Neyland, Dale, Bron and to Penarth

One little job that got completed was to wire a standard plug socket directly to the incoming shorepower, not via the inverters. That way, using a plug in device recommended by Andrew (the non Welsh speaking Welshman whom you have met many times in this blog) we will get SMS alerts if we are away and the shorepower fails. For the non boating folks, if shorepower fails, the inverters happily take over and keep the fridge / freezer running using battery power and converting it to 240v mains stuff with wiggly amps not nice straight ones. Not at all nice for the batteries if that continues for several days! So, a socket was fitted with a suitable in-line fuse to the shorepower system just after the current inrush limiting device:

into which we will plug this guy:




who will send us a nice little SMS message if the shorepower goes pop. Reassuring.

Whilst in Neyland we raided the Co-op - there is no other choice - and did a little bit of boat cleaning which had been neglected.  We also waited for some nice weather to head for Penarth and our winter home again. The good stuff was forecast for Saturday / Sunday and so the plan looked like heading to Dale on Friday, anchoring off for the night and leaving early on Saturday morning to arrive at the Cardiff barrage lock around high water. You really have to take the tide with you for the last part of the trip as it runs very hard the further up the Bristol Channel you go!

Steve the ex Cardiff waterbus man wanted to hitch a ride with us from Neyland to Dale. So, we headed off in glorious sunshine with Steve looking very intent at the helm:

We are not sure if the rugged jaw look was a happy one, a stressed one or a "get me out of here" one. Bron the spaniel was much easier to read:

The "I like my cuddles" face....

The ocean voyage is shown below, any strange wobbles in the route are due to incoming commercial traffic, outgoing pleasure boats or Steve steering:

At Dale, we anchored and then took the RIB ashore for a very pleasant if huge dinner at the most welcoming Dale Yacht Club.  Returning at sunset we were treated to a blood orange moon appearing behind the lights of the refinery. Actually it was much more impressive than it sounds!

After a disturbed night, thanks to various arriving and departing ships kicking up quite a wash, we made an early departure to fit with the tide times. Sunrise:

The start of the trip was a bit lumpy thanks to the recent easterly winds which were slow to change direction. However, things smoothed off nicely and the sun was out, as were the friendly Welsh Dolphins who came to play several times:

As usual we had to go outside and cheer on their efforts enjoying them and the great weather.

The tide turned and our speed over the ground increased steadily and nicely as you can see:

For non boating folks, SOG is speed over the ground. STW is speed through the water. For non Nordhavn folks, 10.1 knots is our equivalent of flying in a full displacement 47 foot boat.

Here is the route (well, all bar the first bit that Marinetraffic didn't seem to want to capture):

We were approaching Cardiff as the sun was busy setting:

and our usual two lookouts were in place but once again, mute. Useless couple.

Annoyingly, we were around 5 minutes too late for the lock in time at Cardiff barrage (on 15 and 45 mins) so we pottered around before approaching the barrage for the 8:15pm lock:

You can see the kit for lifting the bridges across the locks against the orange sky. It felt like arriving home somehow despite a little outboard powered fishing boat that was in the lock with us who had a stereo system almost as powerful as their engine and a dire taste in music. Leaving the lock, we headed happily into Penarth Marina:

The Custom House restaurant, a lovely old building, is on the left and you can see the open lock into the marina towards the right of the picture.

After around 14 hours underway we happily berthed on our hammerhead, doing some dredging and weed cutting at the same time!

Maintenance news:

Well, in Neyland the captain spotted that one of the fittings on the bottom of the fuel supply tank had a weep. Sorting it out will mean draining the tank and we might as well remake all of the connections at the same time - they are all factory original and done with the same sealant so.... A fun job coming up. Luckily the weep is not dramatic, just enough to leave a trace on the fitting. So, a nice absorbent pad now lives underneath it to stop any fuel stain getting into the bilge.

The big Lugger ran quite happily again as did the other kit on board so no more spanner stuff to report.