Howth to Arklow

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This started out as a sail to Wicklow but we continued on to Arklow to enable us to get to Kilmore Quay in one hop. We left Howth at 0600 and arrived in Arklow about 1500. We had a NW F3 which was giving us 5 - 6 knots under sail alone until about 1030. Then it faded and the engine came on for the rest of the trip. I had calculated getting to within 5 miles of Arklow before the tide changed but we had two knots against us 12 miles from there. But it was calm and it was hot so using the autopilot we took nearly 4 hours to do the last 12 miles. Nothing to do but sit and watch for pots. After the revolution those who put out pots to catch harmless crustaceans will be deported. We arrived in Arklow which is at the mouth of the Avoca River. There is a harbour on the left hand side and a small marina on the right. There is also a very long pontoon on the river. We tied up to the pontoon. We had no sooner done so then a gentleman suggested that we move to a different part of the pontoon as the 'racing boats would be in soon'. We later saw several visiting boats moored there. Not a bother though. Arklow is a delight. The wide expanse of the Avoca River dominates this lovely town. There is one very wide stone bridge with about 20 arches spanning it. The place has a sense of doing ok with very little dereliction and not to many closed down businesses. The facilities are excellent and the showers and electricity are included in the very reasonable mooring fees. There is a large shopping centre with Dunnes, Aldi aand a cinema complex two minutes walk from the pontoon. I haad one lok at the tides and realised that we would have to leave at 0230 the next day to make Kilmore Quay. That was that. We decided to stay at least a day and maybe two. We had done four long runs Wed - Saturday and we needed a rest. So Sunday was the first day off since the previous Tuesday in Glenarms. We went to the movies. Brendan Gleeseon in the Martin McDonagh produced 'The Guard'. Brilliant dialogue and a wonderful piece of acting by Gleeson though the pace does drop a bit at times. I laughed out loud a lot.
Monday was a day for doing a few jobs on the boat. I saw that by waiting til Tuesday we could leave at 0500 and make Kilmore Quay ( hopefully) at about 1500. So we dropped a bag of laundry to the local laundry and I picked up some fuel and oil filters and changed the oil. Then it was a hot sunny afternoon pottering about on the boat. I'm going to see if I can remove and seal the windows. Sally just pointed out that if I continue to scroll down there are two more pages of pictures!!!!!

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