Fog

The harbour at Padstow is saved from drying out by a tidal gate, but that constrains your time of departure. To catch the flood tide heading up the Bristol Channel towards Lundy we left the harbour and just turned the corner to a lovely anchorage close to the cliffs in Port Quin bay. We slept and chilled until midday then set off for Lundy with the tidal flow and light southerly winds to help us on our way. We met more porpoises along the way and Mark took a turn to sit on the front of the boat. After some experimentation he was soon convinced that tapping on the side of the boat encouraged the porpoises to jump.

 

 

We arrived on Lundy in the early evening, it is 8th June 2021. We dropped anchor and pumped up our little dinghy to get to shore. It is a stiff climb up the path to the pub and we were too late for dinner so settled for a couple of quick pints before marching up the Island to catch the Devil’s Slide in the setting sun. Unfortunately, it is over 30 years since I visited Lundy to ascend this brilliant rock climb and sure enough, we struggled a bit to find it. In the end we were successful but by that time it was grey in the last of the sun rather than tinged pink as I remembered it. We returned to our gently rocking boat in the evening light, looking forward to a lie-in because we did not need to catch the tide until 7am.

We had failed to replenish our food supplies in Padstow and so breakfast was banana custard but with some Granola sprinkled on the top to make it seem a bit more like breakfast. At last, as we came out from the shelter of the cliffs of Lundy we got some stronger wind, again from the south-west, and were able to make good progress towards Milford Haven. However, the sea was lumpy and occasional sets of rollers made the sailing tricky to manage. Meanwhile, the marine weather on the radio assured us the sea state was slight or moderate. We were also in a fairly dense mist with visibility limited to perhaps half a mile. The only traffic we met was a school of porpoises so the low visibility was not too worrying until we arrived at the major sea port of Milford Haven, famous for handling large oil tankers. The porpoises are fantastic to watch and now that we have stopped trying to film them, especially today as the weather was so dull, it is so much more enjoyable just watching and talking to them. On this occasion they stayed for ages and it was a very large school so we enjoyed threes and even four jumping out of the waves in brilliant displays of synchronicity. Mark was on the helm most of the day, while Pete slept and during the occasional conscious moment admired the porpoises or made our signature dish at lunchtime of fresh baked cheese and onion stuffed baguettes. Somewhat embarrassingly we were called via the radio with the military referring to ‘unidentified vessel travelling north west and 3 miles south of Linney Head’. Our charts did not seem to show a firing range exclusion zone that we were apparently headed for. Very politely the military merely asked us to change course slightly rather than using us for target practice.

After all that excitement, with the sea state somewhat calmer and just a few miles remaining, Mark handed over the helm and went below for a sleep. As we sailed on I spotted a buoy emerging from the still enveloping mist, the first sign of life for 35 miles. About five minutes later a large rocky shore appeared, looking suddenly surprisingly close off the starboard bow. After some adjustments I decided everything was under control and there was no need to waken the skipper, but then a light ship appeared, and a Gybe was urgently required. I started to enjoy myself and sailed on, creeping up the outside of the main shipping channel. After a few oil terminals and some small boat traffic Mark appeared and helped to pick our way up the inlet. The Milford Marina was apparently ‘full’ so we continued up to Neyland Marina. We foresee another so called ‘rest day’ whereby we have a lie-in but then move to an anchorage at Dale ready for the exciting trip round the corner through the infamous Jack and Ramsey sounds. Meanwhile I realise that we have not taken any photos during this foggy foggy day... and that we have been rather spoilt by brilliant sunny days on this trip so far.