Agatha's pad and commissioning misses

Although we had visited Greenway House (Agatha Christie's holiday home on the Dart river) before it was many yeas ago. So many that we were still working then and we find that you see things through very different eyes when you have more time to enjoy and explore.

Just in case someone hasn't heard of her, look at Wikipedia although we think that Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot have made it around most of the globe.

So, we took the dinghy ashore to Dittisham (Ditsum) and then the stupidly expensive (£2 per person one way) little ferry over to Greenway as there is no public landing area there. The house isn't too imposing:

but the interior is pretty much as it was in Agatha's time with lots of personal things still in place.  As an example the doll sitting on the chair is the one in the portrait of her as a young girl:

She was renowned for being very self - effacing and didn't like the limelight too much. As an example, her "Most excellent order of the British Empire" award was found at the back of a cupboard and is now on display:

This was backed up so beautifully by a story from one of her staff:

The kind of English understatement that we used to be famous for. Now we seem famous / infamous for other less appealing traits.

One of the most poignant rooms is the library. During World war II an American Coast Guard guy who was stationed in the house during the preparations for D-Day painted an amazing frieze around the walls using camouflage paint (all that was available) depicting the history of his unit. Amazingly he survived D-Day and the war. When the house was handed back to Agatha, she told the authorities not to paint out the frieze as it is part of the history of the house:

From the grounds you get great views down the Dart river towards Kingswear and Dartmouth:

They also gave us a nice view of the boat in what looked like a wildly busy area but in fact is nothing like that:

The little naval training job in the foreground was one of several that were busy teaching the Dartmouth Naval College trainees something. We know not what as they seemed to spend a lot of time towing little "whalers" alongside and waving pretend guns about - at least we think they were pretend:

Maybe BA Colin can enlighten us as he spent some time being turned into a navy type.

After such a lovely day there, things returned to a more normal UK summer on Sunday when it blew a gale and rained a little:

"Little" is another old fashioned English art - the one of understatement.

Maintenance info:

We've mentioned the Nordhavn Owners Group or NOG before. A great source of information and tips from some very experienced and smart people. We just read and absorb and appreciate, not smart enough to contribute.

One of the posts was talking about the communications battery charger. To explain, the boat has a separate 12v Lifeline AGM battery which lives under the main cabin floor with a dedicated Victron charger. It runs the things that cannot operate on the main boat 24v system like radios, CCTV etc. The battery is mounted pretty high up and so ought to keep going for a while longer than the 24v or 240V AC systems in the event of flooding - handy to keep the radios going when crying for help.

Well, one European owner found that his Victron charger was not properly set for AGM batteries. They come from the Victron factory set for gel batteries and his had not been changed. As our boat was of a similar vintage and as we knew that dear Russell the long departed and much disliked  (by us) Nordhavn Europe commissioning man was less than thorough, we had a look:

As you can see it is a cosy spot and to get the protective plastic cover off the charger we had to dismantle part of the bed surround by removing a pre-cut panel. After uncovering the charger, sure enough, our setting was wrong as well. Changing two DIP switches fixed it. They are in the blue blob hidden on the far side at the bottom of the charger - hard to get a picture as it is effectively under the bed!

Too late to save this battery (it is the original!) but as it is always used "on charge" it seems to have survived OK. For the non tekkies, AGM batteries need different charging voltages to the gel versions and a different profile too. We had checked our pair of Victron inverters that charge the house 24v system soon after we got the boat but hadn't thought of this little separate charger.  You continue to learn in this world.....

Lazing around in Dartmouth and Dittisham

Time in and around Dartmouth is always lovely. This visit was a pretty social one as Ray and Sara were on board their rather new Jenneau flying machine and berthed in Dart Marina too. We needed to share stories and a glass or two. John, Irene and Archie were staying nearby in their rather posh Hymer motorhome so, we needed to share stories and a glass or two. Anne and Izzy were on board and coming to the end of their time with us, so we needed (you get the idea……)

We had several wanders around town, visited Tracy in her shop the “Fox Exchange” and some rather interesting sun glasses were purchased:

Guilt at how we had neglected the boat forced us to a big wash off activity, removing lots of dusty stuff that we think came from a fire on the nearby fields. We reckon that the owner of this dinghy needs to give it some TLC too:

 

We had a rerun of the flybridge bonegate fun when Izzy once more hid her unchewed "good for your teeth" bone but this time struggled to find it:

Getting Anne and Izzy home on a Sunday was not easy. Partly because Anne wanted to stay on board (there was still a little gin left) but mainly because the public transport links out of Dartmouth on a Sunday (ie bus to Totnes then train home) were almost non existent - 2 per day at difficult times. So, we opted for the tourist option, taking the steam train to Paignton (sad place) and then Anne caught the normal train service home.  Amazingly, the steam train charges for a dog so Izzy got her own £2 ticket:

We joined them as far as Paignton where we scuttled into a pub for a late lunch and hid from what was outside until Anne’s train home was due. If you have been to Paignton you will understand.

After the various folks departed it all seemed a bit quiet. We pottered over from the marina to the mid-river pontoon that we have used many many times during the past 9 years of Nordhavn ownership and squeezed into a suitable gap only to be told that “you are too big for this pontoon”. We asked why now and not last year or the many before and there was really no answer. The offer was to go onto the town pontoon where the ferries and trip boats leave from (but not at the weekend as it had a rally coming in) or to go between two buoys mid-stream. We opted to head up to Dittisham instead feeling unwanted.

There used to be 3 visitor buoys capable of taking up to 18m boats. The harbour authority decided last year to let one out on a semi-permanent basis and the other 2 were occupied. So, we picked up the vacant but “sort of let out” buoy as instructed and the next day moved to one of the 2 remaining “bigger boat” buoys when a French yacht departed.

The lovely views there made things better as did a dinghy trip ashore and a drink on the terrace at the quirky Red Lion pub come shop come post office come bed and breakfast establishment:

The pub was also home to three lovely dalmatians but only two wanted to be photogenic:

Dittisham (pronounced Ditsum by the locals, we tell you just to help anyone who is thinking of visiting fit in) has a few more quirky things, like this adornment on the side of a house:

It also has people who own old tractors with a sense of humour too:

and strange looking cones on the beach (we thought this was a bit bird like):

and during our wander around several artists busy capturing the tranquil scene with varying degrees of success. This lady was good:

Sitting on the second visitor buoy, we were told by the moorings man that “the numpties in the office look at the computer system and analyse use of the buoys and based on that have decided to rent out the one you are on from next Wednesday too”. He was far from amused – there will be only one bigger buoy in future and who knows how long that will last! Clearly the harbour authority doesn’t want anything larger than 14m here. Strange and disappointing behaviour when the average size of boats is increasing. We will probably vote with our keel and not bring it here much in future – a real shame.

You get some nice passing traffic:

Kingswear Castle is  an original paddle steamer, restored and back on her old river. Have a look at paddle steamer trust website for more information on her. Continuing the lovely older boat theme this Silver "gentleman's motor yacht" arrived on the one remaining bigger buoy mooring:

The owner kindly came over by dinghy and brought us some very fresh mackerel from his catch too.

A shopping and Dartmouth castle visit trip into the town by RIB went well up to the point of return. Our Cadw (Welsh Heritage) card gets us into the English Heritage sites for free and membership of Cadw is cheaper than the English organisation…..

Great views of the river and town from the castle:

and one of the guns inside:

As we left the food shops, so it started to rain. We got plenty of looks heading back upriver by RIB with an umbrella out and some jealous looks and comments from the Naval Academy trainees who were in an open boat too but soaked through.

When we returned we found a huge Sunseeker Manhattan flash powerboat thing rafted up to us and deserted – one of the “day trip out on a posing boat and go for a boozy lunch in Dittisham” excursions. When they returned, the first question asked was “do you want brandy in your coffee”. Kind of summed it all up really. The passengers were chatty and rather taken by the Nordhavn even though we didn't offer them coffee or brandy.  

Weymouth to Dartmouth

This was one of those "get up early to take advantage of the tide" trips. Ideally we also wanted to arrive in Dartmouth around slack water time as berthing in some of the tighter spots when the river is really running can be "amusing".

Throwing all that lot into the melting pot meant a stupidly early departure of around 5am and a slightly faster cruise speed than normal (1650 rpm) to get us into Dartmouth at high water.  It also meant an exceedingly early pre trip walk for Izzy.  She was exceedingly excited by a trip to the beach at 4.30 am.  Those of us accompanying her were less so.

The track looks like this (with a wobbly bit crossing Lyme bay to avoid a fishing boat):

The forecast had changed a lot - from a benign NE 3 to a SW4 to 5. Annoying as it meant wind over tide for most of the run. Sure enough once clear of Portland Bill we had the usual short steep waves dragged up so it wasn't the calmest of trips to start with. As the tide eased and we got more into the shelter of the land near Dartmouth it calmed down dramatically again, time for a nice flybridge run.

Colin, the BA fly boy, emailed us to wish us well on our trip across the Atlantic ocean. He had been stalking us on Marinetraffic and seen this:

Somehow Marinetraffic.com had interpreted this:

to be Halifax Canada. We were not quite ready to do that trip - no boat prep, window storm covers at home, no charts, food not on board for a transatlantic run, no weather router arranged and Anne was wanted at home soon to look after some about to break up from school kids. Memo to self - should use proper ISO codes on the AIS destination screen in future. However, we think that GB DTM might confuse the average leisure boater (like us).

We had thought of little Izzy and keeping her amused during the trip. She had a couple of chew bone things bought for her. When she was presented with the first one on the flybridge she clearly did not want to eat it, instead patrolled around with bone in mouth looking for a spot to hide it. Guess what, there are none. So, she took it into the corner near to a drain opening and tried to dig the little hole into something bigger with her paw. Fibreglass 1, dog 0:

Undeterred she then tried to push non existent soil or sand or something over the bone with her nose. Most industrious but pointless. Later on she saw us peeking in the direction of the chew bone, took it down to the saloon and hid it behind a cushion. Lovely. At least it wasn't part chewed.

As we approached Dartmouth Anne was treated to her first sight of dolphins at sea. Unfortunately they popped up just as the crew was calling Dart Marina to see if they had a space for us and when they answered the phone, the crew just shouted "dolphins" at them. Probably not had that greeting before. No dolphin pictures for you, sorry, but you know what they look like anyway.

Arriving in a sun drenched Dartmouth was as lovely as usual:

made even more special as John, Irene and Archie the Lakeland terrier (you've seen them in here before) were on the quayside waving. We had to reverse into a finger berth so we were glad that the trip planning was to get us into Dartmouth around high water. The stream really can run viciously through the marina. Second happy surprise was that Ray and Sara (Mr Blackrock yachting, look at their website and give Ray a call if you fancy anything with a Jenneau or Brig label on it) were also berthed here. A very social time lay ahead perhaps.

Numbers

For those who can be bothered - nothing special or big about this little trip. It took around 8 hours at 1650 rpm to make the best of the tide and arrive at slackish water. That worked very well. Nothing dramatic on the equipment front, but we did give the wing engine a good workout to ensure its physical fitness and also to burn off some of the now old diesel in the dedicated supply tank (over a year in there but protected by Stanadyne additive). The wing prop clearly suffered during the period of inactivity when we were moving the toddlers into Hythe - it must be well coated with barnacles as it is around 200rpm down on max revs now. No desire to go diving to scrape them off though.

Poole to Weymouth

Sometimes you cannot help people. So Anne could say that she enjoyed at least one holiday breakfast in bed, the captain duly delivered it rather than just the normal morning coffee.  This was the look it generated:

Never again.

We had a lovely old Camper and Nicholson yacht berthed ahead of us in Poole. Lord Portal was used by the Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre (have a look on line for her) and has been around the world 3 times plus a bit more. So nice to see a proper offshore yacht of her vintage still in use and being enjoyed. She was in Weymouth with us later on:

We had to ask her to move so that we could slip out of Poole and begin the fight against the tide to Weymouth. We left at a bad time for the tides but a good time to try and get a slot to berth in at the other end as we were told that Weymouth was very busy. It was.

We are getting ahead of ourselves. Here is the route:

With a diversion to the south as you can see because the Lulworth Range was active. Someone was popping live rounds of ordnance out to sea up to 3 miles off so we had to stay a little further south than you ideally would. Our idea of anchoring in Lulworth Cove for a while was abandoned as the loop around added a lot of time to the trip as did the foul tide. Around St Albans ledge with some fierce eddies and confused sea, we sometimes dropped to 0.9 knots over the ground.

Leaving Poole harbour, the cloud formations were very impressive and atmospheric:

You really get to enjoy the Jurassic coastline though (and some of it for quite a long time when making 0.9 knots!) First of all, there is Studland Bay and Old Harry:

Heading for Anvil Point, we passed the rather good lunch spot (Durlston Castle) from the day before:

and then the cute little lighthouse which we had to include although we've featured it before:

Arriving into Weymouth after a flybridge trip that got a bit chilly when out of the sun but in the breeze (SW 4) we were given a berth alongside another older craft. A 40 year old elegant motor cruiser called Alaskan Dawn which we had seen in Chichester Harbour when we used to frequent this area. Here is a picture of her from Marinetraffic:

It turned out to be a day of classic craft and chats to their owners.

It was also a special day for Izzy - she went to the groomers after Anne managed to get a last minute appointment. Most unhappy at being left there, afterwards she looked rather good:

Naturally she had to go for a run on the beach that evening to undo some of the good work:

A cockpit shower beckons....

Lymington to Poole

Anne decided that she should reclaim her dog and so arrived (rather delayed) thanks to South Western trains and their inability to make connections work. No matter, she made it and Izzy was delighted to see her.

We headed off from Lymington just as the tide was turning and so enjoyed a fast trip through Hurst castle:

and out of the rather manically busy Solent. A gentle flybridge run across to Poole, dodging pot markers followed. It was a bit breezy and so with the wind over the tide it pulled up lots of short steep waves but nothing to bother the Nordhavn.

You can gauge the strength of the wind from this interior pic of Izzy:

(she is the slightly furrier one) and then this one on the flybridge whilst underway:

Is there a dog in there?

Off Poole harbour were the usual mix of yachts and little speedboats enjoying the Studland Bay anchorage. We had organised a spot in the Poole Quay boat haven and managed to reverse into it with no dramas. The little trip took just over 4 hours and was delightful. Kind of what the cruising life should be really.

Nothing on the boat front to report, it all seemed to work OK. We are still very heavy with fuel from our Guernsey top up which made turning inside the confines of the marina area against the natural prop walk way more interesting.

After paying for a couple of nights berthing (thankfully cheaper due to the Trans Europe card) we decided to stay for a third. When we arranged this with the office, they asked us to move onto a finger berth from our alongside spot. We did, but overhung the finger quite dramatically. The marina staff came to inspect, told us that they had mistaken the length of the boat and that we could go back to our original spot. So, we untied again and wriggled back in to our first berth. Apparently the newish staff member on Sunday had ignored the booking info and picked our old Broom 415 from the database. They had charged us for a 12.5 m boat (we thought it seemed cheap!) and noticed our real size when we moved from the shadow of an enormous ugly Sunseeker that was being commissioned here and onto the finger berth.

After some shopping in town and a walk to Hamworthy Park where Izzy enjoyed the beach rather a lot, we took the bus to Swanage. The bay is still a lovely spot:

The walk to Durlston Castle across the cliffs was warm but worthwhile as they have an excellent restaurant there which fed and watered us well and gave us this view to enjoy from the lunch table:

Quite a spot really:

Fuelled by excellent food and a small(ish) cider, the walk back went much faster although Anne did throw a stick at some folks walking in the other direction. Why? Well, she claimed it was for Izzy to chase and she hadn't seen the people. Good stuff that local cider.

The trip back was a little disrupted thank to a fatal accident on the small "A road" that links Swanage and Corfe Castle. We had to take the bus to Sandbanks, walk a little from there admiring the wildly overpriced houses and trying to spot which one 'Arry Redknapp lived in. The football manager 'Arry of "I didn't fiddle my taxes, I am no good at maths in fact I can't even write out the team sheet" fame, We didn't spot anyone we knew or recognised but saw plenty of elderly cars parked around there - maybe staff have to park on the road not in the ample driveways.

Port Solent, football and Lymington

We needed to escape Gosport and all the NFG types (see earlier post for a translation) and we wanted to polish the seriously neglected port side of the hull. A good spot to do this was Port Solent - locked, quiet and we had a couple of days left on our Premier marinas "great escapes" deal thingy. The perfect solution perhaps? We pottered up to the marina (a huge voyage from Gosport) on a day with neap tides so there was no free flow. We sat in the lock for ages whilst they tried to fix a printing problem with their systems - the captain recalled many many happy hours at work in the IT world and sympathised but resisted trying to help as he is woefully under-qualified.

We managed to polish the remainder of the hull despite the best efforts of the sun to get in the way. We also caught up with Carl and Julie, the Liverpudlian couple who we met in Penarth a while ago. We jinxed the football results by watching the England semi-final with them and making appropriate groaning noises.

Anne came to visit and carelessly left Izzy the spoodle with us. No idea how that happened. We had to amuse her with some ball games:

and the expectation of ball games too:

The brown grass gives you a hint of the awesome weather we have enjoyed for weeks now!

After our labours, we headed back out of the harbour, passing the new navigation aids put in place for the nice new aircraft carriers for the navy:

Chunky things. Even chunkier is the new carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth. However we have  a feeble picture as 1) the sun was in the wrong direction 2) we only had the phone handy to use and 3) the police patrol boats were keeping everyone a long way away from the ship. Here is the feeble result:

Rubbish isn't it! Anyway, as you can see they are still "working her up" i.e. we have lots of tents on the flightdeck so people can do stuff. Good job there are no aircraft to fly off her yet!

Leaving the harbour we witnessed HMS Duncan returning from a 6 month NATO deployment:

flanked by tugs and patrol boats too. We seem very keen to protect our navy from ISIS suicide RIBS etc etc. Hope that the radicals can't buy the recipe for Novichok from Mr Putin when the gas runs out and he needs some cash to keep the Russian economy afloat.

We had a lovely flybridge trip down to Lymington and into the yacht haven there. On the way, we saw one of the superyacht fraternity moored off Cowes. He had a slightly posher arrangement for launching his RIB than our crane and canvas cover setup:

Might well have been one of Mr Putin's mates of course living off Gazprom earnings....

Our favourite spot on the Dan Bran pontoon was full.... How we didn't miss the Solent (and the extortionate berthing fees) in the summer during that last 5 years. Time to escape from this wildly busy area again.

Whilst in Lymington we had a catch up with John and Kath, the owners of the Broom 39 called Prime Time. This year their cruise had been cut short when they picked up what must have been a large chunk of rope near Roscoff which trashed the coupling on one prop shaft and caused a leak. Their poor boat was recovered by road to Lymington for repair. There but for the grace of "someone" go we of course. Discarded or poorly marked rope and nets are a huge hazard.