8 to 17 September. For the 55mile journey from the Scilly Isles to Helford River we needed an early start to get favourable tide. We left the anchorage off Tresco at 5am - very dark and foggy, add in all the isolated rocks around the islands and the prevalence of lobster pots; this was not a relaxing start to the day. I was on the bow of the boat with a torch watching our for the floating buoys marking the lobster pots whilst Jay steered, keeping a close eye on the chart plotter to make sure we didn't stray towards the rocks. All went well and after an hour or so we were clear of the islands and it was getting light so we could finally have a cup of tea!
The fog never really lifted until we rounded the Lizard and then a nice breeze kicked in, so we had a pleasant couple of hours of sailing up to Helford River, just south of Falmouth. The area is all an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the river valley (technically a ria - a flooded river valley) has seven creeks running into the main channel, the most famous one being Frenchman's Creek - one of those names I've heard of but didn't know why! (I'm sure you all knew, but just incase - a Daphne DuMaurier novel of the same name). A walk ashore took us to the afore mentioned creek, via wooded valleys, but the tide was out, so it looked v muddy, but apparently much nicer when the tide is in. Raining the next more so we wimped out of exploring the river further by kayak and made the short journey to the coffee shops of Falmouth instead.
We visited Helen and Colin who were on holiday in St Just in Roseland. We visited the beautiful church there, nestled by a creek with some amazingly headstones and interesting plants. Nigel and Suzie arrived on the saturday, who would stay with us all the way back to Lymington.



Tempting as it was to stay and explore the River Fal, we started the journey east and went to Fowey (pronounced Foy). Similar to Falmouth in the that it has a deep river going several miles inland, with several creeks joining the river. Though as we discovered in the kayaks - these creeks get very shallow and muddy at low water. The main part of the village of Fowey is one street with buildings on the road edge, just wide enough for one car, so its definitely pull your toes in when a car comes along. It's quite a popular tourist destination so it was busy during the day and two small cruise liners came in whilst we were there.

From Fowey we sailed or rather motored (again) across to Salcombe, another tourist town, popular with those that can afford to spend £1m on a second home and then knock it down and build another one. And there are some gorgeous looking houses (and some awful looking glass boxes) but it is a stunning location with a pretty town, beaches and its the home of Salcombe Gin. From Salcombe we went around the coast up to Dartmouth and up the river to village of Dittisham, and moored next to Agatha Christie's home. We rather wished we had allowed more time to stay in the river Dart, as such a pretty river with wonderful countryside all around - we'll just have to come back next year!
Next day we crossed the 60miles of Lyme Bay, taking us from Dartmouth to Weymouth. Hot and sunny to start and flat calm, great for spotting dolphins, not good for sailing.



We made it to Weymouth for 5pm, to be met by Andy on the dockside, who had come to join us for the very last leg, back to Lymington. Despite finishing off the whisky stores on board it was lovely to have Andy onboard and he managed to be there for one of the best sails all summer. We sailed all the way to Lymington on the same tack, averaging 7kts boat speed in hot, sunny weather - 'champagne sailing'. It was good to see the Isle of Wight coming into view and then back into the familiar waters of the Solent - it hadn't changed much in the 3 summers we've been away. But it did all seem very busy compared to Scotland!