Our friends Karen and Steve, arrived on the Friday and we all consulted the weather and the local tides. The weather for the Friday was not great for sailing so it gave us chance to explore Peel again, so this time I checked out the local museum where they had a replica long boat and part of the museum was made to be a Viking courtyard and long house. The Manx people are very proud of their heritage and as well as the Vikings being depicted in the museum there are long boats in the harbour and other Viking remnants around the place. For example The local Manx parliament is called Tynwald which is a word with a Norse heritage.
I also explored the local kipper factory, which doesn't take long, but what you are really after is the delicious kippers. I bought seconds which are kippers that don't look as good in the packet, but they taste just the same. As they were seconds I bought them at £2 for 2 which is good value. I am always interested in local food and bargains.
That night we ate a vegetable curry, which was really good along with rice and naan bread, while I had rice and a gluten free pitta bread smeared with garlic and honey. When it comes to cooking Beverley really looks after me. That night we consulted the weather again and the tides and we decided that we would leave in the afternoon, sail through the night and arrive in Liverpool on the Sunday.
As we would be eating on passage I prepared all the ingredients for Old El Paso Fajitas so that when we were at sea, all I had to do was throw it into a pan and eat it.
When it was time to leave, my plan was to film our departure in the rain, but to be honest I was too scared. I thought we were going to ram every pontoon and boat in the harbour, I simply have not learned how to judge the size of Salty Lass, or of what she is capable of doing.
Chicken rock lighthouse
We passed some beautiful scenery on the way to the calf of man and chicken rock lighthouse and everybody had a chance to helm Salty Lass, so that they could become comfortable with her handling. We had to motor through the night over seas that were so flat we could see the reflection of stars in the water.
We moored at some mooring balls at tower cardinal and waited until the tide was right for the lock. We arrived just as the race was about to start, so we saw loads of our friends from the club.
When we finally arrived at our slip we opened a bottle of Prosecco that had been sitting in the fridge for two weeks waiting for this day. We were also greeted by more friends who came aboard offering drinks which is always welcome.
