Change of plan and Visitors
After our nice stormy night on Tuesday, we checked out the
weather forecasts and the tide times again for a trip to South Wales. As
always, the best departure time to get the calmest trip, to get the best help
from the tides and to pass the “danger areas” in daylight didn’t fit. So, safety thinking dictates a slightly
bumpier ride (no big deal for the boat or us) enabling us to go through the
rocky / harbour entrances/ pot marker infested areas in daylight and be out in
the wide open bit in the dark. With a bit of luck, we could also make free flow
time for the lock in Milford Haven to make our arrival after 30 hours at sea
simpler. You make mistakes when you are tired and a lock is not a good place to
do that! We wanted to go into the marina as some friends from the Isle of Wight
planned to join us there for a little while and the railway station is nearby.
The next day, we had a big change of plan. The Fal area
would be much nicer (sorry to all the Welsh readers) than Milford for John and
Tina to see and the crew didn’t fancy a 20 hour run into a head sea getting to
Wales – the forecast was worse now. Hence, we headed back up river and had a
few relatively healthy days. Healthy = good walks, boat polishing, more walks.
Trelissick woodland walk views, bluebells everywhere:
And the view down the harbour from Trelissick gives you an idea of why we like
the area so much:
The sun even came out
to help us. The top of the Fal is such a beautiful place. Except on Saturday
when the Mylor yacht club arrived en masse on the mid river pontoon to
celebrate their 50th anniversary. The theme was “Hippies / 70’s” and
there was a lot of mutton dressed as lamb on display. A pontoon party in the middle
of the river with music from that era is hard to escape from. At least they
invited us along for a drink. Of course, the follicly challenged Captain really
needed a wig to fit the theme and some yellow trousers. Luckily, we didn’t have
either to hand.
Back into town on Sunday to collect our visitors. No concern
about missing them at the station in the crowds or by being on the wrong
platform:
We then went back up river and introduced them to the
delights of the Trelissick area. Sadly, returning from one walk by dinghy we
were pushing into some big waves on the river and John got a little bit soggy.
As he had travelled to Cornwall “light”, the tumble dryer was busy and he was
forced to wear shorts despite the outside temperature and wind for a while:
Despite the temperature, we had some good walks, too much
food and a good exploration of the town and surroundings with them before they
departed on Wednesday morning. They liked the area so much they plan to come
back for a couple of weeks later in the year too. I think that was because
Baker Tom makes cheese straws to die for (or perhaps because of?):
After they left, we checked the forecast again. Horrible
strong northerly winds until Saturday and gales in the Irish sea, so we will hang
around the Fal / Helford area at least until then. Of course, the Fal river
festival kicks off on Friday so we couldn’t miss that!
Latest observation – Cornish people seem to have very bad
teeth. Maybe it is too much clotted cream, or a pasty thing. Will try to research
this more and report back later…..
