Bartimaeus

The temperature in Edinburgh hovered around zero for the first few days of the year.  I was sufficiently bunged up with a cold that I wasn’t inclined to venture out much.  However the prospect of a sunny bike ride along the Fife Coastal Path with Ewan and Sally was too tempting to ignore.  The idea was that the proximity to the sea would reduce the risk of ice, and we’d be sheltered from the wind while exposed to the sun.  I wore several layers more than usual for cycling, which was just enough to keep warm.

The weather was still cold the following week, but it was even colder at Tattenhall where Bartimaeus is moored.  I continue to keep an eye on the remote monitoring systems.  One morning I noticed that the diesel heating had been on, but the diesel read-out was now a flashing red zero!  There was no way we could have used a third of a tank of diesel overnight.  I was starting to wonder if I needed to do anything about this when Clare pointed me to a post from Rob at Ortomarine.  They have a boat on blocks outside their workshop which had exhibited the same behaviour.  Rob had been able to establish that the breather tube for its diesel tank had iced up and blocked.

The breather tube for our tank comes up through the mooring dolly on the rear deck – the one near the diesel filler cap with a chrome top to it.  I figured I might be able to phone the boat yard and ask them to investigate, but I didn’t really want to do that.  The forecast for the day there was sunny (though still cold) so the heating was likely to stay off for the day.  Before lunchtime, the diesel reading had spontaneously returned to the expected value.  I presume the sun must have melted the ice blockage – problem sorted!

I went cycling with Sally and Ewan again on Friday. but this time we kept to the south of the Forth, heading out towards North Berwick.  At a stop at Port Seton I was surprised to see a pair of swans in the sea.  I know I’ve seen them at river mouths before, but can’t remember sea-going swans.

I rode a similar route with Kenny the following day and spotted the swans again – I’m pretty sure they are the same ones.  After Port Seton we took a different route.  We went a little higher and further inland.  We deviated from some of our regular routes because we were unsure about the amount of ice.

By mid-afternoon the slight wind had turned to be from the north east.  This brought a blanket of haar in to the Firth.  We could see over the top of it to the Lomond Hills in Fife.

We chose a quiet route in to North Berwick which took us further east and slightly higher than our usual one.  We were a mile or two from the town when we reached the haar.  Luckily for us the wind was veering towards the south east, so the haar magically drifted out to sea just as we reached the coast road.

With the improved view and enough time in hand before the next train we descended through the caravan site and entered the town along Marine Parade.  The pretty seaside resort looked cold in the remains of the haar.  Neither of us were tempted with a paddle.