Travels and boat care
Next stop on our eastwards voyage is Lymington. We have not been here before either; just to catch the car ferry to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.
The channel into Lymington is well marked, and we stop in the first marina: Lymington Yacht Haven. This is a small distance out of town, but it has good facilities including an on-site chandlery that also sells beer, bread and milk.
After some wet and windy days in Portland, sailing weather has been restored, and we are off on an exploration eastwards to the Solent. First stop is Poole – we have not been here by boat before.
We had to skirt the army firing range (just east of Lulworth Cove) with a small diversion south to 50 degrees 34 minutes. They were using the smaller northern part of the D026 range (see your chart).
Jo is a big fan of Old Harry’s Rocks off Studland. She spent childhood holidays in Swanage nearby.
The narrow entrance to Poole harbour has a strong current at peak tide flow and comes complete with a chain ferry to dodge! However it is by no means as fierce as it sounds; and the channel is excellently marked.
Molia tied up in Poole Quay Boat Haven which is located right on the town quay in Poole.
The Custom House restaurant (slightly west of the marina) is highly recommended.
Good tide at Portland Bill not until around 2100 – so we are not in a hurry to start (0930). However a very good sailing wind delivers us to within 5 miles of the Bill at around 1800. The boat speed is very fast, and the up-tide race has dissipated, so we take a route between the shore and the Shambles bank. Its a bit rough for about 500m but after that we reach the breakwater at 2000 and are moored up by 2030. Despite the tide against that is an average speed of 5.48 knots (57.4 NM in 11 hours).
We saw dolphins on the way.
We are waiting here for the poor weather to clear.
Niv and Steve have gone home as we will not be sailing again until next week.
A day in Dartmouth – we walked to the Agatha Christie house in Greenway, opposite Dittisham.
We are waiting for our next crew here.
Shopping and boat cleaning, then Niv and Steve arrive. We went to the Wildwood restaurant in Royal William Yard, opposite the marina.
A great sail into Mylor. Unfortunately, the engine suffered a broken exhaust elbow just yards from the pontoon. We managed to tie the boat up – but it will be a job for the engineer tomorrow.
Staying in Mylor to get the engine fixed.
We are very grateful to Nick Smith, independent marine engineer in Falmouth, for working so hard to get us on our way again. Also to Mitch at Advance Marine back in Portishead for his remote consultations, and to Gerry at Falmouth Yacht Brokers for stocking the parts we needed.
Absolutely top work! – we will be able to leave for Plymouth tomorrow.
The wind is too strong today – walk to Mousehole.
With Tim on board we left Swansea as early as possible, in the first Tawe lock. It is about one hour before low water – but it is neaps. The lock keeper assures us we will be OK as long as we follow the channel (see previous post). We got a good hint from a local as well: the image on Google Maps is quite recent, and conveniently was taken at low water – so have that open as well to guide you in the channel.
This was a ‘no anchoring’ way of getting into Padstow – and anyway the wind was in the NW so Stepper Point is not suitable. So we motored around in Padstow Bay for an hour until the tide started to fill; then went up the river as it was getting dark. We tied up next to a ferry to wait for the harbour gate to open.
Moored in Padstow harbour 00:41
A day in Padstow – we set off very early on the tide tomorrow.
The channel into the Tawe lock at Swansea shows in this picture of the outer harbour:
In preparation for leaving, we had a look at the outer harbour at low water. We could see that from the lock you go to the orange buoy (leave it to port), then following the guidance we got coming in from the lock keeper: make for the red brick building – keeping a straight line from the orange buoy. When you get to the old ro-ro quay, make for the (slightly port-side of the) centre of the outer harbour.
Walk to Mumbles Head.
We went to the waterfront museum. This has very good history displays of Welsh industry.
In the flamboyantly decorated Gigi Gao’s Favourite Authentic Chinese restaurant on the quayside of the Tawe Basin. Watch out the dishes are huge – share each between two!
Visited the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery situated opposite the Swansea College of Art. One artist shares my idea of old circuit boards as art!
I recommend this gallery.
Eating the last Welsh cakes – Tim arrives tonight, and we are leaving Wales tomorrow for Cornwall.
We are going a day earlier than planned (Tuesday) because the weather is not good for Wednesday.
Also an early start.
Arrived in Penarth in time for brunch! This is the excellent ‘The Galley‘ café.
So we are in Penarth for a few days. Planning to go to Swansea on Friday.
Walk to Penarth pier across the beach, then on to Lavernock Point.
Lunch at ‘Sid’s Restaurant and Bar‘ in Penarth (near the pier).
Molia