Category: Blog

After sailing along the south coast of England and through the Solent, we finally reached the marina at Birdham Pool where we moored the boat and left her for a weeks holiday on dry land at my sister’s house. Here we were finally reunited with our foldable mountain bikes which had been in England having carrying bags sewed up.
The first day we used the bikes to cycle back to the boat to meet some one bringing us spare parts and advice for the windvane. The route was easy – cycle to the Chichester canal and follow it to the sea. Unfortunately when we reached the canal I started following it the wrong way so we cycled to Chichester before I realised my mistake and we turned round. We were both so happy to be back on bikes that we happily ignored the brambles that reached out along the towpath to cut us. Heidi commented that it was great that we still knew how to get out of our click shoes and that the only thing that really needed more training was our backsides.

The next day we planned a more ambitious ride into the “Sussex Mountains”. This was a route we found on GPSies.com and had obviously been uploaded by a local as it was a non stop collection of hidden byways and overgrown footpaths. Once we got up in to the “mountains” (150m above sea level) and amongst the grazing sheep, Heidi fell over without getting out of the click shoe and, a little later, she got a puncture. No problem. Took a photo, removed inner tube, removed 20mm long thorn and ….
realised we had a pump with us that wouldn’t work. There was nothing for it; we had to continue with Heidi pushing. Later we met a mountainbiker with a pump so pumped up the tyre and …
the valve was broken and wouldn’t hold the air. A quick cycle and then back to pushing.
When we reached the road we mended the puncture and were then saved by a really friendly motor-/mountainbiker who blew it up with a compressed air cartridge.

With a working bike we continued on to Arundel being ripped by brambles and gorse or stung by nettles. The English countryside can be very violent. In Arundel we photographed the castle and rode through town before disappearing back in to the undergrowth for the ride on back to my sister’s.
Only about a kilometer before our destination I picked up the next thorn and ended up pushing.
A brilliant ride on a great route. We love being bikers again. Our route is at https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=iithdmbcgbonqhkd

The whole of England is covered by a high pressure zone which means sun and blue skies – and no wind except a sea breeze in the afternoons and evenings. So in Gorran Haven we slept late and lifted the anchor at eleven in the morning. The wind was very light so until late afternoon we drifted across the bay but at least we were moving nearly two knots in the correct direction. Later the wind picked up so we decided to continue through the night.

As we approached the Eddystone Lighthouse the sea breeze dropped and the wind swung round from the south to north necessitating much sail adjusting and a jibe just to ensure we didn’t hit the lighthouse (on the only rocks for miles in every direction).

Just before sunset I went for a sleep and left Heidi “in command” for the first time with instructions to call me if she needed any help. At midnight I woke up and asked if all was OK. She had needed to reset the genoa and main sail, adjust the wind steering and run up the AIS system to ensure we were going to miss a monster ship. And this from the lady who is still not sure if she is really a sailor. Continue reading “A Hundred Miles”

We crossed the 80 miles from Wales to England with a following wind. The waves and wind were both behind us and we were sometimes surfing down the front of the waves at eight knots. Once we were across the shipping lane and out of sight of land there was just sea, sky and birds to be seen. We occasionally wondered where a passing plane was heading for but otherwise we were the only people on earth.

We reached the cornish port of Padstow at evening low tide so we gingerly navigated across the “Doom Bar” and up river following the buoyed channel and watching the depth gauge. The sea gates to the inner harbour were closed so we anchored in the river and slept. About Midday the next day it was high tide and the harbourmaster instructed us to proceed into the harbour and tie up on the north wall. We were right in the middle of town and surrounded by hundreds of tourists eating pasties and ice cream. I am still amazed that for twenty pounds you can spend the night in the middle of a town across from the most expensive hotel. A night on the town was followed by a morning of oiling teak and scrubbing decks

Despite the almost complete lack of wind, we managed to sail part of the way to St. Ives where we anchored off the beach and enjoyed the ultimate sunset followed by fireworks on shore. During the trip, we also worked out how to set the whisker pole to pole out the Genoa. Here we were helped by great online tuition from Go’n’Sail via Whatsapp. Continue reading “Cornish summer”

After leaving Scotland we crossed to Ireland and then on to the Isle of Man and across to Wales. We have spent the last week tacking against the wind and yesterday we rounded St. David’s Head and finally left the Irish Sea. This segment of the journey we travelled some 360 nautical miles which takes our total to date with Scotland to 1000 nautical miles. Heidi is now a seasoned sailor.

Our route since arriving in Ireland can be viewed at GPSies.

From Holyhead we headed south and anchored off Porth Dinllaen. This is a long beach and a village all owned by the National Trust. When you visit Dinllaen with a car you have to stop at a car park (and pay for it) then walk across a golf course and down to the beach carrying everything you need. In the evening you pack up and do it all in reverse. In a boat, you sail into the bay and then anchor in about four meters of water and enjoy the view. The pub is only a dinghy ride away.

All the weather forecasts agreed that there would be no wind for another 24 hours so we left the boat at anchor and walked up the nearby hill Garn Boduan. It is only 250 meters high but stands alone and we would have had amazing views if there hadn’t have been such a heat haze. As it was we could still see Artemis at anchor some five kilometers away. On the summit there are the remains of an iron age fortified settlement. We used one of the hut remains to shelter from the breeze.

In the night the wind came up as expected which soon built up a decent swell but made for great sailing the next day. We motored out of the bay and then sailed all the way round the peninsula to the buoy off Porthmadog. Downwind we were averaging seven knots and then back up wind still managing five. Great sailing with Chiara the wind monitor doing the work.

It became obvious that we were easily going to reach Portmadog before the high tide so we contacted the harbour master who was kind enough to assign us a mooring and send us the most up to date sketch of the entrance channel including a list of corrections. We felt very adventurous as we navigated from buoy to buoy watching bearings and depths and with as little as 40cm below our keel.