Day 53- Sunday 10th July- Amble to Hartlepool.

Today was a good sail for most of the way. The wind was from the west, which meant a broad reach for the first 30nm.I  phoned Kelvin to see if he had left Blyth. He was already in Hartlepool, which was one of my options today, so I decided to go there. Passed a light house with a very clearly defined garden wall system. Time was when this would have been well cultivated by the resident lighthouse men.

The wind held as I passed Newcastle and then Sunderland. I thought I'm really in Geordie land today, but I'll reach England soon,The was a bit of excitement just south of Sunderland. A boat was calling the coastguard and reporting mechanical problems. I listened in as the coastguard contacted the lifeboat and arrangements were put in place. From the lat and longs given I could see it was pretty close to me. Soon the rib was blatting out in my direction. The boat then called the coastguard to say they had managed to start the engine and were making their way back to the marina.

The rib came out to meet them. I tried to take a photo as it shot past me, but I was zoomed in too far and I just caught the back end.. The little white boat then appeared and the rib shadowed them back.

Saw my first Northumbrian cobble on the water doing some fishing.

The entrance to Newcastle looked interesting, with what looked like a crescent of houses ending at a fort. The photos lousy, so you'll have to take my word for it.

On the approach to Hartlepool I could smell what seemed to be be like a foundry. There were plumes of steam/smoke and jets of flame. Something big was going on over there.

Hartlepool is a big lock in marina, with a pontoon in the lock to make things easy This must have been quite a place in its heyday. It's difficult to estimate how many boats they could have got in here..I met Kelvin and we talked about getting to Whitby tomorrow. The trip now looks like this. I'm starting to think about whether I will take a detour into the Wash and the Norfolk Broads.He is on a bit of a mission to get back now, but I feel that rushing with him is the wrong thing for me. I will miss too much.