Plymouth to Falmouth and pottering around

Plymouth was going to fill up even more. There was a national fireworks championship contest planned over two days then a music festival. We needed to depart as the marina wanted to evict us. At this time of year, many places have their festivals / sailing regatta weeks planned. Where to next? Well, we thought about Fowey and then Falmouth. However, "Falmouth Week" was starting in a few days and so a mooring near the town would be at a premium. We could easily find a slot upriver but as the forecast was for some wet and blowy days, we thought that being closer to civilisation might help. Fowey is lovely but tiny of course.

So, we opted to head straight for Falmouth and find a nice mooring buoy off the town (we hoped) before the yacht race folks arrived.

The trip and route are very easy:

Just lots of pot markers, yachts and fishing boats to avoid. As we left Plymouth yacht haven, a lovely Contest 48 yacht was leaving QAB and headed out ahead of us. Then they called us on the radio and said that they wanted to compliment us on our boat and that they were in touch with the Nordhavn Europe folks as they wanted to buy a 47 too. Small world. We were not tempted to sell though.

The trip took around 6.5 hours and was relatively calm, The wind was more or less on the bow but nothing too dramatic (20 knots) and we didn't even need to activate the stabilisers. As you can see, the crew took an active role in the proceedings:

Arriving into Falmouth was found two of the bigger buoys were free - amazing! The visitors marina was full but we didn't want to be there if the wind was to pick up. Being pinned against the pontoon probably with a boat rafted alongside does not appeal. Life is much quieter out in the open water.

What to do in a place that we know relatively well and always enjoy? Well, some new stuff. Based on a recommendation from John (the knees) Baker, we had to visit Dolly's gin palace. Only we had a cream tea and managed to resist the gin. A most eclectic spot:

The table of 8 "young things" (ie anyone younger than we are) in the left hand corner were trying gin. Trying, more like inhaling actually. As there are over 295 different gins to try, we worried about their ability to get home unaided.

Having visited Falmouth on and off since 1995, we felt it was time to explore Pendennis Castle. So we did and were pleased that we made the effort. A real mix of fortifications from different ages but all designed to defend the harbour and town. As you can see, some trees have grown up since the original cannons were placed looking over the harbour entrance:

If fired today there would be leaves and splinters everywhere. This bigger and scarier guy was a bit newer:

and finally the stuff installed during World War II to fight off marauding E-boats and anything else that wanted to come nearby:

When you visit the spotting room you get to see just how primitive the equipment was that the gunnery directors used to calculate range and bearing for the big guns:

You look through the telescope on top, focus on the target and the pointer below shows where the target is on the sea chart. Amazing that they ever hit anything really. The fortifications started in 1539 and were constantly changed and updated as different threats arose. These barracks were built much later to house the soldiers:

and look rather grand. The little shaded spot with tables you can see gives great views across the site and sea when you stop for a spot of lunch.

We saw that "Blue Twinkle, the Dutch flagged yacht that had called us on the radio was in Port Pendennis so we pottered over in the RIB and said hello. Lovely folks, good chat and an arrangement to give them "TGT" (remember, the guided tour?) too.