The next morning, we jumped in the dinghy and went to explore Salcombe. It was time to find some medicine for these colds (Christine had it now!), a Cornish pasty (or two), and top-up on a few supplies. There were three of us rafted to the visitor buoy, the middle boat decided to leave in the morning, so ourselves and the neighbour helped with the lines and fenders and got them on their way. 

That just left two on this mooring, and we got chatting with our boat neighbour about their adventures. It turned out that they’d sailed across the Atlantic three times in just a regular production boat. They left the boat in the Caribbean and were using a friend’s boat for a couple of days and in return, they were doing boat jobs. Later that afternoon the weather was just getting warmer and warmer, there was still no wind, so we decided to spend an extra night in Salcombe. As the tide started to run out of the river, small beaches were exposed on the opposite shore, golden sands, and clear water. Catherine and I went for a swim and Christine and Nel had a paddle in the water.  That evening we had fish and chips on the front and then went back for ice cream.

Heading to Hope Cove

The next morning it was time to move on, we said goodbye to our neighbours, and we made our way out of the river and round the corner towards Hope Cove for a spot of lunch. Before we left, we had managed to secure a berth in Plymouth for up to a week. We had been closely watching the weather and the opportunity to round Land’s End and head for Milford Haven, and then on up the coast was looking less likely for the remainder of that week. There was a bit of a low brewing in the Irish Sea, which meant that we would be spending several days in Milford Haven, while that was not a problem, securing a longer-term berth there was and we needed to go back to work. It was clear that we’d run out of time, at the moment we are quite limited on where we can take our holidays and we just have to do what we can. When we got a bit more detail on the weather, we decided to speak to Halcyon Yachts who were able to move the boat on our behalf. They would send a crew down to Plymouth, and they would take the boat around Land’s End and up the Irish Sea. Now that this was decided, we clicked back into holiday mode. With light winds again, we arrived a couple of hours later in Hope Cove. Christine decided that the best way to cure a cold was to go for a cold swim – she had picked a nice spot. Catherine and I jumped in the dinghy, and headed over to the rocks to have a look at what we could see. The sea here is full of life. 

Later that afternoon, we motored our way from Hope Cove around to Plymouth, accompanied by a couple of dolphins. Plymouth Sound is quite a wide bay and there are two different ways to go around the breakwater. This time we chose to enter by the east entrance, it’s free from dangers and it’s well marked. As we got closer, we could see Queen Anne’s Battery, which was going to be our home for the next couple of days. 

Exploring Plymouth

The next day we explored part of the town, the front has a swimming pool in the rocks, it was another very hot day, and after a couple of hours or so, Nel had had enough. That evening we had a nice meal at Rock Fish. We wanted to make one last trip before we started getting the boat ready for the crew, and that was to get ourselves into Cornwall. Plymouth Sound is split in half, one side being Devon, and the other Cornwall. For this 3 1/2 mile trip we managed to sail 3 miles of it, that was an achievement for this holiday! 

We spent the afternoon at Cawsands before we made the trip back to QAB. The following day we were going to get a car and have a little run out down the coast into Cornwall. We stopped at Looe and had pasties on the seafront. On the way back we picked up a few supplies for the crew and started to get the boat ready for its journey. She was now full of fresh water and diesel and the crew had got some supplies too. On Saturday morning we started the mammoth trek back home, which first of all involved a three and a half hour drive from Plymouth to Southampton to collect our car.

We’re not having a great deal of luck this year, and when we got back to the Marina we noticed that somebody had managed to run in our car causing damage to the bumper. Add that to the list! We then returned the hire car and drove another 4 hours home, it was safe to say that we did nothing on Sunday. 

The Crew Arrive

The skipper and crew arrived at the boat late Sunday afternoon, they checked things over and gave me a call to say that they were going to be departing Plymouth around 21:00. The plan was to head towards Newlyn, where they would wait for a weather window before rounding Land’s End and heading north. We followed most of their journey on Marine Tracker using AIS. Monday evening came, and the planned weather window had come slightly forwards, so they decided to leave and start heading north. By Tuesday morning, they were making their way towards South Wales, and they continued their journey past St. Davids, across Cardigan Bay towards Bardsey. At 2:00 AM on Thursday morning, they pulled into Bull Bay on Anglesey, where they waited for the tide so they could get across Conwy sands and into Deganwy Marina. They arrived safe and sound just after lunch on Thursday. They said the journey around the Lizard was rough, and it was a sustained F6 (gusting F7) in the Irish Sea. 

The story however doesn’t end there, because 2024 is the year that keeps on giving, on the last stretch of the journey our main sail decided it had had enough. A couple of tears appeared while they were reefing, and it’s looking like it needs to be replaced.

It was good to get to the Devon/Cornwall border, we want to sail further and to new places, but I think things were a little against us from the start. We were disappointed not to make this trip completely under our own steam. The boat that left us at Salcombe, had come in the opposite direction from Milford Haven, they said it had taken 2 ½ weeks due to the unpredictability of the weather. Let’s see what happens in Wales and what the rest of the season has in store… now to find a sail maker….