Planning a round GB trip

Introduction

This is partly an overview page with links to more detailed advice either to relevant blog posts or pages (which may also listed under "Tips").

First published 29 Jan 21, Major updates November / December 2021 and a few more late 2022.

A Satellite track of the 2020 trip as far as Holy Island
when I switched the Iridium off to save a months
subscription The very wiggly line to Ireland is a
tracking error and I forgot to switch the IridiumGo
on crossing to Peterhead hence I appear to go overland.

For detailed guidance I recommend Sam Steele's UK and Ireland Circumnavigators guide (Steele, 2011) together with the appropriate pilots (see Charts and Guides). She did most of the trip two handed with some legs more fully crewed so I will expand a little to cover single handed / smaller boat issues, and add a few thoughts based on my 2020 clockwise and 2021 anticlockwise circumnavigations.

My preferred time to start is early in the season, typically April or May hoping for the best weather but because of covid-19 my 2020 trip started in July. With poor weather and restricted time it was rather rushed with "only" 32 days at sea. Although I skipped many stops because the weather was just too miserable to make it worth while, the legs sailed were surprisingly close to those planned except that I went up the east coast of Ireland rather than the west coast of England and Wales.  

Planning for 2021 was undertaken in January and February due to general uncertainly about the 2021 season and in particular the Jester Baltimore Challenge. (See my post "Time to revise plans for 2021?")

Contents (Below if not a link):

• Single handed specific issues to consider:
• Use of canals.
• General tips.
• Berthing on high & rough walls.
• Fuel, Gas, Water & Porterage.
• Which way round?
• Pre planning.
• Passage Planning
• Dover Straits - The Solent (to follow).
• The Solent - Land's End (Link).
• Which side through the Irish Sea & North Channel? (Link)
• Navigating the Pentland Firth (link)
• Passage making along the East Coast (link).
• Anchorages and marinas for a Round GB trip (links), being updated as more found.
• The Solent to Lands End.
• Lands End to Browns Bay NI.
• Browns Bay to Loch Ewe.
• Loch Ewe to Orkney and on to The Solent.
• Charts and Guides (link)
• Anchors, drogues and emergency steering (Link).
• Anchorages and Passages of Note. (wip)

Single Handed Specific Issues

Canals

Many prefer to shorten their trip and to avoid Cape Wrath and the Pentland Firth by using the Caledonian Canal, others use the Crinan to avoid the Mull of Kintyre. Although not recommended by someone I know who has done it, the Caledonian can be done single handed but the Crinan can not as most of the locks are unmanned so you would be relying on the good will of others to take your lines and to operate the locks. For the relatively short route help is available to hire at sensible money. See my post on my passage through in 2021.

Update: As of January 2023: Use of a "private pilot" is mandatory through the Crinan canal if:

• you are shorthanded with crew (fewer than three aboard)
• you are in a rush to transit
• you have never transited the canal before.

 [Note: due to Covid single handed passages through the Caledonian Canal were banned in 2021, I understand that has changed but check with the authorities].

Certainly when I went through the Crinan, some of the walls were very rough (e.g. parts of Lock 14) so take a fender board (see below). You will also need a couple of long mooring lines (20 - 25 metres) - one of them will need to run from the top of the lock wall to the bow and back to a cockpit winch. Detailed guidance can be downloaded from the Scottish Canals web site.

General tips 

Berthing on high & rough walls.

Many small harbours only have berthing available against rather high and rough walls, at low tide getting alongside and lines ashore singlehanded can be problematic, if planning to use these harbours (or a canal) take a fender board and be prepared for some gymnastics on arrival. 

A single long plank with ropes attached will serve as a fender board, but on a small boat it is difficult to store and will usually end up on the lifelines where it gets in the way and will be bashed by the sea. I made one in two shorter sections joined by rope top and bottom so that it can be folded, it also conforms better to the curved side of an Achilles.

My articulated fender board(s), a 2.4m length of tantalized decking
board cut in two and tied together. Two fenders fit nicely under each.
Note the ropes go through the edges of the board so that they are less
likely to get damaged by the wall.

The long mooring lines needed for going through locks are likely to be required for lying alongside in many of the working harbours.

Fuel, Gas, Water & Porterage.

Replenishing fuel and gas can be problematical around Scotland, water is usually less of a problem but all are likely to require porterage at some time so be prepared with plenty cans and, if there is room on the boat, a good hand cart, preferably metal - my plastic one failed after being used only 3 or 4 times, and make sure you can stack and secure heavy awkward cans so they stay in place over rough ground, over curbs etc. 

Gas

In outlying areas it is likely to be expensive and, given Calor's chaotic distribution system (they supply Camping Gaz as well as Calor) availability can't be guaranteed - even on the south coast I once visited half a dozen places before I was able to buy a standard 2.7 Kg 907 bottle.

Bottles of water flying round the boat could cause a
lot of damage in the event of a knock down so I have
 removable bars to keep them in place. Pic before the
bilge and under bunk areas were repainted.

I use my oven quite a lot so have to change Camping Gaz cylinders every 5 - 8 weeks, the boat has dedicated lockers for two cylinders but fortunately the cockpit "wet" locker, which drains to the cockpit,  has room for the 5 litre petrol tank required for the tender's outboard and a third Gaz cylinder as well as my normal mooring lines. 

Water

My water tankage is quite limited at < 50 litres so I have a 15 litre emergency supply that could be heaved into the life raft given time and take a lot of bottled water which I use for drinking, reserving the water in the tank for washing up and sometimes cooking and coffee. Don't forget a good supply of water purification tablets they will be hard to find on route!

Diesel:

Be aware that many small marinas around Scotland do not have full time staff and may, like Stromness, be looked after by volunteers, so even if Reed's says fuel is available it might only be by appointment when the volunteer can attend, perhaps during his or her's evening rounds. Self service pumps at harbours and marinas that take a normal card are rare and all but 2 in the outer Hebrides require a key fob to operate (see the CCC directions). Often it will be a hike to the local petrol station either from a marina or by dinghy. 

WIP 2023 - Having nothing better to do waiting for the 2023 season I am updating my pages on anchorages to include moorings and marinas and, where I have refuelled there, a note on how easy or difficult it is to do so.

Pre-planning

On long trips, plan well ahead, I outline the trip in Excel, being retired I have plenty of time during the winter (and during Covid-19 lock downs 😒) so I planned all of the route legs and many options on the computer, generating waypoints and routes to transfer to the plotter as and when required. This helps identify potential issues, best routes, timings, start dates etc. I run the route at least twice once at springs and once at neaps and usually at several different speeds to get a feel for the issues. For my first trip round and with the extended Covid shut down, I produced two complete plans, one starting at springs one at neaps. I did not bother doing that the 2nd time around (except for going through the Pentland Firth). My SeaPro software will also, in one run, give approximate route timings for the selected start time and the following 12 hours which helps:

The route from St Margret's Bay (Just S of Rosslare) to Arklow.

As well as being useful this level of planning is also a diverting and quite pleasurable exercise. 

The plan will almost certainly change but forms a good basis and with some spare days built in you might catch up with the schedule. Having gone round twice there will be little to do for a planned trip to St Kilda in 2022.

I'll have the pilot to hand and will usually read the appropriate section several times before starting a leg but I put key points in the comments section of my excel summary for quick reference whilst sailing, this allows for quick re-planning and to have basic information to hand and organised if on route I decide to combine two legs or take an alternate - perhaps due to bad weather when getting the information together could be challenging. These examples are far more detailed than most - a tribute to some dangerous waters requiring accurate timing and pilotage.

Into Scapa Flow from the South East. I include a note of the
route file(s) needed to be moved to the plotter (a simple job) from the
iPad on which they are stored ready - the plotter will "only" handle
100 routes and a good number are used for my "normal" trips along
the south coast.

Part of a route planned from Wick in SeaPro, this one to the
Long Hope anchorage. Red = tide race / over falls / Roost.

And out through the sound of Hoy and on.

When dates are known or can reasonably be estimated I fill in the blanks or update from the navigation software.

Below is the summary of my planned trip from the Hamble round GB to the start of the 2021 Jester Baltimore Challenge, the full version is as above albeit generally with far fewer notes, I had the notes and experience from the 2020 clockwise trip, many of which work in reverse. As things turned out the trip did not turn out this way due to bad weather and I missed the cruise down the outer Isles and St Kilda and when it was clear I would not make the start of the Jester I took a diversion through the Crinan Canal.

A summary of the actual itinerary of my 2020 clockwise trip can be found here and the 2021 here.

Outline of my plan for the 2021 Trip

From	To	NM
Hamble	Downs (2 days)	122
Downs	Lowestoft (or somewhere short)	78
Rest Day
Lowestoft	Filey (or Bridlington, Scarborough or other)	132
Filey	Blyth (or anchor short or long?)	72
Rest Day
Blyth	Lindisfarne	38
Rest Day
Lindisfarne	St Andrews (or close to)	57
St Andrews	Peterhead	76
	2 days stopping off somewhere.
Rest Day
Spare day
Peterhead	Wick / Sinclair's Bay	72
	Direct?
Spare day
Wick (Sinclair's Bay)	Stromness	34
Rest Day	Consider a week extra to go to Fair Isle and The Hebrides
Rest Day
Rest Day	Or IF light wind / calm seas V early start to go round to Bray of Skaill / Scarabray for the night.
Stromness	Eriboll	49
Eriboll	Loch Ned	55
Loch Ned	Stornoway	42
Rest Day
Rest Day
Stornaway	Scalpay	27
Scalpay	Ensay (Sound of Harris)
Ensay	St Kilda (have to be lucky with the weather for this!)	54
Rest day
St Kilda	Loch Boisdale via the sound of Barra or various anchorages around the sound of Barra.	76
Alternate:
Scalpay	Loch Maddy	24
Loch Maddy	Loch Boisdale	31
Rest Day
End alternate
Loch Boisdale	Canna	30
Canna	Tobermory	34
Rest Day
Rest Day
Rest Day
Tobermory	Ardalanish via Iona	40
Cruise the area	End in time to get to  Pwllheli  for the start of the JBC assuming its on.
???	Port Ellen
Rest Day
Port Ellen	Browns Bay	50
Browns Bay	Ardglass	53
Rest Day
Rest Day
Ardglass	Dundalk Bay or Carlingford.	31
Dundalk	Dublin	44
Dublin	Wiklow	27
Wiklow	Pwllheli	70
Rest days
Jester Baltimore