15.  Selkie Dancer - Padstow - 5th September

 

'So now it's off to Cornwall and our first taste of England'!!  Oh what a mistake to make - 'This isn't England 'tis Cornwall my lover'! We made terrific progress over the 70 miles from Milford Haven. We got here in 10 hours. Now I know that sounds positively stately to people who routinely go by car but believe me that was fast and actually if you had to do that journey by car, at this time of year, it probably would have taken longer! We were visited by dolphins who were smaller, more delicate than their Welsh counterparts. In a line of four they played around the bow, swooping in from the side, diving under and sometimes leaping right out of the water. It was very exciting, I suppose because we are so far away from anything when they appear that they take the place of friends and we find ourselves talking to them - strange things happen at sea.

We have been in Padstow for well over a week. It's a really pretty place. Old buildings cluster around the inner harbour, narrow lanes lead off, houses are painted in pastel colours and bright flowers cascade down walls. There is a continental feel helped by the temperature, nightly brass band, the opening hours of the shops and the evening promenade of the visitors and boy are there a lot. The bank holiday weekend was heaving and at times we felt like the fish in the bowl as the crowds wove around the harbour walls, leant over dripping their ice creams to look and comment on the boat unaware that we are sitting in the cockpit. I hear a child whining 'I'm going to go onto that boat mummy' and I reply in a dark and threatening voice 'Oh no you're not' just like the troll under the bridge in the Billy Goats Gruff story.

Friends of mine from college days, both impressively headmistresses or more accurately impressive headmistresses, were holidaying nearby at Polzeath. We dined with them, going over to Rock in a ferry and returning in one that resembled a miniature landing craft which spewed us out just steps from our boat. A few days later we had a return match. Most of Padstow heard us I think. We were quite a cabaret. So, we have been sociable and enjoyed visits from old friends and Nick on leave from Afghanistan.

By the time we had seen everyone the winds were persistently from the south and so we waited and waited, discovering now that our life has changed from adventurous sailing to the more relaxed pace of 'liveaboards'; making and mending - Andy has slain a dragon and trusted me enough to winch him up to the top of the mast - I missed an opportunity, I should have extracted some promises while he was aloft!  We have shopped, done laundry, gone for walks, visited stately homes, the Eden Project and eaten a different flavour of ice cream every day. Time to move on - harbour rot threatens and we are off tomorrow morning for Lands End and Penzance.

 

Jinti and Andy

16.  Selkie Dancer - Newlyn - 14th September

 

'Permission to be thoroughly sea sick sir?' Sounds like one of George's lines from Blackadder.  We have stopped in Newlyn (by Penzance) on our way back west from Fowey.  We had set out from Falmouth with ambitious intentions to round Land's End at dusk, sail through the night and arrive at Milford Haven the following morning.  However I am ill, don't know whether it is just sea sickness or something else.  I started out with a headache which gradually developed into nausea.  After I had decorated the decks and really understood the onomatopoeic resonance of the word 'hurl' we decided to divert to Newlyn. Enough!  Don't want to put you all off.  

Some days before we came from Padstow to Penzance, disappointingly motoring the whole way.  So tedious I found it, I even cooked.  Having copied the recipe for Welsh Cakes off a postcard in Fishguard I produced a neat little frying pan of a cake.  We ate it as we passed Land's End with its rocks like teeth, honed by centuries of weather and eager to snap at passing ships.  We thought of wreckers and watched people walking the cliff paths eager for further grief and so attention returned to navigation.  Further on we saw loads of basking sharks, big shiny fins cutting around in pursuit of the plankton.  

From Penzance we sailed for Fowey in the dark, and puttered across Mounts Bay enjoying the novelty of the newly working steaming light.  But as the day dawned our spirits fell and we rounded the Lizard lazily making about 2 knots - that is VERY SLOW.  Arriving in Fowey one could hardly see the way through for all the many boats, all shapes and sizes; huge china clay carriers, square riggers, yachts, gigs, troys and dinghies.  We got our tender in the water and the outboard working and went over to explore.  Lots of attractive wee shops, nice deli, good fish, and plenty book shops.  There is a Daphne du Maurier festival here now every year in May.  

We met with two sets of friends from our Nimrod days at Kinloss and had a sociable time catching up and reminiscing, all of us sad over the recent loss.  Our next stop was Falmouth.  The fog came down about two hours into our journey; a very eerie atmosphere emphasized by the mournful tolling of the occasional buoy nearby.  At times it was so thick, our radar showed a boat 200 metres away and we couldn't see it!  We had to keep all senses sharp - can't say we don't have an interesting time!  

So here we are now in Newlyn, a busy fishing port, rubbing sides with Sarah Beth, Katie-Claire, Chloe-T and Nellie and I am feeling better.  We went to Penzance on a bus and then walked to St Michael's Mount across the causeway.  What a fabulous position, towering high on the rock I really love Cornwall and we may even stay another day.  

 

Till next time Jinti and Andy