DAY NINE - CONWY TO GLASSON

As predicted, it was an early start this morning as we had to be off our moorings and out of the estuary before low tide.  It became a bit touch and go as the pre-booked taxi to take us from our hotel to the marina failed to arrive, so by the time we called up another taxi and got onto the boats, we were away with literally a minute to spare!  The run out of the estuary was necessarily cautious, with depths getting down to alarmingly little, but we were finally out into the open sea.  I settled into steering our proposed route, feeling very happy that we were going to have the wind behind us and a good easy run, but we soon saw a huge wind farm in the distance, which meant having to alter the proposed course and take a much more direct route across Liverpool Bay.  Theoretically this would make our journey time shorter, however, the wind was now on the beam, and we had an odd mixture of seas, sometimes short and choppy with a short series of rolling waves thrown in.  It made it a rough and uncomfortable ride, and on board "ConTTentment" we were shipping quite a few waves on the port side - definitely a good day to be on the helm (ie., starboard!).  Making the direct route across the bay meant very little scenery, apart from the odd oil tanker, masses of wind turbines and a couple of drilling platforms.  The sky was slate grey, and we had a few showers of rain, as well as a steady Force 5 wind.  It was laborious going, but finally we were able to reconnect to our original route to make the run into Glasson, and had a fantastic surfing ride in with the wind directly behind us.
We arrived at the Glasson estuary about 2.5 hours ahead of high water, so the bars and banks required careful navigation, not helped by the fact that the actual buoyage and the Garmin didn't always co-relate.  Again, we were down to depths of under 1 metre, and crept in with the sight of a stranded yacht on a sandbank a timely reminder of the humiliation to be suffered if you get it wrong!    Arriving at Glasson, we found the lock gates firmly shut, (as we expected, they open one hour prior to high water), so we tied up to the wharf and found sanctuary in the local cafe.

Closed for business - Glasson lock on our arrival across Liverpool Bay

I might have sniffed at this a week ago as a lunch destination, but soaked to the skin, tired and feeling very cold, the warm, vinegar-laden fug was the best place imagineable!!  In fact we had delicious potted shrimps on toast (Morecambe Bay is just around the corner) and hot chocolate and felt very much restored, ready to squelch back to the boats and put them away for the day now the lock gates had opened.

 Coming alongside in the outer lock to save having to wait for the inner lock gates
 and swing bridge to open 

Si arranged with the lock keeper for us to keep the boats in the outer lock, which saves the delay of having to wait for the inner lock gates and bridge to be opened tomorrow, when we already have a short day as we won't be able to leave until high tide in the afternoon, which will leave us with a very short window to make our next port of call.  Again, it was a case of tying up alongside and passing luggage from boat to boat onto the shore, but we are getting much more adept at this since our night in Aberdovey.  I am not too keen on heights and especially ladders, but I can see that by the end of this trip it is going to be a case of kill or cure!

Stairway to heaven? The only way off is up!

What used to be the leading light for the old Glasson lock gates

Party night tonight, as we are staying inland in the beautiful Lancastrian countryside near Kirby Lonsdale and celebrating Franz Mason-Hornby's 50th birthday.  Fortunately our party clothes have arrived (by post!), otherwise it would have been dancing the night away in oilskins!