The Isle of May

I was not keen to dally in Port Edgar, the north was calling and it is all to easy to get harbour soft and doss around for days at a time enjoying whatever delights can be found in a new port.  They had a rather nice sailing club bar which I resisted, choosing instead to cook a rather pleasant meal and have a San Miguel or two.  Then the kerfuffle started.  I had already arranged with the office to fuel up in the morning so that I could take the last of the tide out.  The office kindly moved me from the outer berths (can be subject to swell) to one close in.  What they failed to say is that these now dry out due to silting and because it is a local authority marina, cuts etc........  

The tide had gone and was half in again by the time I got my diesel,  so that meant waiting and it was going to get dark, passage plans had to be altered, more faffing around with books and ting.  I left soon after 1400 and spent some time with the bridges before heading off proper, like.

The entrance to Port Edgar with is floating tyre wave break.
 

 Owing to some rust problems the road bridge of 1964 vintage is being replaced with a new one just a little further upstream, just the other side of Port Edgar in fact.  This is the north caisson under construction.

The old road bridge.

The rail bridge with quite a large gas carrier about to pass beneath.

Can you see the train, tiny isn't it or is it that the bridge is massive.

 Truly awesome, especially considering when it was built.

A lot of the islands in the Forth are riddled with fortifications from the Hitler war as the naval dock yards are just upstream.

 Inbound for the oil jetty.

Inchcolm and the abbey through the misty haze.  The grand city of Edinburgh and the docks of Leith are on the opposite shore but I didn't see them at all.

The trip out to the Isle of May was a bit bumpy and I was starting to have second thoughts about the efficacy of her anchorage.  1. It was dark and I had to anchor about 60 metres from a cliff, in the right place as there are adjacent rocks.  2.  I could see that the place was covered in pot markers.  3. The pilot book said it was 4 metres at low water, it was low water and I couldn't find anything less that 11.5 metres.  That meant the sand had been scoured off the rocky ledge.  4. It's not brilliant holding anyway.  Still I chucked 45 metres of chain overboard and spent a fretful night listening to it scrape and grumble over the rocky sea bed.  The chart plotter said we did 1.9 miles in the night ranging about but we didn't move more that 60 metres in all so not bad really.  Hear is the Isle of May in the morning just before she disappeared in the fog.