Day 15, Falmouth to Fowey


My dream super yacht, a 1930's beauty.

Dear Reader, a slightly longer blog as I want to convey the gorgeousness of Fowey to you.

We had an early start from Falmouth at 0730 and it was beautifully calm and still. We were sorry to go, especially as it turns out that this weekend there is a classic boat regatta, but we need to head on to Fowey. Falmouth has been lovely with lots to do and see and a modern marina. It is interesting how the South coast of Cornwall has a very different feel to the North and the Penzance area, it is much more prosperous.

 It was an uneventful motor sail with almost an hour of real sailing , which was lovely as it is so peaceful with the engine off. We did a quick detour into Mevagissey, a pretty fishing village, but we couldn't go right in to the harbour because it was low water, so not enough depth for us.

Mevagissey from the sea

We reached Fowey at lunchtime, it was a hot day and it showed off the river at its very colourful best.
Being a river we can get in and out without any worry about the state of the tide.


Fowey River

 One side of the river is Polruan and on the other side is Fowey, both very picturesque. The trees come right down to the rivers edge, and we picked up a buoy in the river for the afternoon and evening as there is no marina here. We could hear a cock crowing so it added to the rural feel. River life is very different to being in a marina, there is always something to see. There are water taxis and ferries, yachtsmen pootling around in their dinghies and general  river traffic, simply charming. Nothing like messing about on the river, which Josh and Ali decided to do later on!


The view from Lunar Sea

We are off to row around UK 

Josh and Ali decided it would be a good idea to go ashore in the dinghy, and as they disappeared across the river I guessed it would be a pint or two later before I saw them again. I enjoyed having the boat to myself and when they finally came back after a pint or two they were giggling like a couple of naughty schoolboys, and even more so when they found out they had wet bottoms because of the slightly leaky dinghy!


I can't help but notice that they get a bit silly when they are together, it is very amusing to witness and we do have a laugh, it is a pleasure to have Ali on board. Those of you who are regulars at the Thursday night sessions at Broadstairs Sailing Club will know what I mean. 

In the evening we sensibly got a water taxi to take us over to Fowey rather than the dinghy,  and had a very pleasant dinner in the Royal Fowey Yacht Club. There was an interesting take on weather forecasting at the ferry terminal. 

The RFYC was very pleasant and had a lovely terrace with the best views of the harbour. It was a race night so there were lots of dinghies on the water. They have a unique class of boat, the Fowey River dinghy, which is a clinker built wooden dinghy and each boat has it's own patterned, colourful sail. They looked like brightly coloured butterflies flitting across the river, quite beautiful. 

The staff were very friendly and told us a lot about the club. The current commodore is the owner of the St Austell brewery, I noticed the wi fi password was "minesapint". I had some mussels and asked if they were local, because we had passed a mussel bed on the way in. Apparently they have been overfished so my mussels came from Scotland. I had noticed that in several places we have been  Cornish Mussels have been on the menu but not available, so I guess that's why?

The RFYC is the place to have a shower if you are a visiting yachtsman, as there is no marina and so no marina facilities. I thought Penzance marina was bad enough charging £1 for 8 magic minutes, but the RFYC beat that, £2 for 3 minutes, 20p for every minute after that and a maximum of 5 minutes! 






Colourful Fowey boats racing on the river

There was a statue of a bird with a book, sited on the quay below the RFYC,  to commemorate Daphne du Maurier, the famous author of many thrillers including the Birds. She lived most of her life in Cornwall in this area.  

Below is the view of Lunar Sea from the terrace of the RFYC. The village itself, or the bit we saw, is very quaint with narrow streets going down to the river. There was the scent of honeysuckle in the evening air too. I have a special love of Fowey, because it was here that I came for a weeks sailing holiday back in 1999, to see the eclipse. I had sailed dinghies in my teens and early twenties, but living in London I hadn't had the opportunity to carry it on. It was my first experience of yachting and I fell in love with it here at Fowey, and so in a way it was the start of my sailing journey which has now got me back to this point. ..sailing around the UK on my own boat and spending a wonderful evening on the river at Fowey once again. Just as beautiful. 

Lunar Sea seen from the terrace of the RFYC.



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day one and two of the Caledonian Canal - the adventure continues

Image
The Lunatic crew for the Caledonian Canal   We entered the  Clachnaharry sea lock at Inverness for the 1.30 lock and were met by a very helpful, calm lock keeper who talked us through. There was a large sign saying Ireland this way! Clachnaharry Sea Lock, the entrance to the Caledonian Canal, The Great Glen, Loch Ness and Ireland! The lock was timed so that you could then sail through the railway swing bridge, then on to the Muirhead flight of four locks. We had relaxed once we got on to the canal, thinking things could only get better and there is much less to worry about in a canal as opposed to being out at sea, no tides to think about for example. How wrong we were, we were forgetting this is the Lunacy cruise. At the second lock Mick fell in! We heard a plop and a splash and Mick had fallen into the lock between the lock wall and the boat. Josh's quick thinking saved the day as he put the long swim ladder over the edge and Mick managed to climb up before he
Read more

Day 48 and the return to our home port of Ramsgate.

Image
Lunar Sea and her crew back in Ramsgate  Dear Readers, we finally arrived back in Ramsgate five years after setting off on 1 May 2017. The weather then had been atrocious, but it couldn't have been more different for our return. It was promised to be the hottest day of the year, so we had plenty of sunshine and not very much wind. lt did pick up to about 12 knots as we approached Ramsgate, so we managed to get the sails up and the flags flying for our entrance to Ramsgate.  Leaving Dover, heading for the Eastern entrance,  on our way home now. It had been an uneventful 4 hour trip from Dover to Ramsgate, but for some reason the unusually hot weather had created an optical illusion and we had a really clear view of France as we passed Deal. Perhaps it is the high pressure, not sure why?  France, shall we go there instead? We had Josh's daughter Jo on board and Owen and Jordan, two of Josh's grandchildren, joined us in Dover for the day sail. When we got to the approach to Ra
Read more
Image
  Hello again from Lunar Sea in Portishead. The boat has been here for two years now and we are continuing our adventure from tomorrow, the 31st May, by locking out of Portishead Marina (near Bristol in case you wondered) and we will be heading for Penarth Marina (near Cardiff) for our first stop. Then on to Padstow via Watchet for a night's stay and then probably an anchorage for one night off Clovelly, to break up the 18 hour trip from Watchet to Padstow.  We have been so lucky to have found this charming marina which has been Lunar Sea's home for two years, we will be sad to leave, but excited to be on the homeward stretch of our marathon around the UK sailing trip. It was supposed to take 2 years, but due to bad weather in year 1 and a mutinous crew, plus the pandemic in the third and fourth year, it will have taken 5 years (assuming we get back to Ramsgate this year, watch this space!) Wish us luck, calm seas and a good wind. I will try and do a daily blog, sailing conditi
Read more