Global cooling continues at a brisk pace. The third gale in 6 days hit us again yesterday evening and the south westerly air flow continues unabated. Now I know why there are so many midges in Scotland. They're all blown over from Ireland. Went up to the marina office this morning and Nicky said "yu'l be 'ere till Tuesday then!" Still, there are much worse places to be stranded.
Kilmore Quay marina in a nice place to be. They've a new office block occupied by Peter and Nicky who run the marina side of the harbour. The banter was tremendous when we got in with Nicky refusing to budge on giving me a discount for 3 nights or even a week but he was willing to give me a years berthing for the price of a month. We may be forced to take it! I went up this morning and Peter was making himself a coffee. He asked "have one with me". Can you imagine walking into the Port Edgar office and being offered a coffee? Evens odds on flying pigs are more likely.
The marina itself is quite small with room for around 60 boats but it is heavily used by boats on passage round the south east tip of Ireland so the berths are big. It is a bit disconcerting coming onto the pontoons though as there doesnt seem to be much room. There are two pontoons sticking out - imagine a two pronged fork - with fingers off each pontoon. The prongs however are bent together so the gap between them at the ends is narrow but widens out significantly as you sail between them. Once you are in then you can easily turn a boat round. It's very sheltered compared to Arklow, Dun leary or Port Edgar.
You have to pay for shore power. Cards cost 5 Euros. I asked Nicky if the one from Dun Laoghaire would work. "Oh yes, but I shouldn't tell you that! Sure it'll work grand". The problem is though that Dun Laoghaire got our money for the card and Kilmore Quay will supply the lecky. I can see his point. It's all immaterial however, as there was enough credit left on the shore power box to supply South Queensferry for a week. Wi-fi is free so that is a big bonus. They have diesel here also - which is good as ours is being depleted at an astonishing rate with the heating on. Peter in the office explained the problems of filling desiel cans from his big tank in anything over a force 6 from the south west. The lid is positioned exactly to get maximum lift from the wind accelerating over the harbour wall and tank is then dragged across the road and into the blue waters of the harbour. We won't be getting any diesel 'till Tuesday then!
Wednesday afternoon was spent doing some more boat fixing and in particular the annoying leak from the window over the fridge and the increasing rapid flow of water down the keel stepped mast. Both are now in good shape. Amazing what you can do with a bit of Duct tape. That is - if you don't kick it overboard. It doesnt work as well after 15 minutes in the water. Another visit to the chandlers to get a gas refill and some other bits left my credit card account 200 Euros lighter. On the bright side, that gas bottle lasted around 3 weeks which was 2 weeks longer than the last one I got from the Bosuns locker. Methinks there may have been water in it.
Wendesday evening we entertained John and Sue from Ellan Vannin and also Adrianne and Anders who were heading the other way towards Cardiff. They had lived in Dinas Powis so it was good to talk about old times.
On Tuesday I had missed my daily ration of Guinness as it was too wet to walk up the pub. Panicking in case I died, on Wednesday evening we strolled up to the pub up the road. Surprising it wasnt raining. All the midges that hatched in Kilmore Quay that evening were quickly transported to Scotland. The pub was called Kehoes. Nice Guinness, nice food and a nice atmosphere. I can sense this place may be a competitor in the best pub in the world competition that I am privately compiling. For the Tappit Hen in Dunblane - the pressure is suddenly on. It does have a few annoying traits - associated with coming into the 21st Century - such as Football on Sky TV and Recently Invented Traditional Creamy Pisspoor Irish Ale. Patricia sorted us out with a table and then continued to move people from table to table as even bigger groups of people came in. We left after the Germany v Turkey game for a moist walk back to the boat.
Looks like we will have plenty of time to see around the place and Wexford is only a bus ride away.
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