A chap had given me a couple of mackerel last night, so breakfast was fried fish with freshly ground black pepper, which I managed to cook as I motor sailed up the Firth of Forth.
The sky looked very unsettled and a classic halo formed in the cirrostratus cloud.It can mean an approaching front or depression. There seemed to be a heavy cloud hanging over Edinburgh and later I was to hear of its significance.
The highlight of this trip was drifting slowly past Bass Rock. This is a truly special place. The sheer number of gannets is awe inspiring. There seems to hardly be a view of rock between the birds.I've been here before but it still takes my breath away. Being downwind of the rock was another reason for my breath to be taken away! when I came into the Firth of forth a few days ago and saw Bass Rock in the distance the sun was on it and it looked like it was covered in snow. I must have been about 12 miles away. It was just the refection on all these birds!
I did not know that gannets fly in Vee formations like geese. I had always thought they were like gulls-each one for himself but obviously not. There were squadrons of birds flying to and from the rock in close formation.Whilst many birds are present in British waters throughout the year the young leave their colonies and fly to the African coast for the winter. I guess it is this migration that results in birds cooperating and flying together to conserve energy.
Midway between bass Rock and St Abbs head is the nuclear power station which was closed down last week because of the jelly fish clogging the filters in the sea water cooling system.It was very misty today but the scale of this structure is huge.
St Abbs Head is what a headland should look like. Bold and rugged- not like that Sand dune at Rattray Head. When I started diving St Abbs was quite a mecca for British divers.Again hard to see the village in the mist.There was no sign of divers out today. In fact there seems to have been surprisingly few dive boats on the whole trip so far.
Today the news is full of the phone tapping saga and Rupert Murdoch's closure of the News of the World. This sounds like a story that is just going to run and run.
I was reading a book of Celtic sea stories, which I bought at the Story telling centre whilst going along. One of them included a bit on the Stone of Destiny/ Stone of Scone I mentioned a few days ago.The story had it that the stone was left at Dunad by St Andrew. All the Kings of Scotland were crowned on the stone. It was later moved to Scone near Perth. people believed that if kings were not crowned upon this stone then they did not have the power of a king.It was Edward I who took it from Scotland in 1297.Yet another name for it is Jacob's Pillow.
Today there was far too much motoring. The forecast for tomorrow is for W/NW this should be better for the next leg. Tonight I needed to replaces some of the fuel I used today. A nice young couple saw me with my cans and took me to the garage. They said it had been raining exceptionally heavily in Edinburgh today. That's what that cloud I saw was doing and it seemed to hang over the land all day.
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