

Fishing boats in Maryport Harbour on Saturday

More fishing boats in Maryport Harbour

Another view of the harbour

Reflections in the still water at Maryport Harbour on Monday

More fishing boats in Maryport Harbour

The entrance to Maryport Harbour with the Scottish hills in the distance

And, this week, I discovered my phone camera is nowhere near as bad as I thought.

I couldn’t understand why selfies came out much clearer than photos of anything else. Then I realised that the front-facing lens is always protected when the cover on my phone is closed whereas the one on the back is not.

I tried cleaning it with the lens cleaner and cloth I use for my camera lenses and, hey presto, the photos I took with it were much clearer.

I feel a total prat now and feel as though I owe Huawei an apology.

I’ve been moaning about the camera on my phone and trying to get EE - my mobile service provider - to let me change it early for more than a year and all I needed to do was clean the lens 😊

A photo taken with my phone last month before I discovered the lens was dirty

However, it had taken really poor-quality photos from the day I got it so I’m a little bit puzzled as to why the lens was dirty when I first took out the contract.

The counter in the Aquarium cafe. The first photo I took with my phone after cleaning the lens

The images I’m getting now are a hundred times better than they were but still nowhere near as good as my camera, so I don’t think I’ll be relying on it too much.

But it will mean that I can still take passable photos if I forget my camera or just choose not to take it out with me for whatever reason, which doesn’t happen often 😊

Swan family

The swans and cygents waiting for food by Ravensdale

The two adult swans and their three cygnets continue to pay regular visits to Ravensdale in search of food.

And they seem to have developed a knack of turning up at the worst times – usually when it’s dark, pouring with rain and/or blowing a gale.

After getting soaking wet while going out to feed them on several occasions during the storm, we brought their feed container indoors so I could throw food out of the window for them without having to go outside to do it.

Weather watch

The weather has been the main focus of the past week, thanks to Storm Diana.

Last Friday was dry, cloudy and bright with the sun coming out mid-morning before it clouded over during the afternoon. The top temperature was 7.5C (45.5F). and the average wind speed reached just 9mph.

Sunny weather in Maryport on Saturday

Saturday was dry and sunny with more wind than on Friday, but it was still fairly calm. The temperature peaked at 7.5C (45.5F) and the top average wind speed was 11mph.

The temperature plummeted overnight Saturday into Sunday going down to 2.8C (37F).

It was dry, bright and sunny on Sunday morning with an increasing amount of cloud from around lunchtime onwards. The temperature reached 6.8C (44F) and the top average wind speed was 13mph, but the northeasterly wind made it feel much cooler.

Maryport Marina gate under a cloudy sky on Sunday

Overnight Sunday into Monday was even colder with the temperature falling to 0.8C (33F).

We had a bright, sunny start to the day on Monday and it stayed dry and bright throughout the day.

The top temperature was 7.6C (45.5F) and the top average wind speed recorded at St. Bees Head was 7mph, but it seemed higher than that here.

Another cold night was followed by clouds and sunshine first thing on Tuesday, but the wind got up and it started raining heavily from about 2.30pm as Storm Diana started to make her presence felt.

However, it cleared up for a while in the afternoon and the sky coloured up at sunset.

Sunset over Ravensdale at Maryport Marina on Tuesday

The top temperature was 5.5C (42F) and the average wind speed reached 40mph, gusting 59mph.

Wednesday was wet and windy from first thing getting more so as the day went on. It was considerably warmer than the previous few days with the daytime temperature peaking at 12C (54F). The top average wind speed was 45mph, gusting 64mph.

Rain at Maryport Marina during Storm Diana on Wednesday

The wind speeds dropped a little overnight then picked up again early yesterday (Thursday) morning.

It continued to rain during the morning but dried up for a period during the afternoon before raining again in the evening.

Waves whipped up by high winds on the shore at Maryport yesterday (Thursday) 

The temperature reached 11.6C (53F) and the wind speed peaked at 41mph, gusting 57mph.

And today (Friday) has been another very windy day, with sunshine and periods of heavy rain followed by hailstones just after sunset. The top temperature was 8C (46F) and the top average wind speed was 30mph, gusting 43mph.

The devastation of a UK marina encourages us to take urgent action

Ravensdale on the Solway Firth

This week I’ve been preparing for the worst by uploading all our important documents to the cloud.

Watching videos of boats that sank when Storm Emma destroyed a UK marina made me decide it was time to ensure our paperwork would survive if something like that ever happened to us.

More than 80 boats sank or were damaged and pontoons were torn from their anchorages when hurricane-force winds battered Holyhead Marina in North Wales earlier this month.

Some of these vessels had been people’s homes.

This video showing drone footage of the devastation was published last Sunday - Holyhead Storm Emma

It was horrible to watch and very scary to think that it could happen to us. My heart goes out to everyone involved.

Safeguarding our important documents

Soon after we moved on board our 43ft seagoing cruiser Ravensdale at Maryport Marina in Cumbria I made sure all our important documents were in one place and easy to grab in an emergency.

But I had been meaning to make sure we had a back-up plan and the destruction of Holyhead Marina galvanised me into action, so I spent Wednesday afternoon scanning all our important documents. 

Me sorting the scanned documents into the relevant folders

I then sorted them into folders named “boat” (boat insurance, boat registration, ships’ radio licence and our short wave radio certificates), “car” (car registration document and car insurance) and “personal” (including our birth certificates, marriage certificate, driving licences, passports and life insurance policies) and uploaded them all to the cloud.

God forbid we will ever need them.

However, if anything happens to Ravensdale and we’re unable to save the hard copies of our important paperwork, then at least we will still have access to all the relevant information to enable us to start getting our lives sorted out again.


BOAT – Bring Out Another Thousand

Not long after we bought Ravensdale and moved on board in November 2016 someone told us that BOAT stood for Bring Out Another Thousand.

They were not wrong and this week has once again proved the accuracy of this acronym.

We had been having problems with our generator for some time. It never started the first time and needed repeated attempts with rest periods in between before it would fire up. This was annoying, but at least it did always go.

However, more recently, it has cut out while running and refused to restart so we decided the time had come to replace it with a new, hopefully more reliable one.

This week we ordered a Honda EU22i 2.2KW petrol inverter generator and it arrived a couple of days later. It runs like a dream and is really quiet.

Phil checking out the new generator on Ravendale's aft deck

A much smaller purchase was a bargain tool sharpening station from our local Lidl supermarket that Phil has already found useful for sharpening his drill bits.

Phil sharpening a drill bit

While doing so, he also sharpened all our kitchen knives and scissors so it’s definitely going to earn its keep.

Keeping Ravensdale clean

In our previous shore-based life, Phil always kept our cars lovely and clean.

Now, he lavishes his love and attention on Ravensdale.

As soon as she starts to look a little grubby, he’s out there with the boat wash scrubbing her decks and hosing her down.

Phil washing off the boat wash on Ravensdale's foredeck

Meanwhile, our car has to fend for herself, but we’ve found our new method of keeping her clean is working quite well.

We park her facing in different directions depending on whether her front or back end is most in need of a wash and, so far, the rain is doing a great job 😊

Farewell to “The Swan Man”

Last Saturday, we learnt that one of the other liveaboards here, who used to feed the swans that are regular visitors to the marina, sadly passed away the previous day.

Phil Lee, also known as “The Swan Man”, was very knowledgeable about Mute Swans and fed the pair that frequently turned up at the marina up to five times a day.

I am planning to attend his funeral on Monday and spent some time this week looking out photographs of him feeding the swans for use at the service.

Phil Lee with the swans at Maryport Marina

I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts that he was away from the marina for a while and that he’d asked me to feed the swans with the floating duck and swan food he kept on his boat if I saw them looking hungry.

I’ve fed them on a number of occasions and more recently discovered that other people had also been feeding them.

Me feeding the swans at Maryport Marina

After his death, the marina moved his boat and I’ve taken over his supply of food intending to carry on where he left off.

The only problem being that I’ve only seen the swans once since then.

They appeared first thing in the morning and I selfishly decided to have my own breakfast before feeding them and, by the time I’d finished, they’d gone.

To say I felt guilty would be an understatement and I promised myself that in future I would feed them as soon as I saw them. Sadly, I’m still waiting for them to return…

Photography feedback

I’ve been out indulging myself in one of my favourite hobbies – photography - again this week.

I’m still finding plenty of photo opportunities in my adopted hometown and enjoy posting them on a local Facebook group.

Maryport in the sunshine

Maryport lighthouse with the Scottish hills on the other side of the Solway Firth

The entrance to Maryport Harbour from Maryport basin

Shipping Brow at Maryport

And I was delighted when I got a message from a local artist whose work I admire asking if he could use my photos of Maryport as reference material.

I told him I'd be honoured for him to use any of my photos and am considering going to his next pen and watercolour wash class to learn how to turn my images into works of art - well, paintings. I think “works of art” would be a long way down the road 😊

I also liked a comment a local man left on one of my photos of the Iggesund Paperboard mill at nearby Workington, which can be seen in many of my photos of the coastline.

He said he'd told his granddaughter that it was a cloud factory and the wind turbines were fans to blow the clouds into the right place 😊

A lone fisherman on the shore at Maryport and the "cloud factory"

A redshank in Maryport basin

Meanwhile, I’m becoming very aware that I could do with a longer lens for my camera as my attempts at getting photos of some of the wildlife here have not been so good, like this photo of a redshank in Maryport basin.

I only really took the photo so I could identify it when I got back to the boat, but I was rather disappointed by the quality of the image.

Warmer weather, but not for long…

Last Friday was a beautiful sunny day when Ravensdale’s large windows really came into their own.

We were able to turn the heating off first thing in the morning and the boat stayed lovely and warm all day. The indoor thermometer went up to 34C (93F) in the sun and dropped to 23C (73F) when we moved it to a shadier spot. We didn’t need to put the heating back on until the evening.

Maryport Marina in the sunshine

It was warmer outside on Saturday with temperatures up to almost 11C (52F) but, as so often happens when the weather warms up, it rained for most of the day.

Sunday was sunny and calm and, on Monday we had a mixture of sunshine and clouds with temperatures up to 8.2C (47F).

Tuesday was another lovely sunny day with temperatures up to 6.9C (44F), but there was still a cool wind. The sunset looked promising, but it was not as good as I’d hoped.

Looking across Maryport basin to the old lighthouse

Overnight temperatures only dropped to 3.4C (38F) and we had lovely start to the day on Wednesday complete with a beautiful sunrise. I so wish I’d planned ahead and got up early to capture it, but had to make do with a quick snap taken from Ravensdale’s window.

Wednesday morning's sunrise at Maryport Marina

A closer view of the beautiful sunrise

Wednesday was a much windier day than we had experienced lately with southeasterly winds averaging up to 36mph and gusting to 51mph, but it was relatively warm with temperatures up to 10.3C (50.5F).

Ice cream van on South Quay, Maryport

I saw an ice cream van in Maryport for the first time this year on Wednesday, so I guess that means spring really is on its way 😊

Overnight Wednesday into yesterday (Thursday) there was a good blow with wind speeds up to 36mph, gusting 53mph, and it was fairly warm with a lowest temperature of 6.3C (43F) recorded at 7am.

It was wet and windy first thing yesterday. The rain dried up by lunchtime, but it remained fairly windy with average wind speeds up to 26mph and gusts up to 41mph. The highest daytime temperature was 8.9C (48F) at 3pm and the sunset was considerably better than on Tuesday evening, but still not as colourful as I'd hoped it would be.

Sunset over the shore at Maryport

Maryport lighthouse at sunset with the town in the distance

We had a relatively warm night last night with temperatures only dipping to 6.7C (44F) and this morning it is 8.2C (47F), but it’s not going to last.

The forecast is for much colder weather starting overnight tonight (Friday/Saturday) when the Beast from the East is due to return bringing snow and ice to large areas of the UK.

Here, we’re expecting temperatures down to -2C (28F) in the early hours of tomorrow (Saturday) and only reaching about 2C (36F) during the day. The forecast is for easterly winds of up to 29mph with gusts up to 40mph.

Very similar weather is expected on Sunday, remaining cold for the start of next week so it looks as though we'll have to wait a bit longer for spring to arrive…