21st June 2002. With an excellent forecast of S-SW f3-4, showers, sea state smooth/slight. With HW 13.00 the dithering was over, decision made, Alnmouth.

For those who don't know, the village is on the Northumberland coast, northern England. It was a seaport in olden days when sailing vessels of up to 150 tons would load grain and coal. Trade would've died anyway with the building of the nearby railway linking Edinburgh and Newcastle but a ‘Great Storm' of 1806 changed the entrance permanently and the bar has barely 2m at HW. Converted grain warehouses augment the pretty village which is sited on a short headland. There is only one road in and out to the north. Wealthy retiring folk in the Edwardian and Victorian periods built their fine houses with sea views. A row of pastel coloured houses were built in the then new' material concrete, face west, i.e. the inner harbour. Don't be thinking these must be awful, they are not. Very few old working class houses remain, but those that do are wonderfully picturesque, with immaculate front gardens. They'd probably be worth a small fortune.

The respectable, neat and orderly village is very different from John Wesley's time when he described the bustling port, a small seaport town famous for all kinds of wickedness'! Sadly, I've never managed to find any, but I live in hope!

I prepared ‘Dolly Peel’, a Dockrell 17' bermudan sloop, let go the R. Coquet mooring and motored down to the entrance. The intention was to sail close to the shore to cheat the weak tidal stream. Alnmouth Bay is 5M of sandy beach backed by large dunes. The actual wind was S f1-2, the sea state smooth. My speed was barely 2kn. The outboard was reluctantly started and throttle set to give 3-4kn.

One or two families had set up for the day; their swim suited kids were splashing in the shallows. But most folk I saw were of the hiking type, some eating picnic lunches below the dunes. Birling Carrs is one of the occasional basalt extrusions that are the typical rocks along this coast; even the shallow draught sailor must be alert to avoid the danger.

Three cobles out of Amble were lying to anchor at the head of monofilament salmon nets. One of the cobles was a rare double-ender. Their nets had been set at 90 degrees to the shore and were buoyed with floats. I passed two to seawards and one inshore. I had to go quite close to the beach to skirt the inshore end of the net. The fishermen gave a cheerful wave; I presumed they were anticipating a worthwhile catch. Up here by the way, coble is pronounced with the o as in throw.

Alnmouth entrance is tricky and liable to change. For the last few years the narrow deep water channel has exited the harbour and run parallel to the east beach for 100m or so before turning S, over the bar and into the sea proper. Someone, either the fishermen or the sailing club members, mark the channel with 3 buoys. In the past they've always been unorthodox home-made types, and now they came into view. This year’s buoys are black plastic oil cans. Each has to be left close to port. I noticed a small change for this year; the channel is now bowed southwards and is no longer parallel to the beach.

I crossed the bar and followed the channel into the harbour. Waves breaking to seaward close-by will normally set sailor's alarm bells ringing, but in this situation they assist, as when the water smoothes out, the deep channel is confirmed. The harbour is of complex channels and saltings. A few deep holes allow boats to remain afloat but most dry out. I chose to anchor in the empty creek behind Church Hill (separated from the village since the Great Storm).

After lunch I weighed anchor and left with the ebb. A stroke of luck, the wind had veered to SW f3-4; I was able to steer directly for Coquet entrance.

On the return puffins were catching small fish which were to be fed to chicks on Coquet Island. Some had two and three fishes dangling from their bills. I wonder how they catch the second and third fish whilst keeping hold of the first.

The return sail was the more satisfying as the motor was not needed until entering the river.