This week we had my 84 yr old parents onboard for the May bank holiday weekend. This also coincided with my Dads 84th birthday and Tony’s not quiet that old birthday too. My son Ollie travelled down from his home in London to check out the new pad too.
They bought the weather with them and whilst still chilly we actually enjoyed the sunshine and some meals and sundowners in the cockpit without wearing thermals for the first time.
We picked my parents up from the town jetty mid afternoon with special dispensation for loading “disabled” mother, The blue badge comes in handy sometimes. We motored upto anchor at Dittisham where we had another anchoring challenge. We couldn’t get the anchor to set after 2 attempts so Tony pulled it all up to discover we had picked up another old rusty anchor on ours. We dropped it off in the deep channel so hopefully it doesn’t foul again.
The next morning the winds were very light so we motor sailed to Salcombe for a night, where we met Ollie who travelled down from London by train.
Coming into Salcombe harbour was a challenge, the ever present 2kn current keeps you moving. The whole harbour is pretty much clogged with moorings, shallows and floating jetties – boats rafted 3 across. There is no official channel anymore. Added to this we arrived mid afternoon with about 200 dinghies racing. All tacking and gybing through the moorings and none of them interested in me trying to drive a 56 ft boat between them all. Weaving in and out of moorings, calculating the current then having to avoid the sail boats plus the ever present shallows. I needed a good gin and tonic after that.
We anchored in the anchorage area thankfully it was peaceful only to wake up on Sunday morning to be in the middle of the dinghy race course.
Sunday morning was raining so we took the water taxi to town to see a crab festival, stalls and heaving with people. We spent a few hours wandering about before the sun reappeared so we heading back to the boat to go back to Dartmouth. We had a lovely sail in sunshine but not much wind to come alongside the town jetty again to find dinner ashore. This time I didn’t need 3 people and a rib to back in as the light winds made it easy despite the 4kn current pushing us in. We left the jetty after dinner and motored upto anchor at Dittisham for a quiet evening and late sundowners in the cockpit.
Monday morning we waited for high tide at lunchtime and then travelled 3nm up river to a beautiful little anchorage at Stoke Gabriel. Monday afternoon was showery but I had to get ollie to his train for London that afternoon so we dinghied upto Totnes in full wet weather gear about 3 miles up the river. Amazingly we got to within 500m of the train station and he scurried up a muddy bank underneath the train line onto a towpath. One of the joys of this travelling life is discovering things and not knowing the outcome you’re going to get.
Getting mum into the dinghy to go ashore for dinner was a big challenge for her and to say I’m proud of her is an understatement. However the fish and chips was worth the dinghy ride and the walk up a steep hill. She was very glad she did it. The Castle Inn at Stoke Gabriel gets a special mention
The glassy water creating some stunning photos when we returned from dinner and early next morning as we up anchored to go back on the high tide. We dropped the parents off in Dartmouth then headed ever westward we are hoping this good weather continues but more wind would be nice. We are becoming a motorboat.
