The last time we spoke, I was in the Azores waiting for the wind gods to give me the winds to get me North to England, luckily I only had to wait a day or two more and I was off on the big windy conveyer belt getting chased by a large stormy Atlantic low pressure system that appeared out of nowhere, as it turned out it was a good thing as there had been a lot of unseasonable low pressure systems moving through in the previous weeks and this had made the seas pretty big, as the system pushed up towards the west of Ireland it gave me plenty of winds on the edge of it to get me through those seas and up into the English Channel. It turned out to be a pretty straightforward, if a little at times uncomfortable passage, and with the exception of  both my auto pilots going "tits up", the wind vane paddle twisted on the shaft whilst surfing(yep surfing) down the face of a wave, the mechanical auto pilot also was unimpressed with the surfing nonsense but I sorted that out with an old alan key and some gaffer tape! There was also one wee tantrum when a wave knocked me over and made me drop the coffee pont just as I was about to pour it, it was all good.
 

Sunrise on the approach to the English Channel.

I had been warned and was expecting a lot of vessel traffic on the approaches to the English Channel but as it turned out, I only seen a few ships which I guess is the result of the war in Ukraine and Covid lockdowns in China, and one of the reasons your paying more for stuff from overseas.


Helford River.

My first landfall was up the Helford river just South of Falmouth, it was late afternoon by the time I got in and I couldn't be arsed trying to find a mooring in Falmouth, so I anchored here for the night, made some dinner, had a dram(for medicinal purposes of course) and had the sleep of champions.


Parked up in the Helford anchorage.

After a wee run I the morning to shake off the sea legs, I headed up to Falmouth, turns out the coming weekend was the classic boat and sea shanty festivals so I got in just in time to get a mooring on the river.


The Falmouth Yacht neighborhood.


Classic Boats.


More Classics.


Dinghy pandemonium parking.

My mate Titch came down with his family and another old friend of mine from Australia, Harriet, came to visit while I was in Falmouth, which gave me lots of excuses for pints and pasty's, which is always a good thing.


I have eaten a lot of these!


Myself and the family Wibrew


Young Olivia-Rose was a far better dinghy driver than me :-)


Me and the other old yin in St Ives.


Captain Harriet.



Scilly Islands.

After doubling my weight on pasty's and cream teas, I headed off for the Scilly isles which I had sailed past on the way up to Falmouth, I anchored first in St Agnes where I went to the Turks head, the most southerly pub in the British isles, then I pottered off across to St Mary's, there are 145 islands in the archipelago but only five are inhabited, you could easy spend weeks exploring here, so, I headed off to Wales.



St Agnes.


Local weather vane.


The Turks head.


St Mary's anchorage was well protected.

Have you been to Pembrokeshire? first time for me and I was well impressed, I went to the anchorage in Dale but it was blowing a hoolie through the anchorage so I pulled anchor and went next door to castle beach bay, it's definitely on the list of places I have to revisit.


Castle Beach Bay in Pembrokshire.


and again, pretty nice eh!

After a few days I sailed the short hop out to Skomer Island which is a Puffin Colony, funny wee things puffins, great to watch.


Skomer Island.


Skomer Puffins having a blether.


Sunrise leaving Skomer.

Early doors start the next day for me and the bird shit covered Confidence to sail on a very flat sea across to Ireland and Dunmore East in County Waterford, bit of a pilgrimage this as it's a place my Dad used to visit when he was a fisherman, in fact, he used to talk about it way more than any other place they used to land so I thought I'd have a wee look around to see if there was anyone that looked like him!


Getting a welcome to country from the Dunmore East Dolphins.


Dunmore East.

Never found any! So I headed up the river to Waterford, another place that's well worth a visit.


Waterford, where the vikings used to live!


Parked up in Waterford.


I'm scared of bears so I went in and the drinks were indeed very tasty.

When I sailed back down the river I was going to go back to Dunmore east but the there was a swell pushing into the anchorage so I cracked on to Great Saltee island to anchor for the night and top up the puffin poo on the boat(lots of them here too) and heaps of seals.


Great Saltee Island.


The sun coming up over little Saltee island.


I pushed North to Dun Laoghaire via a night at anchor in an old quarry south of Arklow, Dun Laoghaire used to be where the ferry's to Dublin used to come in but  it's not anymore so it's a bit of a seaside town now, massive marina and very friendly, my friend Charlotte from when I first moved to Australia lives here so there was lots of Guinness and tatties, and the weather was tremendous, as it has been since I arrived in Ireland.
 


Dun Loaghaire Marina

When I left Dun Loaghaire, I was heading for Strangford lough in Northern Ireland, I ended up in the Isle of Man where I am writing this blog now, by the time I was sailing passed Howth the wind and seas were on the nose which wasn't the forecast so rather than beat into the wind all day which is just a massive pain in the arse, I did a handbrake turn and hung a right over here to Port St Mary's, great sail and a fast passage across as I had timed it right for the tidal currents to give me a wee push, another place I have never been to and another place well worth a visit.


Port St Mary's.


I'm parked right next to the lifeboat, safe as houses! (or boats).

There's not much in the way of wind here for the next few days so I'll stay until some turns up to push me North, looks like I'll get a bit of a breeze on Friday and I'll hopefully day hop home via Anchorages in Belfast lough and Loch Ryan, all subject to change and the will of the gods of the winds and the good old Scottish summer weather, but maybes Girvan by the end of the weekend?! 



Nearly hame!