It falls upon me, Andrew, the latest crew member to write today's blog entry. Arriving last night, I was greeted by a somewhat bedraggled and soaking wet group of beaten men. In Tim's own words "I smell like a goat". Having already negotiated half of the Caledonian Canal in horizontal rain, the weather abated and we set off this morning from Fort Augustus at the western end of Loch Ness. Blessed with sunshine at last, we negotiated the final few locks to exit into the North Sea. Despite the sunshine, and relatively calm sea conditions it certainly lived up to its viciously cold reputation. Having said that, I had arrived endowed with clothing more appropriate for a tropical climate than biting wind and the occasional shower. Have been wearing six T-shirts , a fleece and heavyweight jacket all day, but still feel like I've been lying naked in a chest freezer for several hours . Mid afternoon, we saw a Navy Sea king helicopter approach us. "RAF Rescue to Stray Cat. We are on exercise. Can we put a man on board?" Readily and excitedly agreeing, we were approached by what can only be described as a flying detached house. At one point it was no more than 30 to 50 ft directly above us, and the noise and down draft were astonishing. After following us at what felt like arms length for a mile or two, the tender boat was nearly ripped from its fittings by this flying goliath, so we had to politely decline their kind offer to crash onto the boat and watch them peel off into the sunshine. The rest of the journey has been blessed with sunlight, but biting wind and cold. We now find ourselves in a sleepy, but sheltered harbour in Peterhead. Weather reports look favourable for perhaps the next 36hrs, so we intend to push on to Amble in Northumberland tomorrow, some 160 miles from here. The moral of today's trip? Never eat yesterday's leftover Frutti Del Mare seafood pizza cold. Not exactly gourmet food, and possibly more likely to prove our undoing than the sea.
