Once again we thoroughly enjoyed Camaret despite the
strong cold winds. Here we met Ken, a single hander on his Victoria 30, Bonny
Flighty. When the weather had improved we decided to take advantage of the break
and pass through the Chanel du Four in order to be better positioned tide-wise
to sail north at the first opportunity. We had an exciting sail in company with
Ken, to L’Aber W’rach where we relived the excitement over photo exchanges and
dinner together aboard GF.
L’Aber W’rach is a pretty river inlet with buoys and
a marina which unfortunately Is a little spoiled by the lack of anchorages,
making it necessary to pay large amounts of money to sit on a buoy in the strong
tides and winds. It is a favourite and convenient landing for boats coming south
from the west country and is therefore full of English!
Having resigned ourselves to stay for a few days, an
unexpected weather opportunity arose the following day. This could not be wasted
so early on Thurs am we cast off and headed north for Falmouth.
L'Aber
W'rach
The sail across the channel was lovely once some
choppy swell had died down and apart from a few hours of motoring at the
beginning and end we sailed. As usual, after the Captain had got his head down
and the Mate was left in charge, what was a few minutes before, a quiet sea,
suddenly became inundated with erratically behaving fishing boats and large
ships coming too close for her comfort!
We passed The Lizard at 0130 and rather than trying
to manoeuvre amongst the Falmouth moorings in the dark, dropped the hook in the
little cove at Coverack. Suitably refreshed we then headed to and anchored by
the town quay in Falmouth the following morning.
It was lovely to be back in Falmouth. We noticed
strange things such as being able to understand peoples conversations around us,
which I found surprisingly distracting and being unsure about which way to look
when crossing the roads having eventually got used to continental habits. It was
nice to handle “proper” money again and not having to mentally rehearse
sentences before engaging someone in conversation!
Our time here was very busy, catching up with family
and friends who live here. We also happened upon Mike from Phantom Lady yet
again as he pulled his tender up the beach at Helford Passage. We caught up with
events on our pontoon in Las Palmas - where people were and what they were
doing. We went to church on the Sunday morning where we were invited to the
Yacht Club for drinks by two different people and the evening saw us being
entertained by a great pair of Dutchmen about to set off to N Spain.
Falmouth from Green
Flash
We were trying to coordinate our route home with
friends who were sailing from west from Dartmouth and decided to meet at Fowey,
a very favourite place. We hurried ashore to get a few supplies (mainly pasties)
where we met Derricks old friends, sailing
their Rustler home to Plymouth. They also were just about to head to Fowey. A
friendly challenge was laid down (see you in Fowey, no racing!). It was a super
sail, everything up and surfing down the waves. Unfortunately they beat us by 5
mins (but they did have a head start!!!) We rafted up on the RNSA buoy and a good evening was had, starting
with a cuppa and cake on Tamarisk after which we were joined by another mutual
acquaintance Martin. Sundowners followed, then dinner for 5 was rustled up on GF
followed by a nightcap back on Tamarisk. It was a bit of a late night but lovely
to meet old acquaintances again.
Fowey
Warwick and
Sarah are due to arrive this afternoon, so after a day or so with them, we shall
head home, planning to arrive on Sunday at high tide.
