The wind is cold, the air clean and the light majestic. While sailing north might not be everyone’s idea of a relaxing holiday in the sun, for the adventurous of spirit, it offers an escape from the gentle and crowded south, freedom and unparalleled beauty, populated by a wealth of wildlife.

Having said that, Scotland and the European and Scandinavian north is reassuringly civilised, with enough infrastructure, marinas and transport hubs to mean that cruising north doesn’t have to equate to sailing off the edge of the known world. Furthermore, many of these coastlines are heavily indented and strewn with protective chains of islands, giving both a variety of places to explore and extensive areas of protected waters in which to do so.

Heading to any of these northern cruising grounds from the south coast presents a choice of routes. There are useful passage anchorages and marinas along each one and plenty of tempting places to visit along the way, but if you are passage-making you probably won’t want to tarry anywhere for too long.

If at all possible, it pays to remain a bit flexible over your passage planning until you know what the weather is going to bring when it’s time to leave. Heading off around Britain last year we were pretty certain we would head east and northabout, but then it kept on blowing from the north east, so we started west – it was a good decision. Monitor more than one weather model and be wary about the predictions when the models disagree. For every passage, have back-up plans in case the expected doesn’t pan out.

Whichever main route you choose, getting your timings right at key tidal gates can make the difference between pleasure and frustration. Be realistic about your boat speed in the expected conditions and plan accordingly. Imray Tides Planner app is really helpful and shows the hour-by-hour change in tidal streams as well as tidal curves. We use it every day, not just for planning but also on passage when conditions change and timings need adjusting.

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Similarly, for faster and safer passage-making, keep an eye on the predicted swell height and direction, which may not align with the direction and strength of the wind. Some of the weather apps give wave and swell information, or try www.surfline.com.

The Cruising Almanac (Imray) is useful for passage planning and contains tidal information and a selection of tidal streams, as well as details of ports and anchorages.

Route 1: To the west coast of Scotland

The well-trodden through-route to the west coast of Scotland is via Land’s End and up the Irish Sea. The West Country is probably familiar sailing territory but it’s worth refamiliarising yourself with the tidal streams, particularly round Portland.

Onwards from Falmouth you should certainly aim to avoid wind against tide around the Lizard, but keep in mind that, if conditions allow, you can maximise up to 10 hours of favourable northerly tide past Land’s End using the inshore passage.

A stop in Penzance or Newlyn can help to optimise these timings if direct from Falmouth doesn’t work out.

North from Land’s End the decision is Welsh Coast, Irish Coast, or up the middle. Tides run up to 3 knots in St Georges Channel and as much as 5 knots in North Channel, but the tidal currents run even more strongly in some of the inshore channels like the Bardsey, Ramsey or Jack Sounds, so choosing to make coastal stops can add complications, particularly if time is short.

Tides funnel in and fan out from the Bristol Channel, mostly setting you E or W of your course, which isn’t the end of the world. However, tides in St George’s Channel and the Irish Sea ebb south and are bound to confound you at some stage.

The good news is they flood north to Holyhead/Dublin, there is a slack area west of the Isle of Man, and through the North Channel the streams ebb north, so as you progress further north it’s possible to ride a favourable tide up the middle for longer than you might dare to hope for.

If you choose a more coastal route, Milford Haven and Holyhead are places to pause on the Welsh side, with the Isle of Man another useful stepping stone. In prevailing westerlies the Irish coast offers a lee and Wicklow or Greystones, Dun Laoghaire and Belfast Lough allow for breaks in the passage.

On both sides of North Channel close inshore there are some helpful countercurrents before the main stream turns. We have sailed as close as it’s safe to between Strangford Lough and Donaghadee Sound and made good progress.

North from here the decision is whether to head into the Firth of Clyde or to continue on around the Mull of Kintyre.

If you have hobbyhorsed over lumpy seas in the North Channel you might want to escape as soon as possible and the Firth of Clyde offers plentiful cruising gems. But if the Western Isles are the goal of your cruise then the Mull of Kintyre is the most direct gateway. The tides here are to be taken seriously but shouldn’t put you off.

As always, if you take the time to study the tidal streams as well as your charts and weather predictions, you will be well rewarded by miles gained, avoiding overfalls and the worst of wind against tide.

Route 2: To Shetland

Depending on the weather systems, if you are heading to Shetland it sometimes makes sense to follow Route 1 westabout and then continue northwards, either via the Caledonian Canal to Inverness, then up to Wick, or over the top around Cape Wrath.

The more direct route is up Channel and then up the east coast. Again, the key to quicker, more comfortable passage-making is to study the tidal streams and use them to your advantage. With a fast boat it is possible to ride favourable tides all the way up Channel from the Solent as far as Ramsgate.

For most of us a longer ride is only really achievable from Brighton or Eastbourne, picking up the start of the flood at Beachy Head which carries you through into the favourable ebb beyond the tidal gate at Dungeness. This should get you to Dover but might not get you to Ramsgate. Our preference, direct from the Solent, is not to stop but to be around Beachy Head before it turns against us.

We keep going and sneak up towards Eastbourne and Hastings to stay out of the worst of the growing ebb, which anyway isn’t as bad here, and we aim to be at Dungeness at the next slack. This often means we can drive less hard for a few hours and the crew can sleep. At Dungeness we then pick up the start of the favourable North Sea ebb which carries us to Ramsgate.

A pause at Ramsgate makes sense for Thames estuary timings. Lowestoft is the next main stepping stone but it’s quite a long hop. It’s worth bucking the last of the southerly flow at Ramsgate up to North Foreland and crossing a remaining westerly flood into the Thames to then maximise use of the favourable ebb, which will set you northeast for the rest of the passage. It’s much harder to do this from Dover because the tide will be too much against you round the corner to Ramsgate. From Dover, or if you think Lowestoft is too big a jump, it’s more sensible to wait for the start of the ebb and aim for Harwich.

The warmth of the Humber Cruising Association welcome at No2 Fish Dock in Grimsby was one of the highlights of our round Britain trip, but heading north from Lowestoft it does make more sense to cut straight across towards Flamborough Head to avoid the worst of the swirl of tides in the approaches to The Wash and Humber. These flows slingshot you nicely coming southeast, but they also quickly defy you heading northwest.

With west in the winds, northwards from Flamborough the wind will be off the land, the sea should be flat, you’ll be safely inshore of the windfarms and rigs, and progress should be excellent. There are some good passage anchorages – Runswick Bay, South Shields/Tynemouth and Holy Island – and plenty of marinas on the way to Wick.

The key to this happy state is to keep an eye on the swell predictions which may be at odds with local winds. Swell with an easterly component or sustained onshore winds turn this coast into a lumpy place – anchoring options all but disappear, harbour entrances become unsafe and passages are a battle because of sea state. If you need to keep going in these conditions it’s better to head offshore.

Whether or not you have been breaking the passage, a stop at Peterhead helps to optimise timings round Rattray Head and if conditions are good you can jump off direct to Shetland from here. If the weather is less certain, possible stops are at Whitehills or Buckie on the Moray Firth, then Wick.

Even if you plan to see a bit of Orkney, the Pentland Firth and Hoy Sound are tricky pieces of water, and if Shetland is the end goal there’s not much reason to do battle. So, from Wick keep well east of the Pentland Skerries and head up the east side of Orkney. If coming east from Cape Wrath go round the north side of Orkney Mainland and pause at Kirkwall or the outer islands.

Fair Isle is a useful halfway stop between Orkney and Shetland if conditions allow.

Route 3: To Southern Norway

The most direct route to southern Norway is to start on Route 2 and then head out across the North Sea. If you are passage making in stages, you might pause at Lowestoft or any of the east coast ports as far north as Peterhead before jumping off. The shortest crossing to Stavanger is from Peterhead.

If heading out from further south, avoid making landfall on the west or north coasts of Denmark, which are notoriously exposed. Keep going to the Norwegian coast, which has lots of protected harbours.

Depending on weather and timings it can make just as much sense to follow Route 1 to the West Coast of Scotland, continue through the Caledonian Canal to Inverness and then head off to Norway from Buckie or Whitehills on the Moray Firth. These harbours are only a few more miles to Stavanger than from Peterhead and jumping off from here avoids Rattray Head.

With more time available, cutting across to the continental coast from Dover, Ramsgate or Lowestoft opens up the option of going into the Baltic via the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal (Kiel Canal) and then working north in the relatively protected waters up the east coast of Denmark, through the Danish Islands and up the west coast of Sweden to Norway.

A challenge of this route is that the North Sea coasts of northern Holland and Germany are shoal and shifting coastlines; lee shores to be avoided in strong W to N winds. Helgoland is a useful all-tide, all-weather harbour to aim for, but there are otherwise relatively few harbours of refuge.

A more protected option is to follow the standing mast routes through Holland from further south. However, if the aim is to cruise southern Norway in one season, a downside of these routes to and through the canal are that they are likely to take much longer than any of the more direct options and are an extended and enjoyable cruise in their own right.

Time spent along the way will also use up Schengen allowances. It might be better to take your time on these routes one season and enjoy southern Norway the next, leaving the boat in Denmark or Sweden.

Whichever route you choose, the North Sea is scattered with oil rigs and windfarms with exclusion zones, as well as a network of shipping lanes. It’s vital to have recent charts!

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