Scarborough to Hartlepool

Scarborough is a good place,  but after a day exploring the town we needed to move on, so planned to leave at 0800. We were ready to go at 0755, just when the dredger moved into the entranced and started work. There was just about enough space to squeeze by, so after a quick call to the harbour master to check it was okay we were off the pontoon and through the gap. Carol Steptoe from Tourmaline took some photos of us from the pontoon, and David waved us off from the boat.

There was very little wind again, so with another motoring day in prospect we got the sails up as soon as possible to catch what wind there was. It had died by 1100, so the autohelm went on. The morning started dry and reasonably clear, but then it started raining and continued for a couple of hours. Visibility got worse, and as we passed Whitby at noon the pictures I took might as well have been in black and white.

The cliffs just past it were beautiful, but wreathed in cloud. It was one of those views that cameras can never capture.

Lunch was pasties, bought from a stall in Scarborough market.  They were every good; thin shortcrust pastry with plenty of veg in with the minced meat. Mass produced pasties are a bit greasy for me, but these were lovely, and piping hot. It was the first time we've used the new Omnia oven on the boat, and it worked very well. We should have turned the pasties over half way through the heating as they were a bit too brown where the pastry was in contact with the bottom of the oven, but they certainly weren't burnt.

Robin Hoods Bay and then Staithes were very photogenic, but difficult to capture due to how far out we were, so we just looked, rather than trying to take photographs.

Growing on the horizon were the towers of a chemical plant, and the blades of a wind farm marked on none of our charts.The industrial Tees rose out of the mist with its own charm as we left the cliffs of Yorkshire behind us. The main sail was sheeted totally in, and the jib was furled away, while the stay sail twitched from one side to the other with wave that rolled under the hull.

There was a little wind though, and the main being up made the steering unnecessarily heavy, so we got it down as we passed Redcar. There were ten cargo ships lying at anchor just south of the Tees entrance, but we stayed inshore of all of them, listening to Tees VTS. None of the anchored whips moved, but we saw two others going in, and one coming out. The channel is very narrow though, much easier to cross than the one into Harwich harbour!

Old Hartlepool looked attractive as the sun came out for the first time that day, and we entered the lock into Hartlepool Marina at 1745. It had been an uneventful day, and nothing wrong with that!

Hartlepool Marina is big, with lots of places to eat around it. Entry is controlled by a key card, so when we went up to the marina office (which is also the lock office like at Shotley and Eastbourne) to get ours we asked for recommendations. They suggested Krimo, which is just over the lock gates,      or the Indian restaurant beyond it, so we decided to look at the menu. After our excellent lunch time pasties Julian said he was not in the mood for a feast, but we ended up having one anyway! Turned out Krimo's is the best restaurant in Hartlepool, and deservedly famous. It was almost empty, on a Tuesday evening, but I can thoroughly recommend it.