Well, our stop didn't work out quite how we expected! Along with our friend Tim, the skipper headed off from Plymouth to Roscoff to help friend Tony with a yacht delivery across Biscay (although Tim did nearly miss it as he was operating a day in arrears). Fiona, jumping ship in Roscoff and arriving on the return ferry en route to Portugal, temporarily joined the crew of Astral Loot - do try to keep up - and made a valiant effort helping to test out the local hospitality venues. With the weather in Plymouth glorious, it was a completely different story across the channel and setting off on passage was out of the question. So, having exhausted all the hostelries in Roscoff and its environs, the boys came back on the ferry to Plymouth - Timmy heading home to Bristol, Tony flying off to join Fiona in Portugal (where she had hoped to be met by her yacht and crew!), leaving Astral Loot with its rightful skipper and crew. Got it?
As we'd booked our berth in Plymouth for a month, we hung around for a while and had fun on the beaches and coast path with the shipmutts, teaching them to paddle board and exploring the Tamar valley (the River Tamar being the boundary between Devon and Cornwall). Making use of the local ferries, we even ventured across the county border.
Crew enjoying Plymouth Sound and the Tamar Valley
Keeping up with our social life, we managed to catch up with another of our old shooting friends, a new, slimline version of Steve - yet another Essex emigré. Only a couple of pints in his local but it was great to catch up after a good few years. And by coincidence, we were honoured to be invited to visit Philip and Cathy, who ran the shoot where Steve was gamekeeper, and who we last saw in Salcombe, at their 'new' home in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of major renovations, it was kind of them to show us round, even if they had only expected one of us to turn up when the invitation was first extended! After a tour of the house and a look at their stupendous view across Dartmoor, we ended up in the pub. Who would have guessed?
After a while in the luxury of a marina berth we were keen to get on and, although we had paid up until the end of the month, we decided that making progress towards the Scillies was more important. And so, after taking a huge delivery from Morrisons, we set off at 11 this morning to head into Cornwall proper.
With only a hint of wind, on the nose, we motored out - noting that the QHM signage was in need of an update - past Plymouth Hoe and Drake Island and into Plymouth Sound. As we got nearer to the open sea the wind began to increase and turning to approach Rame Head we hoisted the sails. No sooner had we done so, the wind dropped away and our estimated remaining journey time increased from 2.5 hours to 5.5 hours. So, engine back on but we were able to sail again for a short while further along the coast.
Drake Island, overlooked by Plymouth Hoe
Passing Portwrinkle, Looe and Polperro it was surprisingly chilly even only half a mile out. After days of it being too hot to want to move, the junior crew took advantage of the cooler weather and decided to play for pretty much the whole passage. It was while distracted by their antics that we came perilously close to a lobster pot marker. Despite the ridicule for being unseamanlike, it appears a call of 'Oh, quick, buoy!' is sufficient to alert the skipper to the impending danger, which was deftly avoided. Having safely negotiated an underwater unexploded ordnance dump just outside Plymouth, it would have been embarrassing to fall victim to a marine crustacean!
The remainder of our trip was thankfully uneventful and we turned into the River Fowey at Polruan, picking up a berth on one of the visitors' pontoons just in time for the rain and to watch the departing 'National Geographic Explorer', an expedition ship formerly of the Hurtigruten fleet. We took comfort in the fact that they probably paid an awful lot more for their berth than we're about to!
Plymouth Yacht Haven - Fowey
4h15m 23.2NM
Polruan on the River Fowey