Dartmouth musings

If you have a good memory (and indeed if you are sad enough to read this junk regularly), you might recall that we met Andrew and Linda in Weymouth recently.  They are contemplating buying a Nordhavn trawler yacht too. Through a strange set of circumstances which we will not explain – trust us, it would not lighten up your life one iota – they were in Dartmouth in their motorhome.

Rather than heading back to Weymouth they foolishly hung around on the evening that we arrived, so we could meet up the next morning. Very strange behaviour and most kind as folk normally run a mile when they see us (apart from John who has to look after those famous knees of course). Through Andrew and Linda, we met another couple (John and Kath) who were in Dartmouth with their Broom 39 motor cruiser. We have owned 5 different Broom boats in the past and so felt right at home sitting in “Prime Time” (and consuming their tea, bikkies etc.). This is a Broom 39, just not "Prime Time", as an idea of the luxury we were enjoying:

We hope you are keeping up with the names as there will be a quiz later and a prize. The scary bit was that John and Kath know Stephen (yes, the trolley shopper, shooting and yachting expert) and his wife Alison (the all-round good egg). So glad we hadn't been rude about him as we usually are – a close call….

So, we spent a very sociable few hours with these lovely folks in various locations including the motorhome, Broom 39, Nordhavn 47, a bar, and a Dartmouth street corner. Starts to sound quite seedy really, doesn't it?

Needing a walk after a couple of sedentary days, we wandered down to the castle and then along the beautiful coast path until it became too overgrown to tackle in our unsuitable clothing. Lovely views though:

It looked like the door in this house had seen a flood tide or two from the dark patch at the bottom – perhaps the outboard motor stored outside was to help people get to the land and their car at very high tides:

In town, the direction of the light and lack of clouds (yes, in the UK, no clouds!) made the front of the church seem almost one dimensional and the lightning conducting strip was very stark…

On the return, we found another wonderful carrot cake purveyor. Bayards cove provided us with cake that is up with the St Ives offering in the all-time hall of fame. Great place to visit (we had previously enjoyed an excellent light lunch there too) with friendly service and rooms if you want to stay. Highly recommended.

Another blast from the past happened on the way back to the boat. Anchored in the harbour was a Broom European called Water Magic B. We knew the boat from when Jeff Gaines owned her on the Thames and we had some trips in company (we also had a European). The BMW folks might well remember Jeff as the company secretary, HR and facilities boss in Bracknell and then in a similar role in Hook. We have sadly lost touch with Jeff since despite trying to hunt him down so if you are reading this Jeff and admiring the picture of your old boat then comment on this post please so we can get back in touch!!!