Tenby to Cardiff and an unexpected welcome

As the forecast had a depression arriving and hence less idyllic weather on Tuesday, the decision was simple enough - head for Cardiff Bay and try to get a spot in Penarth (our winter home) earlier than the planned October 1st. Taking the tide with us for the last bit of the trip meant pushing it for the first few hours and a departure around 7:30am. Hum. Still, it would be the last one of those for a while!

Anchor up, we headed off from Tenby in calm sea and sun, just some mist hanging around. The area has two firing ranges that neatly bracket it (Manorbier and Pendine) with only a narrow channel separating them. As live firing was planned from 8am we thought that we should focus on sticking to the channel carefully.

Pendine has an interesting history - for pictures see Pendine website.

Just off the range area, we found another set of great fishing pot markers:

Much moaning about poor markers that couldn't be seen in rough seas etc until they got closer and it became clear they were balloons... Sorry local fishermen. Actually not, as we then saw some tiny black markers that were for real - easy enough to avoid as it was very calm though.

The trip was perfect flybridge weather. Little wind, calm, no other boats about. All very relaxed. The biggest activity was taking showers underway so we didn't arrive grubby.

We got closer to the land off Nash Point and although it was still a little hazy, we could add to our image bank of lighthouses:

Not one of the most interesting but...... A little further along the coast is the famous Atlantic College in old fort like buildings where the first RIB was designed and adopted by the RNLI (see Wikipedia):

Barry Island, the favourite hang out spot for Nessa and the other characters in Gavin and Stacey looks very different from the sea too:

Of course, nothing can make Barry itself look more appealing except for a small earthquake / volcanic eruption.

Patrick had been in close and frequent contact with Bronwen the spaniel. He was so excited about seeing her again. She persuaded her dad, Steve, to come out in his "Old Girl" (it is a boat, you have a bad imagination) to meet us off Sully Island. The eagle eyed will spot Bronwen eagerly leaning over the rail straining to see Patrick again:

Steve's boat, Soleil D'Or also has quite a history. We mentioned this last year but in case you didn't bother to read it, look at Historic Ships register

The next surprise was that Bernie, the crew's ex boss was on board too:

He is the guy looking very relaxed and nautical in all white (brave move on an elderly boat with three dogs on board and an aged Gardner diesel). Steve had bumped into him by pure chance in Cardiff Bay and as two wooden boat owners they got chatting / drinking. Then Steve mentioned some friends with a Nordhavn and that was that. Bernie stayed over and hitched a ride out to sea on Steve's lovely boat to surprise us - and that certainly worked!

We followed Soleil D'Or up to the barrage locks:

Instead of going into Penarth marina, we joined the wooden boat owners over at Mermaid Quay overnight for a big catch up. An unexpected treat at the end of our cruising season.

The next morning started calm and sunny - lovely views and reflections across the bay area towards Penarth with the strange looking St David's hotel in the foreground:

Bernie's boat is a classic ex Dunkirk little ship called Mimosa. For the foreign readers look at Wikipedia to get some background. She has been beautifully restored and re-engined and he is slowly heading around to Ramsgate ready to join the 2015 little ships return to Dunkirk trip.

Here she is moored outside the Welsh Assembly and Pierhead buildings:

Both the boat and setting are lovely. Bernie and Jen are lovely too of course (just in case he reads this rubbish)

Mimosa's information is on the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships website here

We finished our summer cruise by taking the long haul across Cardiff bay to Penarth and cuddling up onto a berth there. We will work out some statistics for those who enjoy such things on a rainy day. As the forecasts are good, that might not be for a while.

Maintenance news:

Those engine checks revealed nothing untoward. So, to spice up this bit, we can report that Andrew brought us the most up market rechargeable head torch we've ever seen. So, the tool cabinet has been expanded.