Dittisham, Dartmouth

One of our favourite places to moor, which is fairly close to our permanent mooring in Brixham, is Dittisham near Dartmouth. This is a very pleasant place to stop overnight. The river here, like time itself, passes faily slowly. Little has changed for many years. There is peace and quite with the only disturbances being the visits from the River Dart swans and the small local ferry taking people to Greenway - the one time home of Agatha Christie.

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.

A Family Visit

It is always a pleasure to be visited by friends and family. Usually these things have to be arranged well in advance and the weather is not always very kind. However today the sun shone and the wind stayed away – which is the way that we like it. My sister and her family have not been to sea on Jomima before. As we discovered they have not actually been to sea on a boat of this size before so time was spent, at an early stage, choosing life jackets! Fortunately, we were able to find a sheltered spot in Cawsands Bay where we were able to drop the hook for lunch. This proved a slight challenge for queasy stomachs when water skiers rocked our boat, occasionally, but the family got used to the conditions and appeared to enjoy the experience. This was followed by a trip up the River Tamar where the navy had laid on a good show of submarines, an aircraft carrier, and some escort vessels. It is good to see that we still have some naval hardware left despite the general comments in the press.

Plymouth

Early morning in Fowey a pair of swans and five cygnets greeted us! I am not sure how many youngsters a pair of swans manage to raise each year but this is certainly the most that I have ever seen together. After a leisurely breakfast, we decided that the weather and tides were OK for us to motor to Plymouth. We normally cruise at 10 – 12 knots because it is relaxing and we save fuel. At that speed, we achieve about 2 mpg, which compares with only1 mpg when we cruise at 20 knots – which is about 80% of maximum speed. The entrance to Plymouth harbour gets relatively narrow when you enter from the west particularly when faced by a very large naval ship that has decided to speed up and leave. It is at those moments that I am grateful for Jomima’s ability to accelerate quickly to 23 knots to get out the way.

Fowey Fish

One of the pleasures of travelling by boat is that it gives you an appetite that, with the help of Ann’s excellent cooking, we can then satiate with fresh produce. For me, the best shop on this coast is Fowey Fish (www.foweyfish.com). It is a well run shop with some excellent fresh fish – a lot of which is caught locally by the son of the owner. However, what makes the shop even more interesting is the unusual fact that they also sell some excellent wines. It is therefore possible to buy some fresh scallops and a bottle of chilled Cloudy Bay white wine to go with them. Doesn't that make your mouth water?

Earlier that day we had made use of the excellent, but bumpy, local bus service to Charles Town. There we were able to admire the square-rigged sailing vessels that were in for repair using traditional methods. The whole place is a step back in time with its small harbour and very old quaysides. This must be highly profitable following the popularity of some of the latest films like, “Pirates of the Caribbean”.