Shakedown cruise to Tynemouth

As the weather was fine towards the end of last week, we decided to grab a few days away. We locked out of Hartlepool on Thursday morning, and sailed East for an hour or so out to sea, then turned north towards Tynemouth. The wind dropped and the engine was started, a few hours later we passed through the impressive entrance of the River Tyne. The South side of the entrance opens into Herd Sands, which provides quite a good anchorage. We dropped the hook in 4.5m at low water, and the new 20Kg Delta did the business first time. After waiting for an hour or so to ensure that we were secure, the dinghy was lowered into the water, the outboard attached, and we motored over to the beach for a walk and general look around. We have anchored of Herd Sands several times in the past but never went ashore, quite interesting to see a different view of the anchorage, and the boat from the shore. Overnight, a bit of a swell started to make it's way into the anchorage, which got a bit 'rock & roll', the wind also got up a bit. By the time we were ready to leave in the mornng, the wind had reduced, but so had the temperature ! We ended up motoring into a light SE wind ( the forecast was for a NW 3/4 ! ) which was perishingly cold. As soon as we entered the lock back at Hartlepool the temperature seemed to go up 10 degrees, which made the berthing process much more pleasant. Back in the berth, we secured 'NJ' and then tucked in to a well deserved cottage pie. No major problems were found over the two days, however the service batteries were found to be a bit weak, so we have decided to change these out.