Jean says: No wonder they changed the phrase 'British Summer Time' to 'daylight saving time'. In these litigious times, someone might have been tempted to sue, although it would be difficult to determine who was responsible for the original outrageous porky. We set off from Peterhead at 04.30 in daylight saving time grey, (that could be a good Farrow and Ball paint name). We carried on sailing in grey, and it was drizzling grey rain. We did hourly shifts to stay warm and dry. I was wearing 2 pairs of socks, 6 tops, 2 pairs of thick thermal leggings and have topped it off with the full oilskins. I couldn't have got any more layers on if I'd tried. Bob was colder than I was, which is unusual. He was wearing 6 tops, put on his thick waterproof salopettes over a pair of trousers, and his day glow yellow hood up. He talked about bacon sandwiches a lot, until I eventually decided to make the fantasy a reality. There's nothing like a hot bacon sandwich to lift the spirits, but to have them at their best, they should be eaten during outdoor pursuits such as camping and sailing. The fresh air is the vital extra ingredient, because they really don't taste as good in an ordinary kitchen. I left Bob on deck with his life jacket on and a 'fastfind' personal beacon. He can be prone to wandering around the deck without the safety gear on when I'm not looking, so I decided to put a stop to it.
Our destination was Arbroath, the home of the famous 'smokey'. The pursuit of the authentic smokey was our main reason for visiting Arbroath. We'd seen the 'Coast' episode about them and we wanted to live the dream.

Goodbye Peterhead Harbour at 4.30 this morning.




Passing Slains Castle from the sea - even spookier!




Hello Arbroath... That's more like it. The sun is out at last!





Arbroath appeared out of the gloom like a chirpy little brightly coloured toytown. The sun came out just as we arrived, and we nosed our way carefully into its quaint little harbour. You can only enter or leave close to high tide, otherwise you'd be grounded. You can't enter at all if there's a tidal swell because the entry channel is narrow, exposed and lined with rocks. At low tide, the lock gates are kept closed to keep enough water in to keep the boats afloat. Our friend Chris from Bath was going to watch us arrive on the Arbroath harbour webcam. We were to wave just as we came into the harbour, and he'd try to get a 'screen grab' off the webcam. We both brushed our hair and practised smiling, which is usually quite difficult to do when about to park the boat.
Chris managed to get four great birdseye photos of us, but you couldn't see our hair or our smiles. Bella Rosa was winking cheekily though! She's getting to be a natural when it comes to a photo opportunity.
The air was pungent with smells of smoked fish, and you could see the smoke curling it's way out of the open windows of small converted sheds at the bottom of tiny harbourside gardens. The process is that pairs of haddock tied by their tales are suspended over square 'barrels'. They are hot smoked and cooked right the way through. Apparently, each family has their own secrets about how they are smoked and the practice of smoking haddock has been carried out here since 1820s. An EU directive states that Arbroath smokies cannot be called Arbroath smokies unless they've been smoked in Arbroath. Seems reasonable!

Here are some photos of the real McCoy at M and M Spink.......

Lovely helpful staff....




In their raw state, ready to go into the oven...




Showing us the smoker in action.....




A close up of the pairs of smoking haddock....




VERDICT:

They were absolutely fabulous hot and straight out of the smoker, and worth travelling 1600 nautical miles round Britain to taste. We're thinking of moving here.