Yesterday, Friday the weather was predicted to be worse than Thursday when we had turned back to Eyemouth. We went to bed and I told the crew, I will check the weather forecast in morning and only wake you if it improves. Woke at 5:45 and checked the forecast, it had improved so woke the crew at 6am. This was popular as you might expect. The sun was out and the wind had died down! Looked outside and discovered two boats had rafter on our outside over night. Had to wake these crews as well, they were both Dutch boats and very understanding. During the last few weeks we have found ourselves in the same places as 4 or 5 other boats on a similar route. They are all from the Netherlands, Denmark and France. For earlier crews, Swen and Nancy tracked us to Peterhead, the solo cat arrived in Eyemouth. Set off for Amble at 7am and ran aground in the harbour but managed to plough through the mud and get out before low water. The sea was moderate but as usual the wind on the nose. Went past Lindisfarne and the Farne Islands plus beautiful beaches and castles a little to far offshore to fully appreciate. Another day worth a closer inspection. Arrived just as it started to drizzle in Amble at 15:30.
The radio has been playing up particularly on channel 16. This is the emergency channel so very important. I have two electricians on board this week and dropping hints all week that they could help fix. The hints did not work so took off the back of the instruments console and started looking myself, this plus some jibing by Clare finally got John and Tim involved. John declaring himself the master and Tim the apprentice. Initial prodding produced no results and they wanted to give up, adopting good British workman excuses such as it's after 5 o'clock. More prodding they pontificated it often is a "dirty earth". They checked the earths and found several loose and confidently declared problem solved. Radio put on problem still there, more beers to lubricate the brains and decided one of the connections faulty. Tim fixed tried radio still not fixed, another couple of beers and Tim found the problem, a loose antenae. Radio on and seems it is fixed. Not sure who is the master and who is the apprentice now?

Writing this blog in bed on Saturday morning. Today, Richard, Clare and John leave. They have made the best of a week of terrible weather where it rained every day and we had storms most days. We managed over 200 miles in just two hops and have seen a lot of north east Scotland. We are now back in England for the first time in 3 weeks. Next week Dave and Jim join us hoping for better weather.