Salcombe

After a couple of days in Newton Ferrers we decided to progress eastwards to Salcombe. It is only about 20 miles away so we waited until the tide was heading in that direction and for sufficient water to be over the bar at Salcombe to make entrance easy even if there were some waves at the entrance. We followed a fishing boat in and admired the splendid view of the hillside as we made our way into the harbour. Unfortunately, as usual, all of the mooring buoys (there are no marinas) were occupied and we were directed to one of the larger ones in the middle of the bay. This was already occupied by a Broom 42 which sadly decided to run their generator for several hours that evening.
Mooring against other boats is always a bit of an adventure. We have sometimes made new friends but only very occasionally have we had any problems. To be fair, they did switch their generator off when we complained.

Early Morning in Salcombe

The passage back to Brixham involves passing around Start Point, which is a promontory that juts out into the English Channel. Today there was a spring tide. That means the journey could involve fast currents and a rough passage. We departed early in the morning to catch the last of the east going tide. We knew that wind against tide, particularly a spring tide, needs to be avoided at Start Point if you do not want everything in your boat, including you, thrown around like a cork in the surf! The weather forecast had predicted a southerly wind that would mean that it would be on our starboard side as we went past the lighthouse at Start Point and with us once we turned north towards Brixham. Unfortunately, the wind proved to be coming from the east and gave us yet another bumpy ride past Start Point with the windscreen wipers having to be used to counter the spray from the waves. Once we arrived in Torbay, the waves subsided and it was impossible to believe that only a few miles away the waves could be so rough.

This was journeys end for this holiday and all that remained was for us to wash the salt off Jomima and prepare for our road journey back to the Midlands.

Kingsbridge

Many people think that Salcombe is situated by an estuary, but there is no river. The correct term is a ria: a river valley drowned when sea levels have risen. The town of Kingsbridge is situated at the far end of the ria and is reachable in a boat, with a low draft, at high tide. Today we checked the tides and decided to visit Kingsbridge that afternoon in our dingy. There was very little wind and it was very pleasant to see the young trainee sailors, from the Island Cruising Club base on Egremont (a converted Mersey Ferry) moored on the ria, wafting past and wishing for more wind. For about 45 minutes we followed the red stakes, which show the channel, until we reached Kingsbridge and tied up at the visitors pontoon provided. We had a pleasant walk around the town, which resulted in the purchase of some new sandles and the inevitable ice cream. The journey back, with the tide, was quicker and enabled us to get back in time for an excellent but inexpensive meal at the Victoria Inn in Salcombe.

Salcombe

The marina in Plymouth is situated on the edge of the town, behind a lock gate, well inside the very large expanse of Plymouth Harbour. As a result, when you decide to travel from Plymouth to Salcombe, you do not actually know what the sea state is going to be like until you have completed about 20% of the journey! Today, it was towards the boundary of what is acceptable to us i.e. a force 4 wind producing white caps on some of the waves. However we knew that the tide was slackening and conditions should improve; so we persevered. Arriving in Salcombe, after an uncomfortable journey, proved to be a pleasure as usual. There are no marinas in Salcombe and you have to moor to a buoy or floating pontoon – all of which were already occupied. We therefore chose to moor on a buoy that already had two motor boats attached to it. It is usually good form to moor against a similar size and shape of boat. The two motor boats, at 50 feet long, were considerably larger than Jomima. I therefore had to dig out the longest rope that we posses to even reach the mooring buoy! However, the view of the town and the fun of watching the various sizes of craft pottering around the harbour made the effort worthwhile.