Plymouth to Fowey to Falmouth (which was not the plan)

Although the forecast meant a bit of a bumpy trip westwards, we felt that the time had come to leave Plymouth. Our plan was to head into Fowey for a few nights, catch up with Amanda and Chris then head on to Falmouth where Tina was planning to join us. All most sociable again. Arriving in Fowey after lunchtime on a Sunday should mean that the weekend invaders from Falmouth / Plymouth had already departed to free up some space.

We headed off on the flybridge but once out of the shelter of Rame Head (the bit sticking down to the west of  Plymouth sound on the track image below), we had to retire inside.  Plenty of spray and bumpy enough (wind on the nose) to delay lunch preparation too. Here is our track:

and as you can see it did not go to plan. Arriving in Fowey we called the harbour folks to ask if there was any space on the upriver pontons at Mixtow or opposite the commercial wharves (Grid Irons). They said that they didn't know so we trundled up there in nice sun but plenty of wind too:

Both locations were totally full, as were the mid-river pontoons off the town and the larger mooring buoys that we could have used. The harbour was rammed full - it looked more like school holiday time than late June! 

In a fit of frustration we didn't take any pictures but here is a nice borrowed aerial one for you to see how lovely the place is:

 

No sensible anchorages for us there so, miserably, we headed out of the harbour and made for Falmouth instead. More bumpy stuff and plenty of spray again until we neared Falmouth and got some shelter from the land. We arrived early evening and luckily there was a free large mooring buoy we could use. Since our last visit, they've added a pick up buoy attached to plenty of heavy chain to them. This caused the crew much effort and stress, picking it up and putting our mooring line through the loop in the chain. Then it caused the captain plenty of stress too. To add a second line over the bow roller we need to launch the RIB, thread it through and then pull it up to secure it. Finally happily and safely secured, we did at least get to enjoy the sunset views:

over a relatively peaceful harbour:

It was far from the nicest trip we've had. The south coast is fast becoming a cruising no-go zone as it is just manically busy now. That isn't the idea of boating for us! We consoled ourselves with a very bad evening meal of cider and crips. Scurvy might be an issue on board soon.

Catching up and getting quieter

Plymouth was a bit of a Nordhavn ghetto really. Coracle was in Sutton Harbour (a N40 owned by Michael and Frances) and Zephyros, a N43 owned by Andrew and Linda. As they were on board, we took the little ferry over to Sutton Harbour and said hi. We also helped them move berths which gave us the chance to get a picture of her underway, albeit slowly and with fenders as an adornment:

Izzy the dog very quickly added Zephyros to her territory and protected the boat from anyone walking along the pontoons - quite loudly sometimes.

We also tried out the South West coastal path which leads around from Mount Batten towards the east. Only we had to give up not far into the walk as it was horribly overgrown. Shame as there are some nice views too:

We did wonder how folks trying to do the entire path would feel when they approached the overgrown area from the east, trying to get to pre-booked accommodation in the Plymouth area.

Izzy the dog had lots of fun in the marina area - there were some large fish coming to the surface and eating weed etc off the pontoon floats. She was transfixed by the activity and more than a little scared sometimes too:

This was the one thing that would stop her from pulling hard on the lead to go back to the boat for her food during the late afternoon. Quite a diversion, maybe she fancied fresh fish for dinner. Meanwhile the humans enjoyed some time in the area. We had to test out the local Italian coffee stall that was highly recommended by Simon our yacht surveyor friend:

We were very happy to confirm his rating of the coffee as top tier and the cannoli were good too. We resisted having a second pastry, unlike Simon and Nikki when they tried out the place a while ago.

After Andrew was cruelly abandoned by his wife for a few days, we joined him on a couple of outings. The first one was across to Cawsand on the little Ferry which lands you on the beach. Here is a borrowed image showing that:

The Cawsand area is lovely and we enjoyed a couple of good walks, beach fun for the doglet and an excellent lunch in the Bay restaurant. Lovely area in great weather too:

All in all, a good day. How to top it? Well, the decision was to take the scenic little train trip to Gunnislake which travels up the river Tamar, across a stunning viaduct at Calstock:

and then up a pretty steep incline to Gunnislake. The route was an old mineral line that got converted to passenger traffic and you see old chimneys and evidence of mineral workings on the hill as the train climbs towards the end of the line. 

When you get there, the fun starts. The little village is down a steep and long hill - the station is 143 metres above sea level and it felt that far down to the village too. We walked down, alongside a main road with the nagging reality in our minds that "what goes down, had to come back up!" We then found another overgrown path down to the river which needed slow and careful negotiation before a gentler walk along the riverside. The crew had found a pub with good reviews (The Rising Sun) but of course that was up a hill. We manfully / womanfully / caninefully made it and were really well looked after in what is a proper local. Super friendly bar lady and nice food which prompted Izzy to give Andrew her full attention:

The only downside was a disastrous coffee which the bar lady pre-warned us about. We should have stuck to the huge choice of real ales instead.

Leaving the pub, we had to drag our food engorged bodies up to the train station again. The tiny road was steep, long, no houses nearby and no cars, tractors or whatever but wonderfully resurfaced very recently. A beautiful even surface, so unlike most of the roads in this country that actually have to carry traffic which are potholed nightmares! We did wonder if a local council leader lived off this lane..... The train trip is very pretty once you are out of Plymouth and well worth doing for the princely sum of £4.95 return if, like us, you have an old person's railcard or any other railcard for that matter.

On the basis that all good things must come to an end, we arranged to return Izzy the dog to her owner. The original plan that involved Anne coming to Plymouth for a while and drinking our gin didn't work out,so we rented a wildly expensive and equally horrid little Fiat 500 and met her half way. The car was proof of how the rental business has changed after covid. nearly three years old, 38,000 miles and pretty well abused, this battered alloy wheel gives you a clue:

The car was in a state that you would have expected in the Canary Islands, not from Europcar, a large operator in the UK who always turned cars over when they were under a year old in deals with the manufacturers. That was when supply way exceeded demand and huge fleet discounts were in place.

The dog handover involved another pub found by the crew, just outside Bridport where the staff loved Izzy. She was delighted to see her mum again and we were amazed by a swallows nest in the entrance porch:

There were four chicks in the nest and they all peeped out from time to time. Amazing. 

Life became quieter (no barking) and it seemed strange to be able to go into a food shop together for the first time in eight weeks. 

The Nordhavn meet up thing continued when Gratitude, a US flagged N64 arrived in the yacht haven.  We met the owners who are cruising around Europe with their son (home schooling) and elderly cat on board. Lovely folks and lovely boat - here is a picture taken by a friend when they arrived in Belfast a few days later:

All in all a sociable and relaxing time. Apart from the Gunnislake hill that is.

St Peter Port to Plymouth

Although we were having a great time in Guernsey and Jersey was tempting not having been there for many years, we had a dilemma. We needed to give the doglet back to her owner and also there was a wonderfully settled spell of weather for a return trip across the channel:

Also in the neighbouring sea area:

For the non boating folks, slight is a dream! Only up to 1.25m which is rare in the channel area. We wanted to go into Dartmouth initially but were messed about by the marinas when we called them (handy to have a walk ashore spot with a dog on board) and even more frustrated by the harbour authority - as we've been many times before. They had a classic yacht race going on and these rather grand old ladies were occupying the mid-river buoys: 

but although the mid-river pontoons were almost empty, they didn't want us there - too long / heavy despite being on them for many years in the past. So, the decision was to head to Plymouth. Handy spot (in the Yacht haven) for Izzy as there is plenty of beach and grass nearby. Also great for Anne who would came to collect her dog as there is plenty of parking space too.

A lot of head and TimeZero software scratching went on, working out the best route over. As we wanted to wait for high enough tides to get out of the Victoria marina and over the cill, the debate was do we go north and around the top of Guernsey or south and around the bottom of the island before heading towards Plymouth. Then what course do we steer as the tides would initially take us to the east, then a long spell to the west, then back eastwards again as we approached Plymouth. The final decision was that north was faster. Tide times meant a 4:30am departure from the berth, which forced Izzy the dog to have a very early morning toilet trip ashore.

We were treated to a glorious start to the day and calm seas heading up the Little Russell channel as the sun peeped out:

which only got better and better:

and richer in colour:

Here is our track heading across, showing the lazy S bend you get by steering an almost constant course and letting the tides do their thing to optimise the trip time:

We were so lucky once again - we didn't need to alter our course at all to avoid the many ships leaving / converging on the separation zone nearby. This big container guy was the closest but we passed very safely astern:

Settling into the gentle cruise in fair weather and gentle seas, Izzy discovered a love of junk food:

even if it didn't quite taste like a burger. Her new toy kept her very amused and the crew was happily catching up on rest:

As we got closer to the English coast we decided to complete the trip on the flybridge as the weather was so lovely. Izzy is not keen on her lifejacket but has to wear it when outside of the accommodation. As you can see, she finds sea trips very stressful and struggles to settle down:

She continued to be a very chilled and sleepy dog until we spotted a pod of dolphins. This rather poor video that was quickly taken shows you a tiny part of what we / the doglet saw:

and of course, she was then totally awake, scanning the sea for the next lot:

only they didn't come. Instead we headed into Plymouth sound, passing the various old Naval installations:

giving the wing engine a run and the main engine a wide open throttle burn. As we approached the marina, a ship was being swung around and berthed ahead of us so we had to hang around for a while until the fairway was clear again:

We knew that we couldn't manage the trip without diverting for a ship somewhere!

The berth we were allocated on the outer breakwater had four huge buoys tied to it that were floating in the water. They were so large that we could not get the boat close enough to the pontoon for the crew to step off properly. So, they got hauled out of the way. The spot also had some massive captive mooring lines fitted to the cleats. No idea what normally lives there but it must be considerably larger than us.

We all settled down for food and then a chilled evening, some more so than others:

The trip over took around 13.75 hours to do the 88 nautical miles plus the harbour bits at either end. No maintenance news to report, except that the new sat dome was a pain - we were listening to a radio station through it whilst crossing the channel and it was breaking up from time to time. Most annoying, it should track the satellite OK in quite rough conditions and our trip was pretty calm. Time to tinker with the settings or get expert advice.

Another ocean voyage

Well, the blowy but sunny weather continued. We decided to head off to Jersey, but that morning the captain managed to hurt his shoulder. No idea how but it was pretty painful so the decision to have a bumpy but shortish trip was postponed. The little furry stowaway didn't look too concerned though, after more beach and ball and chasing other dogs, she was content to cuddle up with one of her many toys:

This rather pretty young Fox red Labrador called Mellow was her sparring partner and, naturally way faster so the chase games were fruitless but great exercise:

Having decided not to leave, we did one long trip. At high water we moved into the Victoria marina and the one corner of it that is deep enough for us. It had been occupied by a couple of patio door flybridge gas guzzling things but  became free as they moved to seek better shelter further into the marina area. Our weight (no, the boat, not ours) really helps avoid some of the bouncing around.that the lighter planing boats suffer from. 

Victoria marina is still open to the harbour swell each time the cill is covered but at low water you get a quieter time. Here is the low water view from our aft cockpit:

Then as the tide rises and the cill covers:

We did think that the paddle boarder was a bit optimistic:

He managed to hold station for a few minutes but as the tide rose higher and the inrush of water became faster, he had to abandon his fun. We continued ours though with a well deserved and partly medicinal gin in the evening sun:

We hadn't refitted the bimini cover as the winds were still rather fruity and we really wanted to protect it from damage. The cover is getting old now, just like the captain and crew, and so deserved some pampering. Mainly because having a new one made is not a cheap game. Here is our little corner:

so you can put things into perspective:

As the weather continued to be sunny, we had various excursions, including one to L'Islet and Rousse tower:

The kiosk there produced an excellent BLT baguette to share and a truly superb brownie. The Guernsey kiosk culture does produce some excellent stop off spots and food options. Izzy was more impressed with the Grand Havre beach of course:

Continuing our occasional old lifeboat picture theme, we reckon that there must have been quite a high tide for this one:

Our social life picked up with the arrival of some friends from Hythe Marina. Stephen and Alison arrived in their very shiny very new Nimbus:

and we enjoyed catching up on life, the universe and everything.

(Not a lot of ) maintenance news. We did one huge wash off for the poor boat, she was smothered in a crust of black goo which we think is from the Condor ferries when the winds were carrying their exhaust on startup over towards us. It was horrid - the radio aerials were coated in the stuff and all of the stainless steel rails too. The bimini got refitted and was given a coat of Boracol too. Oh, we also gave the stainless steel rails a clean up with Autosol.  

There is more news on collective nouns though. We mentioned the St Peter Port four Nordhavn thing, the Noodle, in a recent post. This prompted Mr Bishop to offer his collective noun to the list:

How about a "blast" as in "Havn a blast"?

After all, it means to have a great time or a lot of fun, does it not? Okay, I'll get my coat !

You can judge it against all the prior offerings.

Alone, near gales, grooming and walks

Thanks to some tricky family issues that needed attention, Martin and Inge departed on Malaspina (their N47) heading for Portland. So suddenly, we were very alone again - apart from a furry little doglet that is. We needed to make her slightly less furry and so a little visit was in order. She happily walked into Pets at Home, sniffed all around the treats section but was less impressed with the back of the store:

It only involved claws and paw fur, things we could not easily do, so not too traumatic. Her powers of recovery were remarkable once back on the beach of course:

We were beginning to "know" some locals who take their hounds down to Havelet Bay at low water. One gave us a serious local knowledge update on the immediate area, pointing our a concrete pillar that was used by the German occupying forces during World War II to pull a cable across the bay. He also pointed out the strange slits in this construction on the harbourside which was an ammunition / explosives store and is still in use today, we know not what for....:

What did we get up to apart from indulging the doglet on the beaches? Well, the bank holiday Monday was the traditional hill climb event, arranged by the local motorsport club. We were particularly interested (OK, we means the captain) as Gary the Rubis tanker driver had told us about his passion for motorsport and his Mk II Escort rally car. Sure enough, he was there:

with a very tidy looking car. It has a potent Vauxhall engine in it and despite the extra weight of the gear needed in a rally car, was competitive up the hill climb, An interesting (again, for the captain) chat with Gary ensued about the other competitors and their machinery.

One challenge was mobile phone connectivity. We have the new router on board and it happily roamed here, using our old EE sim and contract. We had swapped out our main phone(s) to a Lebara deal as they offered free roaming in Europe (rare after Brexit) and WiFi calling. Ironic how a reseller of Vodafone services does that when the network operator does not. Sadly, the Channel Islands are not treated as an EU roaming destination so calls and particularly mobile data would be quite expensive. Hence we bought a cheap Jersey Telecom pay as you go sim that gave us 5Gb of data over 30 days for £5. That helped a lot with bus times, maps etc etc. Annoying but necessary.

Another walk to Fermain Bay in the sun was a must, as was enjoying a local cider there again:

and walking to St Sampson then Bardeaux harbour had the treat of a little lunch at Rendezvous, a super local cafe, to encourage us. 

Why were we still in Guernsey? Well, we stayed to offer B and B services and that meant we missed the calmer weather window to head off. Not that it mattered as we like being here rather a lot. This was the kind of forecast that we were getting day after day:

but at least it was sunny most of the time:

The only drawback is the wind direction. NEly is not good for St Peter Port harbour which is pretty much open to the north east:

as you can see from the map above. With the wind in probably the worst possible direction for the harbour we put out all our fenders, trussed the boat up, removed the bimini cover to protect it from harm and settled down to some rock and roll periods. At least we were in the better, northern part of the harbour but the rope creaks and fender squeaks were most unpleasant. The nice black marks on the hull that they left will take some cleaning off too:

But at least we were well fendered for the bumpier times when a big swell entered the harbour:

Luckily we hadn't done any hull polishing yet this year. The port side suffered a bit as well - Malaspina rafted onto us left some fender marks and genset exhaust gunge to remove so the whole hull needs proper attention soon. We will have to find a quieter place to moor, stop having fun and start some serious maintenance. Oh good.