The Farne Islands in November

 

 

The Farne's is once again a peaceful playground. The tourists have gone and the birds have fled for another year. The haunting call of a few thousand Atlantic Grey Seals are all that's left to break the silence. The local seal colony population has recently exploded with over 1300 pups born in the past 6 weeks.

 

Our trip on Sunday was one of Active4seasons monthly gang trips. More info can be found at

 

www.active4seasons.co.uk

 

 If your looking for some adventure or just a relaxed guided trip in the area contact Ollie though his web site.

 

 

We were working within a small weather window with forecasts of a Southerly Gale imminent. I could think of a lot of places I would much rather be than fighting my way back from Longstone on a Spring flood with a strong Southerly kicking up. Thankfully for us the weather gods were on our side and we were home with our gear stowed away long before the wind reached it's promised strength.

 

 

Our route out to Longstone took us to the East of the Island group as we worked on navigation skills. We used transits and worked out bearings allowing for the varying tidal flows between the Islands.

 

We arrived at Piper Gut while there was still a decent pace in the Ebb flow. This flow was being opposed by a stiff breeze from the West producing some nice friendly standing waves for us to practise our surfing and try out some rescue and self rescue techniques.

 

 

Because of the abundance of Seal pups it was a day to give the rocks a wide berth. The landing jetty on Longstone was relatively clear of seals so we made a short stop for lunch.

 

Plastic boats made the landing for us a bit easier as space was limited on the jetty.



 

Brian looking mesmerised at an array of thermos flasks, wondering which one he should take today.

There's been a few boats moored here over the years, I wonder how old this ring is ?

 

 

Ater a short lunch it was time to get back on the water. In traditional fashion Brian demonstrated the sideways seal roll, Ollie replied with a reverse seal launch. 

 

 

 

 

We made a short loop of Longstone to see the Seals on the wild seaward side of the Island.  Most of the rocks were covered in Pups so we gave them a wide berth and paddled by discretely.



 



Once round the SE corner of Longstone we set a course for Staple Island. We were heading for the Pinnacles, there's always a wonderful view as you approach  the tall exposed basalt columns. Today it was evident that the weather was changing and the rapidly approaching front was making ground. 

 

 We played under the Pinnacles for a while and squeezed through some of the tall, narrow gaps on Staple Island.

 

 

 

We took a late afternoon coffee stop on Inner Farne, the winter sun had disappeared over the horizon and the light was rapidly fading.

 

We caught the conveyor of Flood Tide from the corner of Inner Farne which carried us effortlessly to the middle of the Inner Sound where it changed direction and snaked it's way seawards again.

 

As we approached St Aidan's Dunes the light in the sky had all but gone and we used the lights on the shore as our transits.

 

Another great day on the sea and a relatively calm one for November. No Dolphins today but they were encountered further up the coast so they're still in residence.