We were safely moored in Carlingford Marina, and Beverley took a walk into Carlingford, to pick up a few bits and bobs. On the way there she heard shouting going on in the local river culvert. She had no idea what was going on, but what happens in the culvert, stays in the culvert.
The weather was quite poor the next day too, so this time I joined Beverley and we walked into Carlingford together. In Carlingford, we found St. Johns Castle, another castle built with all the taxes taken from the people of Nottingham, in Robin Hoods day. There was some quaint little shops, with bunting and flowers all around which was really lovely.
Soon the weather was good enough to leave Carrlingford, so we choose to leave on the last of the ebb out of Carlingford lock. This meant that we would be going past Greenore point at one hour before high water. Even with a slackening tide, going past Greenore point was a wee bit tricky as the tide can run so fast just past that point. When it's the tricky stuff, Beverley was on the helm and as usual, she did a great job. Once we got past Grenore point and out into the bay, it was my time to take over. Big open sea, with nothing to hit, my kind of sailing.
We only had the genoa out, and reefed at that but we were still well heeled as we made our way into Ardglass. As soon as we got close to Ardglass, I handed the wheel over to Beverley as it looked a really tricky harbour. We had sped our way up to Ardglass as we were trying to avoid low water. We were in time, but only just as we had 1/2 meter under the keel at one point. In near the pontoons there was a little bit more water and enough for low tide, but where we only had 1/2 meter, that would of been at 1.3meters at low tide and we have a 1.6meter keel. Beverley did a great job getting us in, but I was really happy to see somebody on the pontoons who helped us with the lines. He gave us a top tip of tying our fenders around the bottom of the stanchion. It certainly made the fenders very secure on the side of Salty Lass. That night we had steak and chips to celebrate. We both deserved it after a long days sailing.
The next day we walked around Ardglass and found the smallest tower I had ever seen. Apparently it was a Victorian Bathing House. The patch of sand that the ladies used for bathing was tiny and I can't imagine many ladies using it.
We walked along the harbour wall looking at the sea before returning to Salty Lass, finding a memorial to seaman on the way. The sea is a dangerous place and we had a silent prayer to all those soles lost at sea.
