Travels and boat care
18NM 1035-1500 4h25m (includes locks)
A mid-morning start for the final leg back to Portishead.
In the lock.
Tim met us on the pontoon to take the lines. We celebrated the completion of the voyage.
Many thanks to everyone who joined us, met us, and supported us.
99NM 0400-2230 18h30m (includes lock)
We decide to stay on the English side for a bit after Hartland Point – its a slightly longer track, but with the wind in the south, the fetch creating any waves is very small.
Rain sets in mid afternoon. It becomes heavy as we manoeuvre through the Cardiff Bay Barrage lock and the marina in Penarth. This is a difficult mooring in the dark and wet!
After two consecutive early starts, and long days; and after the heavy rain yesterday, we stayed all of Thursday in Penarth.
A really excellent dinner at the Pilot Inn.
60NM 0500-1800 13h
Around Lands End for Lou, Niv and Steve and Jo (again!).
We anchored off Stepper Point. In the end we decide to stay anchored for the night as it will be an advantage to leave Padstow Bay at first light.
35 NM 1340-1950 6H 10M
Lou arrives by train to Falmouth – and we are off! We decide on an immediate departure as the tide around the Lizard is still advantageous, and the weather looks OK.
We get the last available finger pontoon space in Newlyn – its in the middle, so we moor stern-to.
An eventful sail to Falmouth as the engine cooling warning came on when we were approaching Dodman Point. Good work from the crew kept us sailing while I checked the engine cooling circuit, but found nothing wrong. In the end on the advice of Mitch (our engineer from Advance Marine) we executed a 360 degree turn, and that cleared whatever it was – probably wrapped around the water intake.
Arrived Falmouth 1800 – dashed to the nearest restaurant Bodega 18 – excellent tapas.
Port Pendennis Marina – tranquil, tucked in amongst the buildings. This is an Arup (Bristol Office) job for Peter De Savery, built while I was working there.
The inner part of the marina is protected by a sill.
A visit from the Simon, Rosie and James Heald – from St Mawes across the estuary.
We are in Falmouth for a few days to wait for the next crew, and for the Fastnet weather to go past!
A more relaxed day! 1000 start, and we got to the Mayflower Marina in Plymouth at 1730.
We are joined in Portland by Jonathan for the trip west. This is his first trip on Molia. A very early start (0435!) to get round Portland Bill and across Lyme Bay on good tide.
We made good time, Tied up in Noss Marina at 1600.
We are in Portland for a few days because we have to go home for a night to satisfy the house insurance – and the weather!
We went to Thomas Hardy country by train – and saw his house, the local pub, and his cottage (quite a walk away).
We visited the Portland Museum in Wakeham (next to the village of Easton).
We climbed the new Portland Lighthouse. We recommend the visit and tour – there is a fantastic view from the top, and the old lamp is now on the ground floor of the tower.
We left St Peter Port Marina at the first opportunity – the near spring tide came up to 1.8m by 0700. The tide helped us up the channel between Guernsey and Herm, and was still strong past Les Casquets off Alderney.
A troubling beginning to the day when the engine failed to start first time. So we decided to keep it on all the way to St Peter Port. This was a very good decision as it turned out that the engine battery had completely failed – and it was very hot by the end of the trip.
Many thanks to Bobby Roland from Boat Mechanical Repairs (BMR) in Guernsey for installing replacement batteries for us (we went for replacing all three as the domestic batteries were not in good condition either).
Otherwise it was a smooth trip. This time we saw both Sark and Herm.
The Jersey to Guernsey trip is not possible in Molia within a single tide – we will always arrive at Guernsey after the tide has dropped past the sill at St Peter Port, even if we leave St Helier marina as soon as possible.
The harbour master kindly allowed us to tie up to the outer pontoons at St Peter Port that have access to the shore (and water but no power).
Our new batteries.
As we were staying in Guernsey for a day to wait for optimum conditions for the channel crossing to Portland, we took a trip to Herm island on the Trident ferry (http://www.traveltrident.com/ – not secure).
Highly recommended – Herm is incredibly beautiful and peaceful. It has no cars and no bikes! – not that one would be necessary – it is too small. It takes about 2.5 hours to walk completely around the island not counting coffee stops.
There are beach cafes, pubs, a shop and a hotel.
A visit to Saint Tugual’s Chapel is highly recommended.
Molia