Current location (for the past week...): Padstow, Cornwall
Places visited since last post: Howth, Dun Laoghaire, Arklow (all in R.O.I.)
We are definitely starting to think about home now. If all goes according to plan, we will be back by next weekend. Eleven days have passed since I wrote from Newry, Northern Ireland, but we have visited remarkably few places in that time, mainly because we have been weather-bound here in sunny Padstow for a full seven days, making it our longest stop anywhere on the whole trip. Having said that, this is the best place yet that we have sat out the weather. We are in Padstow Inner Harbour, where a tidal gate is only opened two hours either side of high water. There is very little rise and fall, no swell, and it is so sheltered in here that there has really been no wind to speak of. The shower block is a thirty second walk from the boat, Spar is two minutes away, and there are more bakeries, pubs, pasty shops and ice-cream parlours than anyone could possibly need in their lives. The only downside of life in the inner harbour in Padstow is that it really is like living in a goldfish bowl. The quay is heaving with tourists every day, from mid-morning until early evening, passing lazy days exploring the town. Armed with their ice-creams and take-away coffees, they line the quay sides and sit on the benches, staring down at us below, commenting on our boat, and watching us as we go about life on board. It is particularly fun to see them look on in horror as Eloise scales the ladder and appears over the harbour wall all by herself - she has become a very competent climber during our trip.
We have had great fun catching up with our friends Boo and Ed, who live in
Polzeath, and also Jules and Jonny who were on holiday down this way. Serena came to stay with us last weekend, and as we were unable to offer her any sailing, she decided (with 12 hours notice and a lot of persuasion from Boo) to do her first triathlon. This was the Padstow triathlon, which was from Harlyn Bay, about three miles from here, and started at the ungodly hour of 8am on a Sunday morning. Needless to say, with so little notice, we were unable even to get a taxi firm to answer their phone, so Angus, Eloise and I had to hitch a ride to watch the finish. After numerous failed attempts (why wouldn't people stop for a small child, a pregnant lady and a very attractive man at 9am on a Sunday?...), a lovely lady delivering gin for her son's company, (Tarquin Gin, southwestern distillery) let us pile in the back amongst the cases of gin, and we made it to the finish just before Boo and Serena did.
They both did amazingly well! The rest of our days here have been spent surfing (Angus), bodyboarding Eloise), playing on the beach, cycling the Camel Trail, walking the coastal path from Rock to Polzeath, and browsing the lovely Cornish shops.
But really, that all sounds far too much like good fun, and no sailing involved, so I should probably tell you about some of our adventures before we reached Padstow. We left the heart of Newry and exited Victoria Lock, as planned, headed south for Howth. We arrived, as expected, in the dark and just about found our way into the marina there. Although the marina staff had gone home, they had told us which berth to go for. Luckily there was no wind at all, and as I lit up the way ahead with the search light, Angus expertly squeezed Snow Goose into the tightest spot she has ever been into. There was hardly even room for a small fender between us and the boat next door, and there was only a boat length between us and the boats behind us. Had we seen quite how tight the spot was in the cold light of day, we might have asked to go somewhere else... Anyway, we were in safely, and we decided not to start worrying about how we would ever get out until nearer the time.
Howth played a role in the start of our courtship, back in the days of training on Victoria Clipper, so Angus and I were excited about returning there. We had a great shore day, including the same coastal walk that our crewmember David Hayes led us on during some "off-boat" time, and we passed the pub where we all had a mid-walk pint. Our evening in Howth back in 2005, led by the local Irish skipper Connor Fogherty, was suitably beer-fuelled, and as a result neither of us could quite remember which pub we all went to for late night drinks followed by a lock-in... However, we think that maybe we had lunch in the very same pub. Can any clippers fill us in?!
We left our spot in Howth Marina with a force 5 wind blowing right up our stern. We enlisted the help of the marina launch to ensure no-one's insurance policy was tested by our departure - it would not have been an easy exit for any boat, particularly one which relishes reversing in any chosen direction as little as the good ship Snow Goose. Safely out of Howth, we started south, bound for Arklow, about 50 miles away. In the end we only made it about five miles south before the wind started to increase as we crossed Dublin Bay, and we managed to get a "wrap" in our jib whilst furling a bit away. A "wrap" is basically a bit of a muddle, leaving the sail half in and half out, and unusable. Luckily, we were able to pull the furling line a bit more to fully wrap the sail so that it wasn't flogging anymore, but given that it was now blowing a force 6 anyway, we headed into Dublin Bay and put in to Dun Laoghaire marina to sort ourselves out. Once safely alongside, the wrap came out pretty easily with a bit of brute force and pulling... The wind continued all night, and whistled so loudly through our rigging that we had to put the subtitles on a movie we watched on the DVD player, which was a first!
We had an uneventful passage south to Arklow the following day, where Angus hit the local sailing club with the locals who had just been evening racing, and then appeared back on the boat with a couple from another yacht to drink whiskey. With them gone just before midnight, we reviewed our onward plans regarding when and how we might cross to England, realised that there was a weather window for the next 36 hours, and decided that we'd better take it. We left at first light the next morning - just after six - destination Padstow, 140 miles away. To begin with there was not enough wind, and we had to motor, but by mid-afternoon we were sailing fast on a reach (with the wind at 90 degrees to the direction we were travelling). As night fell, we reached the northern end of the Bristol Channel, the sea got a lot rougher, and there were anchored ships lit up like Christmas trees. Once past these, we saw nothing at all. It was so dark that it was not really possible to see where the sea ended and the sky began. There was no moon, and no stars. Fortunately, Susan (our wind vane self steering) was able to steer, as it is very difficult to helm at night with only the wildly swaying compass to look at. When it is that dark, although logic says that if there was something in the water - like a boat, or a buoy - it would be lit, there is a little bit in one's brain which gives the feeling that you might be just about to plough straight into something just ahead. Also it was very drizzly, so it was impossible to tell whether our visibility was very good or terrible, so we had to keep a close eye on our other gadgets (AIS) to be sure we were clear of any shipping. Although it was a very dark and rolly night passage, it was fast and exhilarating, but I think Angus and I were both pretty glad to be arriving in port the following day, not sailing 4,000 miles like Rosie is on her current Clipper leg...
And so that brings things up to date really. The only other major family news (for anyone interested in our future orthodontic bills...) is that we bought some "Stop 'n' Grow" two days ago from Boots to stop Eloise sucking her fingers, and after one taste of it and a few tears, the fingers have not been in since. She willingly puts her hands out for applications of her "special nail varnish". OK, so it has taken her two hours rather than five minutes to get to sleep both nights, but that is bound to get shorter as time goes by...
Our plan for the next week is Newlyn, Helford River, River Yealm, Brixham, Poole, and back to the Hamble. Give us a shout if you happen to be near any of those places. Here's to some settled weather for the final push home, and then the transition back to normal life (including showering every day...)
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