2015 Part I

2015 was another year of launching late, but it got off to a good start when I thought I spotted a familiar looking boat in my planned anchorage within about 5 minutes of launching. Getting closer it turned out there were two – a real pleasure to see both Nick and Steve again especially so soon after going in the water! The time on the hard seemed to have pretty much vanished..

Nick’s Wylo II is in the background here – Steve was anchored just ahead.

I thought about going for a sail the next afternoon and then coming back again, but getting the anchor up proved an unexpected challenge. I was pulling against a strong wind but couldn’t get much more than 5 metres of chain in – and as well as that it looked like the anchor was probably underneath the boat in front. As they’d arrived more recentlythey offered to move, but I decided to go for a walk instead.

It was also partly a bit of reconaissance – Nick highly recommended a trip to the Random Arms in Maker on a Friday evening, but the weather looked like it might not be safe to spend the night in Cawsand, the most convenient anchorage. It would be possible to get there from this side of the peninsula, but a long walk, and finding somewhere to leave the dinghy for that long (i.e. several metres change in height of tide) might require a long row too.

Having found a climbable route up to the path it doesn’t take long to feel you’re well away from the water..

..especially when the tide’s out!

The path stays low for a while and then becomes quite a steep climb up to the top..

…and the church at Maker was very much a welcome sight.

The pub would be a further walk along the ridge, so a sail round to Cawsand and a quick climb up the hill definitely seemed the better option if it was safe for the boats. Time to head back down to report, and for a convivial evening 🙂

Happily the next day the weather forecast looked fine for staying in Cawsand for the night, so off we went. Or rather, Nick did…

……t took me rather longer than planned to follow, as it proved just as hard to get the anchor chain in as the previous day – it was clearly fouled on something. Perhaps an old mooring chain, or who knows what? The muddy waters of the Tamar were definitely inscrutable. I was hoping it was just caught rather than properly wound around something.

The solution was somewhat unexpected. I’d tried and failed pulling it out by tacking in different directions under sail a few times and was debating the next option when I saw a motor boat heading out of Millbrook at high speed and creating quite a wake. Not something I’m usually delighted by but I shot back to the bow and tightened in the chain as hard as I could before tying it off. This transmitted the force of the waves rocking the boat right down the chain, and fortuitously this provided enough of a sharp tug to free the chain.

Just the other 30m to pull in then 🙂 and then a fine sail round to  Cawsand, and here we are..

..and in plenty of time for me to do a refreshing couple of laps swimming round the boat.

The next day was bright again and good for another sail in the Sound.

The next weekend I got an early start early Friday evening with the aim of making it up to the Random Arms again. It was a beautiful sail but with rather light winds I didn’t get to Cawsand quickly enough in the end.

On the Saturday I decided to continue a vague plan I have of eventually walking the whole of the southern Cornish section of the South West Coast path walking from the boat. This is probably worth a post of it’s own at some point, but for now let’s just say that some sections are very easy, but some will be very reliant on settled northerly winds to complete.

The bit I did today took advantage of the relatively short distance by land across the Rame Peninsular from the shelter of Cawsand Bay to the generally more exposed Whitsand Bay. It’s an especially nice walk as you get a wide range of views – first the rolling countryside between Rame and Maker…

and the views north over St John’s Lake towards Devonport and Dartmoor..

..and then the coastal views down to the long curve of Whitsand Bay

and back to Rame Head.

I had lunch in Portwrinkle at the opposite end of Whitsand Bay before turning back eastward, deciding to detour to the chapel on Rame Head (on the right below) before heading back to Cawsand.

The next day featured an even bluer sky, and a splendid sail back up the river to Torpoint.

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September’s sailing started with another evening sail in very light winds, ghosting through the narrow clear channel west of Drake’s Island and into the anchorage at Cawsand – again too late to make it worth climbing up the hill to the pub!

However I was pretty sure I’d spied a familiar boat anchored ahead in the dark 🙂  I was surprised in the morning when there turned out to be two of them – Nick’s Wylo II and another designed by him, the slightly larger Amanita.

That evening when the tide had turned we sailed round to West Mud near the entrance to Millbrook, in a gentle breeze and flat sea. Mike and Janey kindly sent me this splendid picture taken as we were sailing towards Fort Picklecombe.

Despite taking different routes we all ended up sailing up through the Narrows more or less together. Despite the calm conditions the strong current made it quite a tense and exciting sail as the speed of the tide compared to our progress through the water meant every move needed to be planned and started well in advance – and that’s not considering the whirlpools!

Here is Amanita with anchor ready to go – happily we all made it in under sail and enjoyed a splendid supper aboard with Mike and Janey.

And some drinks tasting too, including Nick’s rum brought back from the Caribbean and my honey rum brought from the Canaries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Easter 2012 part 2 – Cawsand, Erme and Yealm

I had a few options in mind sailing eastward, between Polperro a few miles down the coast and the most exposed, and the most shelter in Cawsand Bay back round Rame Head. Though I’d not stopped there before it’s a wide open bay with deep water and no hazards, so I’d had no worries about the fact I was likely to get in in the dark if I carried on that far.

With a bit of a swell running, Polperro looked pretty but not attractive from a mooring point of view  – the harbour is pretty much a crack in the cliffs, with the deep-water moorings likely to be very rolly and uncomfortable indeed.

Checking out Looe would have required tacking northwards and I thought the anchorage there was also likely to be a bit rolly, so decided the best option was to continue onwards

past Rame Head

on a rather glorious evening

and finish a fantastic day by tacking into Cawsand at dusk.

It’s quite special to wake up in a new place and see it for the first time in daylight, especially somewhere like here.

Definitely time for a row ashore

to see a bit more of the village

and then keep walking through Kingsand (not a typo but the neighbouring village) and towards Mount Edgcumbe – first along grassy slopes looking over Cawsand Bay

and then along woodland paths

until I could look out over Maid’s mooring off Torpoint and further up the Tamar

returning via the church (and former signalling station) at Maker

and back over the country park to Cawsand.

The strange-looking on the left is the Breakwater which was commissioned around the start of the Napoleonic Wars to transform Plymouth Sound from a relatively open harbour to a safe anchorage for the Channel Fleet. It might not look all that imposing at high water from up here, but stretching about a mile across the harbour and built in 10 metres or so of water it was a huge engineering feat requiring about 4 million tons of rock.

Back in Cawsand, I rowed out to the boat again

and had some dinner aboard before an evening stroll out the other way onto the Rame Peninsula. This is the view back over Plymouth Sound just leaving the village

and here it is again from further out in the countryside

and now from the far side of Rame Head.

Cawsand and Kingsand are just as lovely in the dark

The next morning dawned fair

and then had second, rather hazy thoughts about it

before providing a nice wind for sailing east and visiting Devon for the first time in some years. I sailed close past the Mew Stone (many Cornish headlands have a rock named after a gull off them, and I nearly always think they look much more like a whale)

but decided to carry on past the Yealm for a lovely sail along the coast

as far as Hope Cove

before sailing back and then motoring in under the cliffs – rather tensely due to the unmarked rocks I was leaving somewhere on the starboard side, almost certainly with a wide berth but with a small element of doubt –

to the anchorage in the mouth of the River Erme.

Unlike many south Devon and Cornwall harbours and river the Erme is very much undeveloped – partly because the shores are largely owned by a private estate which has kept it that way, and that probably partly because upstream of the anchorage shown the river beyond the bar is very shallow indeed.

The SW Coast Path does provide access along the shore, and with the occasional horse and rider galloping across the flats at low tide it does feel like it could be another era entirely.

In the right weather conditions – northerly wind and no swell – it’s a lovely place to stop, in anything else the fine coastal scenery

wouldn’t be a consideration as the anchorage itself is very exposed to anything from the south. It did in fact get a bit rolly in the evening with just a little swell- nuisance enough for me to haul the dinghy up into the cockpit to stop it banging on the hull, but not a problem otherwise.

It was still peaceful the next morning, so I took the opportunity to explore up beyond the bar in the dinghy

before creeping back out under sail

to anchor in the mouth of the Yealm, and walk through the woods alongside the river.

This is a rather more popular spot, with many boats moored in the Yealm and within easy reach of the huge numbers in various places in Plymouth Sound, and doubtless the absence of unmarked hazards as well!

This was the last day of the holiday, but there was time enough for another walk alongside the Yealm

admiring the waterside villages of Newton Ferrers

and the even more wonderfully named Noss Mayo

before sailing back out past the Mew Stone

past the sights of Plymouth

and home again to Torpoint.