Now the forecast as could be best interpreted was NW around Falmouth F4/5 then we could expect the winds to go SW same strength, then the nearer we got to France the winds should move back to NW or N and easing. Well for the first time I can recall it all worked out as per our combined interpretation of the weather forecast.

We set out from Helford River and had a really good sail with Sun Dog loping along at a heady 5-6kts in 15-20 kts of breeze OK not in the same league as the modern boats that would be doing 8-9kts but it was one of those special periods in time where time wasn’t an issue as long as we arrived in daylight, as on the charts it looks pretty rocky all around the approaches to L’Aber W’rach

This continued for a while until we began to get headed by the wind, and Sun Dog has many virtues but sailing close to the wind is not one of them – so mainsail stayed up and the old faithful Perkins got fired up.

We came across this lovely old boat on the way over, and as you can see from the photo it was hard to capture a good level photo in the swell, and this is the best one!!

We were expecting commercial traffic on the French side going into and out of the Traffic Separation Scheme off Ouessant but jumping Jesus I didn’t expect it to be like Piccadilly Circus or Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday. All this in the pitch black, and therefore not so easy to gauge distance/size of vessel – other than via their navigation lights which indicate whether they are under or over 50 metres in length. At one point I ended up being the meat in a sandwich between two of these huge boats coming at me at different angles – simplistically one would have been coming from say 90 degrees and the other coming from 80 degrees. As I was slowing to nip around the back of the first one, it was shortening the distance between us and the other one coming along. AIS is a big help in figuring out their headings but some of these are huge vessels travelling at high speeds so real vigilance is the name of the game.

One of these boats was just short of 300 metres and going at 20 kts (AIS gives the vessels details) and in cases like this I always remember one of my Dads saying “it’s not a question of whose right son – it’s a question of whose left”! Anyhow I could witter away but suffice to say that I have never been at sea with such a volume of commercial traffic. As for the odd one or two that came along separate from the groups Old Hawkeye AKA Sara, who has an amazing aptitude for picking up the lights on boats, and separating them from the light of stars. In fact I think she can see them before they have cleared the horizon – must be a wee bit of Celtic mysticism still in her blood? I can also say that for someone who has never experienced the ocean swell before this trip, she has been simply amazing and unfazed by anything we have experienced thus far – apart that is from the shark encounter in Irish waters. In fact coming into L’Aber Wrach the swell builds higher as the waters become shallower, but she was quite happy taking the helm, or getting the binoculars out and using her old Hawkeye skills to pick out markers etc – excellent support.

We arrived at low water and it was quite a sight seeing the swell crash over the rocks as we were running up the approaches,but in truth with all the markers around it would be hard to get it wrong in clear conditions. We were met at the marina by the mooring guy who pointed out an inner berth as the visitors’ pontoon was full. This berth was way shorter than the length of the boat and unfortunately as Sara was getting off with the lines she got her leg caught in one of the fender lines – looked really sore – but Hawkeye doesn’t give in easily and she freed herself and got the boat tide up. It could have been nasty, but turned out well enough as she “only” has a sore leg. Well that’s it for this leg (no pun intended), we have now covered over 700 miles since setting off and cannot believe how quickly the time is passing.

Love to everyone
G n’ S

This morning we called the water taxi on channel 37 and sweet talked him into giving us a trip down the river and passing on some local information on the area. We were then dropped ashore at Helford Village and told to simply open the sign when we need to get back to the boat.

You don’t want the Ferry

O’ So now you do want the Ferry!

I know I have used the word delightful a lot writing up this blog, but there is no other word to sum up the beauty of this corner of England. Really pretty and one could spend a lot of time exploring the area.

What about this for a setting – pub has big outdoor BBQ

It was time for us to head back to the boat and have a final check on the weather before setting off for France.

Murphys Law always strikes and the only way I could get a phone signal was to hang off the standing rigging holding my left toe in the air…..OK not quite that bad but hellish reception – not normally an issue but I really wanted to see the most recent weather before committing to departing.

Knowing my mate Marcus is never far from a computer screen I took the liberty of getting him to check online, and the long and short of it was the weather systems are still complicated but nothing has fundamentally changed since yesterday, so we are good to go.

Thanks again Marcus it was very much appreciated.

So it was a case of making up some food for the crossing – only a very special person can cook down below in a boat that is rocking and rolling around. That is not me – I would be shouting for” Hughie” within minutes.

Once the preparations were complete, we cast off the mooring line and set off out of the Helford River. The peculiar thing is that whilst we have already covered some 600 miles on our trip and enjoyed extended stops in Isles of Scilly and Falmouth area – we both feel like we are now really going on holiday. Anyhow it’s L’Aber W’rach or bust – metaphorically speaking.

A big happy birthday to another grandson who is 14 today…………………..yeah.

Hope you had a good day Prentice and look forward to catching up soon.

Lots of Love

G n’ S

Today we went on line and checked the weather forecast with a view to heading over to L’Aber W’rach in Brittany. The weather patterns are somewhat complicated and hard to figure out as the positions of the lows and high around Europe are a bit complex. We finally made a decision that we would not head across the Channel today but will leave when the wind direction finally changes.

The added bonus of this decision was that we could leave Falmouth today and head round the short distance to the Helford River which has a reputation for being one of the jewels of the south coast of England. We arrived around 1630 and I really couldn’t face blowing up the dingy and then having to deflate and store, so when the moorings officer came out for our fee (the engine was barely switched off!!) we asked if there was a local water taxi – which there was but unfortunately (for us) they only run between 0930 and 1700, and he was finshed for today as he was off to watch the local rugby team Penzance Pirates. So a night of R&R onboard instead. The wind is still from the east so we are a wee bit exposed until it changes direction.

This afternoon we decided to head up and visit Smugglers Cottage, which according to the local tourist leaflets was where General Eisenhower was based during the lead up to D Day. Today it is a restaurant come tea room with some really fascinating WW2 photographs on the wall. According to what we read, 27,000 American troops embarked from Falmouth for the D Day landing, and sadly the associated horror on some of these beaches. This horror was inflicted not only on the Americans but on all the forces of the free world that were involved is way way beyond my comprehension, and “bravery” seems such an inadequate word. Were it not for all these young soldiers, sailors and airmen gave, we would not have the freedom to enjoy our life, which let’s face it, we all at times forget and take what they did for granted.

Can you imagine the decisions and weight of responsibility that rested on General Eisenhowers shoulders given he had total authority over the D Day landings? It was weird to think that some of these awsome/monumental decisions were taken in this charming and delightful wee cottage?

Onto to happier thoughts..

As you can see from the photo Smugglers Cottage is simply delightful, and whilst we didn’t have a meal here we couldn’t resist yet another Cream Tea….jubbly.

On the way up we passed the King Harry Ferry which I’m told saves a lot of driving time, and looked to be busy with queues on each side which proves it is a popular shortcut.

We didn’t take Sun Dog up the River to Smugglers Cottage, instead we managed to get the local water taxi to take us there and back for £10 each. This represents good value and the chap that runs the taxi is a real nice helpful guy, who is building a new business by providing this service all around the Falmouth area. This is well worth checking out and supporting if you are ever in this area.

On the way into Falmouth we saw St Mawes on the right hand side on the way in and it looked lovely, therefore today we went over to have a look around and were not disappointed. It is a lovely little town where we had a bite to eat at the Chandlery Cafe which was really tasty. Can’t recall the name of the river that runs into St Mawes, but when we walked along the banks of the river it was so tranquil – nice day.

Here are a couple of photos of the area which hopefully do the place justice.

It’s been a while since fuel was these prices – 2/3d per gallon in old money 12.5p per gallon in new money!! ….with my guess being that this garage stopped selling fuel a long time ago 🙁

We were up and away to get the bus to Penzance, and what a journey this turned out to be. Picture double decker buses in narrow Cornwall roads and overhanging tree branches en route. The drivers must have the patience of Job trying to squeeze past other vehicles. At times they are inches and I mean inches from houses, and whilst this could be considered normal for the area the most alarming thing is the damage done to the top sides of these buses. The drivers do their best but the trees pelt the buses with some hefty bangs and you would not believe the damage to the top front corners and sides of these buses…..

We arrived in Penzance and looked around the harbour spotting some boats that had left the Isles of Scilly the same day as us heading for Falmouth, but they must have decided to stop here and get back to work, or this was a far as they wanted to go given the forecast! It was pretty congested in the harbour, which has a lock gate that is only open for a certain period of time before and after high water. This gate allows all the boats within the harbour to float all the time, with the other part of the harbour complex drying out completely. No offence to anyone, but this area could not be described as pretty, and we were pleased that we didn’t come into here en route.

Interestingly we found out that the ferry that runs from here to the Isles of Scilly (the Scillionian) which, after the gig racing was packed with gigs and people, couldn’t get into the harbour due to the bad weather and had to shelter behind St Michaels Mount until the weather settled itself. Thank goodness we left when we we did!

We then decided to walk round to Newlyn to see if it was any better, but in truth found this also to be a pretty tired looking place, and the harbour had hardly any space available for any visiting boats. Both places could really do with a bit of a hoover! One good thing we found was Dukes Cafe, just across from the War Memorial that served lovely food at reasonable prices. For the record, I normally love working harbours, but there is simply something missing in these ports. I can say that we were both pretty disappointed, as we had been looking forward so much to visiting them – shame really.

In fairness we didn’t see either of these ports/towns at their best, as the weather was a bit wet and miserable. Whilst we were glad we came down to look at these ports, the overwhelming feeling was of being pleased that we had decided to continue directly to Falmouth. It was then a case of walking back to Penzance and another “bus bashing” trip back to Falmouth.

Back in the marina we had a good chat with the South African crew who are in the process of delivering a Leopard 46 Catamaran from South Africa to Sweden. They had an interesting story to tell as they got a bit of a bashing coming up the Atlantic and had to heave to for three or four days before heading into the Azores for some repairs to the rigging. We were invited on board to have a look around and all we can say is wow – it is simply enormous inside. The luxury staterooms are huge, one of which is about the size of Sun Dog. Unfortunately for them, they are so far behind on this delivery trip, and this has been compounded by having to shelter here, but they hope to head off within the next couple of days, and we wish them the best of luck.

This morning it was a case of showers breakfast and enjoying the time having a good look around Falmouth, visiting the Chandlers and re provisioning the boat. I have been in Falmouth before on both Swagman and Csardas, but have to say that it has either changed quite a bit or my memory is getting a bit confuddled. Probably the latter!! I was also pleased that we kept going to reach Falmouth as the barometer is dropping like a house brick, so bad weather is approaching.

We must be getting a wee bit soft, because it is really nice to be on an alongside berth again, where we have the luxury of both electricity and filling the tank with fresh water. There are however signs up in the marina stating that no boat washing can take done due to the fact they are on a water meter. A five pound deposit gives an access card to the shower block, with the showers being free to use, and an access code for the marina gate.

We had a bit of a palaver trying to get a bus time table. The bus stance didn’t have any and suggested the Travel Agents – they didn’t have any and suggested the Tourist Information Centre…….it was closed!

We decided to leave the search for a bus time table till later and went to visit the Maritime Museum which was fascinating. The added bonus at the museum was they had an area set up on the history of Polar Expeditions, part of which contained many interesting artefacts from expeditions lead by my boyhood (and adulthood) hero Ernest Shackleton.

Sara fell in love with a restored steam river boat ‘Waterlily’ which had been beautifully restored, and was dinky in a Victorian kind of way – but once again like a fool I had left the camera back on the boat.

Funny thing is that we managed to get bus time table at the museum……………….

Managed to get reasonable connection and updated the blog on our visit to the Scilly Isles and trip to here. It’s sometimes tricky getting a connection that allows us to update photos etc patience is the name of the game.

The weather is due to deteriorate further with F7/8 being forecast within the next 24 hours, so we were looking to make a move. The winds are still from the east, and still forecast to go round to the south, making any leg over to Brittany not really a viable option. Instead we have decided to head up the English Channel with my thoughts being that we could visit either Newlyn or Penzance, as we have never been to either of them – or continue up to Falmouth. The wind must move from the east soon as it’s been from this direction for some time – fingers crossed. The Isles of Scilly are somewhat exposed and we really don’t fancy getting stuck here in gale conditions.

Decision made we headed out at 0630 and into some pretty big lumpy water, heading out to the east it was a wind against tide situation. One yacht was going out under bare poles (no sails up) and their mast was swinging about like a metronome! As for us, well let’s just say that I don’t think there will be any weeds left on the underside of Sun Dog! Quite a number of boats were heading back to the south coast as they have also been stuck here by the weather, and are looking to take advantage of the weather window before it slams shut with the gales that are forecast.

Once clear of the Isles of Scilly the wave height calmed down a bit (thank goodness) and the wind settled to around a steady F4/5 but it was pretty much on the nose as the wind was still from the east, and it stayed that way all day. So it was a day of motor sailing with the added joy of poor visibility. The visibilty was so poor that the AIS and Radar were swiched on all day, and we were glad to have both onboard in this busy stretch of water. Because we were motorsailing battery use wasn’t an issue, in that running the engine kept the batteries fully charged, as running all this kit does consume a fair amount of battery power.

The traffic separation scheme off the east coast of the Scillies was quite clear when we were crossing the bottom of it with only one ship heading south and none heading north. I have been impressed by the AIS system we had fitted, as it gives the big commercial boats course, heading, speed, and their destination on the chartplotter, thus the decision making process is a whole lot easier. You can “see them” on the chartplotter before MK1 eyeball can pick them up. This is because AIS is a system based on satelitte information and not line of sight like radar, and from the ships destination one can assess which direction they will be heading, once they exit the traffic seperation scheme.

I have to say that whilst it was a pretty slow slog up the channel plugging into the wind and waves, we decided to keep going for Falmouth as this would give good shelter should the weather turn as grim as the forecast. The only “land” we saw on the way over to the mainland was Wolf Rock Lighthouse, and from there on in towards Falmouth the commercial traffic increased quite considerably.

We gave the Lizard a good clearance to avoid tidal rips and then headed down and into Falmouth with the tide giving us a good push, and this gave us our best speed over the ground all day. We arrived pretty much 12 hours after leaving the Isles of Scilly and tied up alongside at the Visitors Marina. We will give ourselves a bit of time here to explore, and perhaps visit Newlyn and Penzance by public transport given we missed them out by coming directly to Falmouth.

Getting safely here in the weather window we had was a blessed relief, and we are happy to be safely sheltered, and tied alongside a pontoon with fresh water and electricity on tap…….luxury.