Friday 2 August

We were going to leave on Tuesday and spend a day in Bristol with mum and dad but Leah phoned to say she was coming back for a week whilst Jamie and the band were recording and writing new material so we stayed to see her. That gave me the opportunity to go out in the evening and pick a bag of cherries, the recent rain and sun has really made them ripen quickly so they may have all gone by the time we get back.

Leah set off just after 5:00 am and got home in time for us to have breakfast together, it’s always nice to have the kids home and see them. She arrived with the new “girls” for the garden, three not two guinea pigs as she first said. A motley looking crew I must say and a bit on the niffy side after a morning in the back of her car but I’m sure they will settle into their new home soon enough. The long hair might need a bit looking after though.

We left about 10:30 and traveled down to Bristol and stayed over with mum and dad, who were both looking well.

Mum cooked a nice dinner and then did a full English breakfast the following morning that we ate on the patio in the sun to send us on our way for the second part of our journey. It’s about 430 miles to Cornwall, around the same distance I traveled the other week in the opposite direction to Scotland, we have a very well traveled boat.

We met up with Ian and Joanna just south of Taunton and traveled the last bit together. The last few miles were on typical little twisting narrow Cornish roads so towing the boat behind was interesting.

The place we are staying is lovely, a little cottage converted from part of a farm I should think but a stones throw across the road from the beach. We sat out in the sun once unpacked and watched a Buzzard being mobbed by a pair of Peregrines, once they had got fed up and moved on the Gulls took over, great way to start a holiday!

The nearest pub is about a mile and half walk along the estuary, so we checked it out before dinner.

We have three moorings in the bay for the boats so will look to rig then up and launch today, we will hopefully be able to use a small tender to row out when we want to get to them to go sailing.

Doug, Jude, Me, Viv, Joanna and Ian on the beach, St Anthony

Our home for the week in St Anthony

Friday morning we rigged the boats after breakfast and once the tide was up launched and sailed around to Helford where we moored up at the Helford Sailing Club for lunch. Nice breeze about Force 3 from the South West, one reef as it was a bit gusty and shifty at times, about 8 miles there and back. 10 minutes motoring out to mooring to set sails up.

Dinner was left over meat sauce from last night with carrots and onion to pad it out with brown rice that we used to stuff two of the marrows mum and dad had given us from their garden.

Saturday Ian had us checking the wheel bearings on the trailer and tightening up any slack with Viv taking photos so he can write a piece on trailer care for the Wayfarer magazine. Then we sailed around to the Shipley Arms pub in Helford, a very quaint place right on the estuary with its own jetty we could tie up to for a beer and lunch. The wind was a bit stronger today, from the South West again but a steady force three gusting to a good four at times and a bit choppy where the wind was against the tide so we had two reefs in. The new sails set much better than the old ones and perform so much better and feel comfortable. We did 8.5 miles according to Doug’s GPS and ten minutes motoring ferrying folks off the floating moorings.

Came back and had to pack the boats away in a shower, just like yesterday when it poured just as we got back!

It didn’t last though so I was able to go for a walk over the headland where I watched a pair of Peregrines over the cliffs for about 15 minutes, I actually left one of them sitting in the top of a tree about 50 feet away.

Looks like the weather is going to deteriorate tomorrow, rain and strong winds are forecast so we will probably go for a walk instead, maybe a chance to look for Choughs on the Lizard. I might get a chance to get an internet connection as none here.