East (coast) to West (country)

In Summary

skippyroo — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:57:00 +0200

We’d completed over 1300 nm.

The wind was on the nose around 75% of the time we were on the way.

We were weather bound at least 60% of the time.

Highlights / memorable moments in no particular order:

Isles of Scilly – each island, arriving in pitch black night, leaving in fog, and being swamped in the dinghy (St Agnes).

The dolphins on the way to Milford Haven.

Skomer Island.

Making it around Landsend.

Needles, Isle of Wight – magical.

Being weather bound in Neyland, Brighton & Mylor – not much to do.

Tescos in Plymouth – stressful

Picking up the bouys in the Scilly’s – very difficult.

The beautiful clear sky when we stayed on the river Fal.

Sailing at 0.5 knots off Anvil point – probably backwards as the tide was against us.

SAILING!!!

The final stretch

skippyroo — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:47:00 +0200

Spend yesterday roaming around Dover – a very interesting town – the museum is well worth a visit as is the Roman Painted House.

Left Dover before 7:00am – a lovely morning, a good wind so sailed as soon as we could. Had a brilliant run wind and tide in our favour – typical on our last day, anyway.

Passed the sands at low tide so saw the crouch seals – magic.

Our journey was completed at 17:30 – a bit sad but we did it.

Another interesting journey

skippyroo — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:37:00 +0200

Left Eastbourne really early trying to make it to Ramsgate. Wind and tide against us so motored the whole way.

HM Customs Valiant spotted us near Dungeoness. They didn’t want to come on board but asked lots of questions.

Wind picked up significantly around Dover and the seas turned rough. Whilst passing through the shipping lane the boat nose dived into a very steep wave and the water came through the gap between the spray hood and wind screen and through the holes through which the ropes come through. Got soaked and so did the blackberry again.

Decided not to continue through to Ramsgate so turned around and went into Dover.

Leaving Brighton

skippyroo — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:27:00 +0200

It was great to get to Brighton when we did – got to spend a bit of time with Scot and his family. Wont be back for quite a while so in some ways it was farewell.

Left Brighton midday and headed for Eastbourne – sailed just about the whole way which was great.

Had some problems in the lock and as what has happened to us in previous times the wind picked up just as we were coming along the pontoon, so blown off again.

Brighton

skippyroo — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:17:00 +0200

Got a bit of sailing in on the way to Brighton, but just after Selsy Bill the wind dropped off, so again had to motor. Tried to sail again but only managed 1.5 knots – so the sails were down again after 15 minutes. We’re not in a hurray but at that speed we’d get to Brighton after midnight.

Emsworth

skippyroo — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:13:00 +0200

Visited Emsworth, another lovely town and then anchored outside of Itchenor.

Chichester Harbour

skippyroo — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:09:00 +0200

Left Bembridge at near high water (photos show difference to low water – see yesterdays entry) and sailed near abouts all the way to Chichester Harbour.

Stayed overnight in Sparks Marina – not much there but a very impressive Sailing Club. Had a seafood platter for two in the resturant – brought most of it home as it was huge.

Exploring more of the Isle of Wight

skippyroo — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:04:00 +0200

Tried to explore Wootton Creek but there wasn’t enough water even at high tide to accommodate us – so decided to leisurely sail to our next destination, Bembridge. It was good practice for us – tacking and avoiding huge ships, racing yachts and motor cruisers.

Photos show Bembridge at low tide – we were rafted off another boat so we could be in deeper water. We calculated we probably had 5cm under the keel at low water.

Up the river

skippyroo — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:48:00 +0200

Took the dinghy as far as we could up the river. Hit the mud about a half mile from the town. Stopped off at Butlers Hard for a pint.

Beaulieu

skippyroo — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:44:00 +0200

We’ve always wanted to see Beaulieu from the water. A lovely river with great wild life.

Smooth seas

skippyroo — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:37:00 +0200

When we were approaching the Solent, the seas were so smooth, definitely different from when we went through last time. Stopped off in Yarmouth for the night – a lovely town.

Wanted to explore a couple of the creeks on the Isle – pottered around Newtown which was just so pretty. The sticks sticking out in the water are the remains of the sea wall dating back centuries.

Note in the photo’s – the german shepherd has a bouyancy aid on.

on the way to the Isle of Wight

skippyroo — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:32:00 +0200

The wind died down justs after St Albans Head so had to motor. Put the sails back up around Anvil Point hoping to get another sail in. Looked good – but we were only doing around 0.5 knots and in which direction we don’t know.

Jurassic Coast

skippyroo — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:58:00 +0200

Left Weymouth quite early – well at the same time as all the fishing charters which was amusing. The seas were smooth but we got some sailing in, which was great. Gen stuck close to the coast which was just brilliant.

Back to Weymouth

skippyroo — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 12:48:00 +0200

Left marina around 8:30am. There was dense fog around the river Exe, very little wind, so had to motor. But, the visibility was great so passed some fantastic coastline. Headed for Lullworth Cove hoping to drop the anchor – very pretty but was very crowded – we were the largest boat in there. All the skippers kept a close eye as to what we were doing and were hoping we wouldn’t anchor to close to them. In the end decided it was too cramped and potentially dangerous so headed back to Weymouth. Rafted up against Roger (SA) who had some interesting stories to tell.

And time to move on....

skippyroo — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:37:00 +0200

All of us on the visitors pontoon are eager to move on and now is the time…..

we passed the Bar just after midday and then the sails were up. Fabulous – we just about sailed all the way to Torquay.

Still in Solcolme

skippyroo — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:24:00 +0200

Weather bound on the pontoon. Gen marked out the anchor chain and I tried to fish. No luck, but the chap on the end of the visitors pontoon fishing caught a 4lb mullet – which wasn’t good enough for him (he was after a 7lber) and was going to throw it back – which he gave to us – within 30 minutes of being caught it was in the oven. Brilliant – a wonderful reward (?) for being pontoon bound.

Weather bound, again

skippyroo — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:39:00 +0200

Stuck in Salcolme. Gale force winds upon us.

Took the dingy in bumpy waters to the centre of town – and visited Kingsbridge.

Salcolme from the other side

skippyroo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:33:00 +0200

Decided to stay on another day and walked around the south headland – magic.

Communications are a bit problematic. I don’t have any access via my blackberry and Gen’s mobile is still playing up – so difficult to work out what the weather is going to do.

Looked at the weather forecast at the habour master and guess what?

Sunny Salcolme

skippyroo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:26:00 +0200

Arrived in good time. Attached ourselves to the visitors pontoon and took the dinghy into the town. Weather magnificent and the views from the yacht club spectacular.

HUrrah! We're on our way again...

skippyroo — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:43:00 +0200

The weather is finally letting up and we can head off. Know Plymouth especially around the Barbican very well now and have established ourselves as locals in the Queens Arms.

Anyway, we managed to sail under genoa only most of the way – magic. The coast line to Salcolme is magnificent and the entrance is even better.

Weather bound

skippyroo — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:33:00 +0200

Bad weather approaching, so staying in Plymouth a few more days. Gen’s undertaking a number of maintenance jobs – replacement battery, fitting an anternator monitor, whatever, and probably tomorrow installing an antenna spliter.

We went into the town centre to get some provisions. It’s been ages since we’ve been in such crowds. Going into Tesco Metro was the most stressful experience in ages. Thank goodness I wont have to catch the tube to work when I get back.

Last night found a great little pub – the Minerva Inn, the oldest standing pub in Plymouth. Tonight they have a jamming session which we’re going to attend.

Very uncomfortable

skippyroo — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:35:00 +0200

The weather definitely deteriorated. Decided to go to Sutton Marina especially as we’re a little worried about the batteries and there’s not really that much to do at this anchorage.

more photo's

skippyroo — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:31:00 +0200

more photo’s

A break in the weather

skippyroo — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:23:00 +0200

Time to move on. Left Falmouth in sunshine – amazingly. Managed to get a decent sail in. The slowest we went was 2.5 knots and occassionally peaking at 3.5 knots. Even managed a dead run in the very little wind that we had.

The wind picked up big time when we were getting close to Plymouth so at times we even reached 8 knots (SOG) – flying.

There were so many yachts making there way to Plymouth – a very busy Sunday afternoon.

Decided to anchor near Antony village. The weather picked up big time overnight.

Falmouth

skippyroo — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:18:00 +0200

Picked up one of the last visitor moorings outside the yacht club. Stayed on board the first night (i,e not going ashore) as very shattered from the journey from the Scilly’s. So much traffic, we were rocking and rolling from all the wash.

Next day explore the town and also Flushing – very nice little village.

cornish coast line

skippyroo — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:13:00 +0200

There is something magical about the cornish coastline. Luckily managed to have reasonable visability past Lands End on the way to Falmouth.

A High approaching - let's get going

skippyroo — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:06:00 +0200

Left St Martins in dense fog. Thank goodness for radar and AIS. I spent the first few hours on deck keeping a look out, whilst Gen watched the radar etc especially as we were approach the Traffic Separation Scheme.

The fog got really bad when we were in the middle of the scheme and luckily lifted sufficiently when we were entering the north channel. And guess what there this great big container ship with passed within 1.5 miles of us.

So this trip to some extent was the official turning east.

Photo’s are mostly of St Martins. Note the giant mushrooms by the sheep.

Another island

skippyroo — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:00:00 +0200

Decided to leave Tresco and explore St Martins. Picked up a swinging mooring. Gen did really well again navigating through the rocks.

Walked around St Martins – very different again to the other islands.

How hard is it to get to St Mary's

skippyroo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:28:00 +0200

Decided today that we would go and explore St Mary’s. Dropped off the laundry and headed for the pier. Missed one ferry and next one wasn’t for another 2 1/2 hours. Finally a boat (not a ferry) took us to St Mary’s but the last ferry back that we could catch was at 15:30 – so we only had 2 1/2 hours to explore – so we didn’t really see much, oh well.

Tresco has changed so much from what it was like 2 years ago – there’s a whole bunch of time share cottages, the little shop now sells all this gourmet foods (at extorshonate prices) and a round of drinks (whilst completing this blog) is just south of 10 quid. Needless to say, looking forward to the mainland for updating the blog.

Fascinating island - Tresco

skippyroo — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:24:00 +0200

Walked around Tresco – fabulous – every side is completely different with vegetation changing from tropical (in the south) to barren in the north (atlantic winds). The coastline rugged. Saw a few seals.

Tresco again

skippyroo — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:19:00 +0200

Left Gugh for Tresco. Gen did a fantastic job navigating through the bars – we went just before high water just in case we got stranded. Another nightmare picking up the bouy but got there in the end.

More Gugh

skippyroo — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:34:00 +0200

Gugh

skippyroo — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:30:00 +0200

Walked around Gugh – another very interesting island – very different to St Agnes

St Agnes cont.

skippyroo — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:16:00 +0200

After walking around St Agnes stopped off at the Turks Head for a couple of jars. Went back to the dinghy and experienced something which hopefully we won’t again in any hurry. The weather / wind and swell had picked up significantly. When trying to get back to the boat, waves were breaking into the dinghy. Lesson #347, ensure mobiles / blackberries etc are in waterproof containers – we’ve lost both hence if anyone has been trying to contact us recently and haven’t been able to that is the reason why.

Also the other interesting event that occurred whilst we were ashore, the French boat anchored near us has laid their chain across ours, so when they decided to leave the cove, they boarded our boat and removed our anchor snubber. The gentleman in the other boat next to ours saw this and decided to place a safety line attaching us to him, just in case the French had disturbed our chain etc. Luckily we were well dug in but still nevertheless Gen spent most of the night checking we hadn’t drifted.

St Agnes

skippyroo — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:10:00 +0200

Decided to take the anchorage between St Agnes and Gugh. Very nice. Walked around St Agnes – a very interesting island.

St Mary's

skippyroo — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:04:00 +0200

Wind shifting again so looking for somewhere a little more sheltered. Before moving on rounded St Mary’s. Very beautiful.

Shifting winds

skippyroo — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:54:00 +0200

Decided to leave Tresco and head for St Mary’s as the wind was shifting and we would have a fairly uncomfortable stay.

Photo’s show changing weather and limited visability.

The story behind the spray hood – when we were coming into Penzance there was a pretty huge down pour of rain and our spray hood was leaking like a sieve (even after spraying water proofing stuff on it). Basically I used a whole can of water proofing stuff again and this is the end result – the light blue is water proofed and the the dark blue, not – and leaking like a sieve.

leaving Padstow

skippyroo — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:10:00 +0200

Finally there’s an opportunity to move on. Left Padstow at 07:30 – heading for the Isles of Scilly. Pretty bumpy ride – I was sick in the morning and Gen in the afternoon. The seas were moderate but we had the tide / swell pushing us so lot’s of figures of 8.

This was our longest leg – arrived in Tresco after 22:30. Difficulty picking up the bouy – pick up lines not visable and very short especially for a boat with the height of the deck.

Not quite a night passage but pretty scary coming in when you don’t know the height of the rocks or how far away – no moonlight to help us. Gen was guiding us in from below deck and all I could see is silloettes of very large rocks. Anyway arrived safely.

Shall we or shan't we?

skippyroo — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:00:00 +0200

Got up early ready to head off to the Scilly’s. Bad weather predicted and we’re both pretty shattered from yesterday’s journey so decided that we’ll stay in Padstow a few more days until another window of opportunity presents itsefl.

So based on last weeks experiences (everybody peering into the hatch etc we put up the awning (sewed together by me prior the trip – that nearly cost us our marriage – even though it looks straight forward to make – which it is – it’s the sheer size of it that caused so much pain (sewing it on a coffee table didn’t help). Funnily enough today there were not as many tourists / visitors but at least we have a bit of privacy.

another window of opportunity

skippyroo — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:45:00 +0200

After consulting the various websites / sources and talking to Bob, we decided to make our way to Padstow (and Bob and Lisa to the Scilly’s). We left at 6:00am (Bob and Lisa followed). A little bit tumbly at first but otherwise a pretty decent run. Put the sails up but as usual the wind died down and we had a deadline (Lock opening times) to meet so in they came again.

Saw three sets of dolphins as we left Milford Haven. It was disappointing not to see more but…. just as we were approaching Camel Bay / River saw quite a number of basking sharks. They came so close to the boat incredible. The photo’s probably do not do justice of just how large these sharks are.

wildlife and Padstow

skippyroo — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:55:00 +0200

Some photo’s of the basking sharks and Padstow on the River Camel.

Still in Neyland....

skippyroo — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:42:00 +0200

Well the weather is not improving – watching it constantly. It looks like we may have the opportunity to turn back (left) on Thursday.

Bob and Lisa who left the Hamble in May and are spending 5 months travelling around the UK and taking in France (to escape the weather) told us of a great weather website: www.xcweather.co.uk So we consult that as well as all the other sources.

Weather!!!!!

skippyroo — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:14:00 +0200

I think the powers at be took us literally regarding six weeks right and then turn around and take six weeks back. The weather is not in our favour. We were hoping to get further north but! So current plans are to stick out this current weather situation and go further south than originally in the plans.

So, tick we reached our destination, Pembrokeshire. Now, if the weather persists we can explore other destinations.

Today we went into Tenby. Nice town. Possible hiding places should we decide to leave the marina.

Wildlife and Milford Haven

skippyroo — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:58:00 +0200

more photos

wildlife

skippyroo — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:51:00 +0200

After a pretty uncomfortable night on the pontoon – strong winds and swell – lots of rocking and rolling and noise from the fenders and ropes – decided with the pending bad weather to move to a marina.

But in between time took a short trek to Skokholm and Skomer Islands to look at the wild life. Saw lots of gulls, one puffin and one seal.

Then took a mooring in Newland Yacht Haven.

and more dolphins and a bit of coastline

skippyroo — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:44:00 +0200

more photos

more dolphins

skippyroo — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:41:00 +0200

more images

Dolphins

skippyroo — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:36:00 +0200

more photos

Time to move on

skippyroo — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:24:00 +0200

After watching the weather a break in the clouds / wind / seas presented itself. Left Padstow for another long passage – this time to Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire – our planned destination before turning around.

Today presented two major highlights – reaching our end point (potentially – we may still go further north) and wildlife. We had around 7 different sightings of dolphins. Never thought we’d see them come so close to the boat. Many were playing with the bow wave and swiming under the boat and jumping up in front of the bow. Truly a magnificent sight. Hopefully the photo’s share our experience.

We had a lovely run – smooth seas and no wind – so unfortunately no sailing. But we needed to make the run north before bad weather was settling in. For a long time we felt like the only two people in the world – all we could see around us was water and sky.

Picked up a visitors pontoon just off Dale Point in Milford Haven. Journey took just short of 12 hours.

So far...

skippyroo — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:01:00 +0200

So far we’ve been on the way approx 90 hours and covered over 630 nautical miles.

Padstow (or is it Steinstow?)

skippyroo — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:50:00 +0200

Fabulous place – tiny but lovely.

Rafted up against this boat owned by this lady we kind of know from Brighton.

Being in the inner harbour is like being a tourist attraction. Everybody looks into the boats etc.

Photo’s show High and Low water and the morning before the cafes etc open and mid afternoon.

longest stretch so far

skippyroo — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:40:00 +0200

Today was out longest stretch – we’re heading for Padstow. Took us roughly 12 hours. Rounded Lands End – very confused waters – quite a bitl of tumbling about.

Fantastic scenery on the way. Saw a dolphin jump out the water a couple of times and some basking sharks. Watched the low (weather) approach and pass us.

Window of opportunity

skippyroo — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:33:00 +0200

The anchorage was just so pleasant. A very quiet night. But it’s time to move on. Left around 10:00. Rounded Lizard point – entered some tumbly seas for a while but after that it wasn’t so bad.

There was a very heavy downpour of rain as we were approaching Penzance. Who would have thought we’d have to have the full oily kit on in summer.

Entered the wet dock around 17:30 and rafted up against 4 other boats.

Sod the weather (excuse my language)...

skippyroo — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:37:00 +0200

We could be waiting forever for the perfect winds etc. So many people on the pontoon want to get the Helford but have failed in the last couple of days. We’re going to go for it.

The trip was pleasant enough. Really don’t know what the fuss was about (other than the wind gusts had died down completely from the previous days).

Took up a swinging mooring. Waited for a visitors mooring to come free. Moved on to it no worries. Had a lovely relaxing lunch and watched the boats swing about – and dangerously close. Decided to try and shorted the length of chain connecting us to the bouy. Took over an hour with the wind and the tide not helping. We hit the boats on the other mooring a couple of times. Fenders weren’t going to help. In the end left that mooring and took anchorage in one of the most pleasant of coves near the entrance to the River Helford.

Helford River - an experience

skippyroo — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:11:00 +0200

moved on – decided not to play it safe. Left the visitors pontoon and went for the Helford River. Took up the swinging visitors mooring. Major problems with the erartic tides. Due to the tides and winds we were blown on to other boats. We hit one of the boats a couple of times – no major damage. So instead of enduring major damage decided to go for an anchorage. Best decision. We were in one of the best anchoragesl

more photos

skippyroo — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:05:00 +0200

more photos

Stuck on the River Fal

skippyroo — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:28:00 +0200

The weather is definitely not being too kind to us – I guess it’s what they call the Engilish summer.

Stayed three nights in Mylor – at least got the laundery done, the water tanks filled and the batteries topped.

Went into Falmouth – went around the Maritime museum – interesting. Bought some fantastic sirloin steaks. Wandered into Mylor Bridge – had a pint in the Lemon Arms – nice landlord. Then wandered off to Pandora Inn.

Decided not to spend all our time in the marina so wandered up the river. Steyed overnight on a swinging mooring outside the Smugglers cottage.

Next day poodled further up the river and stayed on a visitors pontoon. Took the dinghy into Truro – an interesting experience. Got to remember wind over tide in rivers will still see you get wet.

Trying to beat the bad weather

skippyroo — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:00:00 +0200

Left Fowey midday. Put the sails up but they came down fairly quickly as the wind died away. Oh well.

Watched the bad weather approaching and just as we entered the River Fal the heaven’s opened. Our spray hood is good for spray but unfortunately leaks like crazy in the rain. Will be seeking an inexpensive solution to fix that.

Staying in Mylor marina – hopefully not for too long, but the weather is the master and we may be here a couple of days.