5 years :)

Note – to give the original view from the time via Caroline’s splendid blogging I’ve added that week’s posts into the Index of posts I’ve been working on to sort my blog’s rather confusing timelines out 🙂

Technically this post – Leaving! – is from the day before, so on 21-09-09 there was a bit more of that tidying still in progress. Not much time to think about leaving the UK for an unspecified amount of time really.

It was time for a bit of a celebration that evening though. A mixture of excitement, and just plain relief to be starting something we’d been planning and then preparing for for so long. The canals were a bit of an unknown at this stage, but more appealing than Biscay in September/October. Not to say we/I didn’t second-guess that a bit at times!

We had managed to find a window of sunny, light westerly winds for heading up the English Channel towards the shortest crossing point from Dover to Calais where we would enter the canal system – we could have gone in at Rouen but making once of our first sails since the refit an overnight channel (read: motorway) crossing didn’t really appeal.

A quick cloudy one lest anything think it was continuous sunshine (why head south at all? 😀 )..

but generally the weather was great, especially for admiring the iconic white cliffs..

Some strange memories do stick out – being woken up by the boat suddenly heeling over in Eastbourne Marina in the night because we were moored near a sluice from the lock!

Looking at the nex picture, it’s slightly strange to think we had no choice about helming back then (Maid will steer herself happily at some angles to the wind, but not that one) – self steering is definitely a luxury. Mind you, when the wind’s light and it’s sunny..

I don’t actually remember much of crossing the channel from Dover – I suspect because I spent some of it getting ready to go up (and probably rather less actually up) to free something I’d got caught, and what felt like most of the rest fixing issues with the burner and pressure pump for the paraffin cooker so we could reheat lunch! (Thinking about it, the others must have got lumbered with a lot of steering on a rather less cheery day..)

I did manage to serve lunch before we got to Calais though – and the fried supper Caroline made after we moored up still stands out as delicious.

So, France! And into the canals..

(I won’t be repeating that, but I will add it to the Index of posts, as well as some more general reflections. If you can’t contain your curiosity just browsing through from the indexed posts or clicking the ‘French canals and rivers’ category on the right should do)

August 2014 sneak preview

While I’m getting around to writing the next instalment, here’s a taster 🙂

 

September 2013 part 2

The following day I went for a bit of a sail and decided to anchor off the Molunans again having spied Dave already there.

We went for a circular wander on the Roseland, up towards the lighthouse and looking back over the boats..

..before heading east, and then inland and circling back to the beach again (rather different weather to the last time I was here).

I’d taken a slightly longer route on the return trip going right round opposite St Mawes, and was rather surprised to find Dave spear-fishing when I rowed out. Thoughts of moving to get away from the Eye of Sauron..

..and the incessant foghorn were soon dismissed in favour of chat ranging from sailing to woodworking to northern Finnish tribespeople and a delicious fish supper (though the foghorn did get rather irritating later on).

The next day we left the hooting behind and sailed north before parting ways off St Mawes, with Dave continuing northward..

..while I headed in.

The next few days were largely spent sailing between St Mawes and Falmouth, with friends and free anchorage in St Mawes and music sessions in Falmouth. Generally it was easy going one way…

..and harder getting back!

The sun only seemed to come out later on.. (still windy though).

There was also the rather amusing circumstance of being introduced to someone I’d known years previously by a mutual acquaintance- eventually we both worked it out!

A couple of days later a couple of us headed to anchor on the Penryn River and dinghy up for the local ‘River Revels’ festival. I was rather jealous of Nick’s sail getting up there…

Unsurprisingly I don’t have any pictures of the blindfold rowing race I came fourth in, but I should think if you imagine this sculling race with more contestants and more chaos you wouldn’t be far off:

After fish and chips several of us went to a music session in the nearby Famous Barrel, which I’m rather ashamed to say I never discovered when Chris & I were working on the boat in Penryn.

I tacked back to St Mawes again the next day (can’t believe the amount of easterlies in that holiday) to meet up with Si and Cat

and then popped back to Falmouth for some music in the evening.

The next morning with the wind changing round I decided to go to the Helford, but sailed into St Mawes first to see if anyone was about and was joined by another friend for the sail over. Definitely a good photo-taking opportunity..

with thanks to him sailing rings round Maid though the weather was looking rather ominous. Remarkably, we both made it to the Helford before it started chucking it down.

The following day looked the most sensible to head back to Plymouth, though it was rather grey

and strangely I’m not sure I’ve ever been seasick so many times as on that trip, even nearing Mazagon or between Madeira and Tenerife when I was definitely worse off overall.

Rame Head and Penlee Point were both very welcome sights indeed, with Plymouth Breakwater heralding very sheltered water.

In the end it was a lovely sail in to anchor off Millbrook.

For a change the next day I headed up the River Tamar, which I’d never properly explored very far. My first stopping point was very sheltered and isolated, with a steep wooded slope to the south and low-lying meadow land to the north.

The Tamar is still very broad at high water, creating some spectacular reflections.

I continued upstream the next day when the tide had come about half way up, so there was reasonable depth, and also so it had more to rise for when I inevitably did get stuck – actually within about 100 yards. Perhaps I had tried to start too early, but then I was hoping to meet people at Cotehele, where I anchored off the quay just about on time.

We went for a very nice walk round the estate, and then some refreshment in the tea rooms – which also contained this rather useful detailed chart (you can see the amount of mud at low water)!

Later in the afternoon I went further up by dinghy, as far as the railway viaduct at Calstock.

The following morning was atmospheric to say the least..

and just as much so when the sun finally started breaking through..

leaving some rather curious misty effects behind.

 

By the time I got down to the Tamar bridges it was bright sunshine

and shortly afterwards I was able to start sailing

back down the river and out over the ‘Bridge’ (a narrow channel through former anti-submarine defences) to the anchorage in Cawsand Bay.

There was plenty going on ashore

and a chance for a bite to eat before setting off to walk across the peninsula and over to the chapel on Rame Head.

 

I wasn’t concerned about the evening drawing in as I’d done the walk before and the coast path is generally quite hard to get lost on, so very much appreciated the sunset, both from Rame Head itself

and looking back towards it from the east.

Cawsand and Kingsand are two of the most beautiful villages I’ve seen in the dark as well.

The next morning I got up early

to go for a walk in the other direction in the Mount Edgcumbe country park

this time enjoying the dawn light shining through the trees

as well as some beautiful views of the city of Plymouth

lots of deer

and Plymouth Sound.

Then back towards Cawsand and Kingsand

for a quick afternoon swim, and then motoring back out of the bay

and up to a mooring at Torpoint to head home again.

While I didn’t actually sail all that far it had been a fantastic holiday – really nice to have all that time off at once.

In many ways it removed the pressure to do many long trips, and let me focus very much on what would be happening in the next couple of days, especially good with so many people I knew or got to know around, which was one of the main joys of it.

September 2013 part 1

Well, I didn’t quite make catching up before going away.. will do soon though!

Having spent most of 2013 working well away from home and Maid in Grimsby I was glad to have a perfect day for setting out from Torpoint in September, with clear blue sky and a beautiful north-west breeze to sail past Cremyll..

..and pursue a submarine out of Plymouth Sound.

I took good advantage of the wind, and nice flat seas..

and sailed on much the same course the whole way to the Helford River. There’s nothing like a long passage at the start of a holiday to let you take it easy the entire rest of the time! The wind had got up a bit more by the end, making for an exciting sail in..

..but my preferred anchorage in a north-westerly was nice and sheltered as expected.

I did however get a bit of a shock when I launched the dinghy to row ashore and eat in the Ferryboat Inn (well, it was the first day of the holiday..) and discovered a rather large sheet of paint had become detached from the port bow, around the waterline. I definitely needed a pint after that.

The next day I decided the best plan of action was to sail to Falmouth when the wind changed in a day or two, as it was probably the best place to dry the boat out and repair the paintwork in the area. In the meantime there was no danger so I left Maid at anchor in the Helford (this was her good side)..

and walked east along the river..

..before turning north up towards Falmouth and the beach at Maenporth – no beach football going on this late in the year (unlike the last time I was there) which was probably a good thing for my legs!

Then back to the boat to watch the evening’s racing on the river.

The next morning the sky looked rather ominous..

..but the wind was fair for Falmouth so I sailed round and stopped in the main anchorage, and was glad to see a couple of other boats I knew, even if I was a bit embarrassed by the state of Maid’s paintwork. There was another boat dried out on the wall at first, which actually proved extremely useful as it gave me a chance to get some advice check out where best to position the boat etc – I was quite tense about drying out since I hadn’t done it for years, and never on my own (and on that occasion her bow plunged into a bit of a hole giving her a very awkward angle at low water).

We had a great gathering of people from the anchorage and friends ashore or on the other side of the harbour in the Chain Locker, with a superb Irish session to enjoy as well.

When the wall came free I went alongside at high water and tied up, weighting the lines heavily so that they’d keep the boat in position at high water while allowing enough slack to avoid trying to hand the boat off the wall at low water. I also put lots of fenders out against the wall, with a plank to spread the load across them, and lined several water cans up along the side against the wall to make sure Maid leaned that way rather than falling over. At least it kept me busy till the tide was starting to go down. Here you can see it worked rather well..

..and it was then up early the next morning to get on with the work while the tide was low. The dawn was at least quite impressive..

..and even more spectacular the next day.

After spending a couple of days chipping away loose paint, scraping off loose rust, rinsing, degreasing and rinsing again, applying rust converter and repainting I was happy the patching would do for at least the rest of the holiday. The wind was forecast to get very strong so I headed up Carrick Roads to find a sheltered anchorage in the Fal. I actually ended up doubling back, as the place I expected to be good was quite gusty and with only a fairly narrow shelf between the bank and deep water channel, and quite crowded -so I went back downstream to the place that seemed far too open but had actually looked a decent bet as I went past.

It served very well, and was rather idyllic in the evening when the wind died off.

In fact it was a place I’d wanted to anchor at some point for years, with the National Trust property of Trelissick on one shore..

..and the shingle beach at Turnaware Bar on the other side.

Having landed there I walked up the ridge..

and then southwards parallel to Carrick Roads, a route I’d previously enjoyed much of from the opposite direction. There are great view across open fields and Carrick Roads..

..pine trees above the edge of the water..

..and from higher ground some beautiful views of farmland with Falmouth in the background.

The next day was greyer but still enjoyable, this time rambling around the permissive footpaths in the woods on the other bank, past the chain ferry and overlooking an anchorage and quay upstream.

The next day it was back to sunshine again but an easterly wind, and I took the opportunity to sail down the estuary and anchor in another place I’d wanted to stop for years when a suitable moment presented itself. This was just opposite the fine secluded beaches of the Molunans, just north of St Antony’s Head (more widely known perhaps as Fraggle Rock) lighthouse on the eastern side of the entrance to Falmouth Harbour. I’d walked to and swum from the beaches several times before from St Mawes, but never stopped off the beach.

Looking back from the land (of course I went for a walk up to the lighthouse and around the cliffs) you can just about see Maid to the left of centre, looking like she’s surprisingly far offshore, with Great Molunan beach on the right.

 

In the evening I sailed into Falmouth to meet up with people and enjoy some more live music – a nice easy run over..

..with some colourful racing boats to admire..

This time I anchored (where it’s free) off Trefusis Point and rowed across to the town.

When I’d gone ashore the next morning (probably to get sometime from that Cornish institution Trago Mills) I was a bit surprised to see a boat nosing around oddly close to the anchored Maid on the other side of the harbour. Though when I thought about it she looked a bit familiar – and much more so when she dropped anchor off Falmouth. It didn’t take too long for Mike and I to make plans for a drink in the Chain Locker and then for Carolyn to join us.

On the other side of the harbour we were also making plans to join in a local event to mark the autumn equinox being held at Trelissick, so a little fleet set off up Carrick Roads, gathering one or two others along the way. I hadn’t really sailed in company in some time and it was great fun, with the weather just about holding to give us beautiful sunshine..

..though the fog was getting nearer and nearer..

..until it closed in almost immediately after we’d all dropped anchor. It made for a rather atmospheric row ashore..

..to join the crowd on the (by now very narrow!) beach..

..and the gloom made quite a seasonal backdrop to Dave’s excellent burning man, preceded by a couple of readings and accompanied by some traditional music.

Unfortunately the band had to get to a pub session so couldn’t stay, but the party continued for a while with several people having brought instruments ashore.

The next day I went for another walk in the woods above Turnaware Bar..

..before sailing down to St Just, again finding some friends (“we’ll put the kettle on” is always a welcome hail when sailing into an anchorage).

The next day was very peaceful and I re-sealed a few of Maid’s windows before rowing in to admire the church in the evening – it’s always a beautiful spot but especially so after dark on this occasion with the tide high and the lights on.

That said, it did make getting back slightly more interesting when the evening service finished and they switched them all off!