Some photos of Aberystwyth today. The town is till quite elegant; it has a universoty of 9,000 students and a resident population of 13,000, so that is a lot of income. This is the old university building,which is still in use although the main site is a little further out.

The sea front beyond the universty is a mix: an elegant prom:

And a bit of a tatty pier:

Which is probably one of the shortest in the world - more of a stump than a pier.

And a Pier Hotel which is no more. Cool trainers though (not for me though).

The town had a magnificent station but is now reduced to one working track, whilst the very elegant station buildings have been converted to a Wetherspoons.

The museum is housed in a lovely old theatre:

Although not everyone was that fussed:

On which note, I am off to my bunk as I need to catch the tide early tomorrow.

Made it to Aberystwyth, just a 37 mile hop from Pwllheli. A trip in three parts; one third very pleasant, one third OK, and one third absolutely horrid. It wasn't that there was a lot of wind, the most it got to was a force 5 and then only for moments; most of the time it was round the top of a 4. But the sea! In the middle of Cardigan Bay it was foul. Not particularly big waves, a metre or so, but very sharp and steep-too, and not a boat length apart. It lasted for just over 2 of my 6 hours. Quite often such things are caused by tide but these weren't. Anyway, that's over with for now. The forecast tomorrow is not good so I am going to stay here and have a look round before I head off on Sunday.

For those who want to see where I am on Google Maps or Earth, the coordinates are 52.4093364,-4.0877578.

This is Aberystwyth from sea - it has both a pier and a university. I shall explore further tomorrow. A friend of mine thinks he may have left a tan k-top at the Pier Hotel in the 70's, so I shall go and see.

Aberystwyth also has a castle, and has been the subject of many battles. It is through this that I believe it got its name. Imagine the scene: a victorious swordsman stands over the bodies of the hundreds he has slain, and is asked by an awe-struck youth, "'Ow d'ya do that then mate?" to which our swordsman must have replied, brandishing his sword just inches from the boy's face, and demonstrating an uncanny deftness of hand, "'Ave a swift wrist". And there you go.

I am in Pwllheli this morning, about to set off for Aberystwth. Yesterday's trip was very relaxed although my anxiety about the engine never left me until I had tied up. It was breezy up at Holyhead and I was sailing at over 6 knots, but within an hour the wind died off until there was none at all - so it was engine all the way. This pic shows how calm it was. The splash in the distance was a big dolphin, one of a pair, that were leaping about. They were gone too quickly to get a proper photo.

Coming across Cardigan Bay the warmth was good but the visibility was wooly. Perhaps that's why the two dolphins were jumpers? I later saw three porpoises who were much more relaxed, just their fins showing. Lots of jellyfish in the sea too, but different from those up in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which were flatter and browner. Not a very technical description.

I took a stroll round Pwllheli where I was pleased to see the great seaside tradition continues:

And finally, a lovely sunset across the harbour:

Here's a view of the bay in Holyhead on an absolutely amazing day. I plan to leave here tomorrow now that everything is (hopefully) fixed. I'm waiting for daylight as I'm not going to do another night passage until my confidence in the engine (and perhpas myself?) is restored.

And is this a relic of a long-lost film-making heritage here on Holy Island?

The approach to the town itself provides visitors with an enticing taste of the retail experience to come:

I had a good time on the Isle of Man and tracked down a long lost cousin, then stayed on to do the tourist stuff. I took the lovely little train up to the summit of Snaefell, where it was very misty so there was no view at all.

 On the sea front at Douglas I met a horse called Charles, who didn't say much and couldn't make eye contact on account of the blinkers he is made to wear. He pulls a tram and the blinkers mean he is not distracted.

Peel Harbour was very pleasant and picturesque.

My immediate neighbours were a bit chavtastic. Your eyes do not deceive you - that really is a domestic TV satellite dish strapped to the rail at the stern. Goes well with the subtle lighting effects.

I left Peel on Friday in the middle of the day once the tide was high enough for the harbour gate to open. I was thinking of going to the south of the island to anchor overnight but there was a big swell running from the east and my proposed anchorages were a bit open to it, so as the weather was good I decided to crack on to Wales.

I was approaching the Welsh coast when the engine overheated. I managed to sort it but half an hour later it did it again.

Now I was in a fast tide off Holyhead, in a shipping separation zone, at midnight, pitch dark, and not even enough wind to out-sail the tide. Prudence required that I call the coastguard and just let them know what was going on, and they took matters out of my hands. They weren't having a drifting boat in their shipping lanes, so they called up the lifeboat to escort me. Well, I was making 2 knots and the lifeboat wasn't happy with that - they wanted me out of the way more quickly, which I can understand. So they took me in tow. Unfortunately the tow revealed a bit of a problem on the foredeck, and there was quite a bit of damage. Here's the lifeboat - big beast.

Saturday was spent getting some stuff to make a fix to get me back home, and Sunday in making the repairs to the deck. One of the lifeboat engineers has looked at the engine and fixed a tiny fault on the water pump, which may have been the cause of the problem.  It was the only thing he could find. Engine seems fine, but I will only know for sure when I have done a few hours on it.

Here's the damage and the repair.

 The mooring bollard and anchor winch both ripped out. The bolts below are a centimetre thick!

  The pulpit took the weight but is now bent. Thankfully it did not pull out, otherwise the forestay and sail furler might have been damaged.

By Sunday afternoon it was all looking a bit better.

In the winter I will have it all apart again for a permanent fix, but this will get me home. The bollard is fixed through a relatively undamaged bit of the deck and there's another plate of ply on the underside, and the bolts go through the lot. It will be fine for mooring ropes but I'm not sure I'd risk it on the anchor in any sort of blow.

I left Strangford Lough quite early so I could catch the tide out of the narrows and get to Peel for around high tide to get in through the gate.  All achieved to plan . The weather has been great again - this first picture is of the sun still coming up as I left.

I came out of the narrows at over 12 knots. And that was only an hour off low water. Quite a ride, and the whirlpools were interesting. Once out of there the sea was as flat as one of my jokes. Here's a very rare selfie just to show how calm the sea was. No wind at all, but one can't have everything.

On arrival in Peel I was met by this chap - the Seal of Peel.

Peel is very pretty with little winding streets, a castle and a great British seaside prom. Despite being quite British it still has street names in a gaellic derivative,  and I had a text from O2 to tell me I was now in Europe and would have to pay extra. Don't expect many phone calls over the next couple of days!

 The Jaguar Club of Holland is here for a week, with some lovely topless models. I suppose they come to places like this so they can go up hills for a change.

I spent half a day of glorious sunshine with my head stuck in the engine space, but then enjoyed some lovely weather. I went across to Strangford on the ferry - the first photo is of Strangford, the second is Portaferry (where I am). The outstanding green-roofed building houses the lifeboat, and is copper-tiled. The stone thing behind it is Portaferry Castle. Open every day until the end of August.

This one shows the tide rip across the channel just north of here:

Whilst this one shows the tidal turbine built to take advantage of that very tide. Apparently the strength of the tide has come as a bit of a shock to Siemens, who made it, and they keep having to strengthen it. It serves as a bit of a test-bed for other systems.

After my explorations I went to a wee bar here in Poartferry. Its claim to fame, apart from being very friendly and serving good beer, is that it is the smallest bar in all Ireland.

In the picture below, the photo just above the nuts is of one Oliver Reed, whom some of you may remember. He was a regular here, and the gentleman on the left (Mark, who ran the ferry for a good number of years) knew the less-public side of Mr Reed quite well. So I have shaken the hand of the man who shook the hand of Oliver Reed.

Finally, a couple of moody sundown shots. One of the castle here at Portaferry (look at the birds) and the other looking out across Strangford Lough.