25th June
Tom and Linda joined us for this leg to Penzance and had booked a B&B for the night in the town.
The weather forecast was for fog patches then fog banks for the south west, with SW F3, so we were not too optimistic that we would get there. However, we decided we would leave and assess the weather when we got to the Manacles. On leaving, visibility was about half a mile, and it maintained this for some time so we decided to continue. Soon we were approaching our tidal gate at the Lizard. This can be an uncomfortable place if you get the tides wrong. We rounded the Lizard and set our course for Penzance. The visibility started to reduce and went down to about 100 metres in places. As always, Chris had his line out trying to catch some fish and at last he caught his first, although only small mackerel, which he proudly put in the bucket. Soon he caught a very large fish :-)) but it must have been too big for his line as it broke and got away, taking with it both lead weights.
Both Tom and Carole were feeling queasy from the action of the wind over tide. Fortunately, Tom took a pill and slept it off down below. Unfortunately, Carole did not, but felt much better once she had hung her head over the side for a few minutes and got rid of what was upsetting her system.
We arrived outside Penzance Harbour and picked up a mooring buoy as we had to wait for the inner harbour to open. The mooring was not very comfortable as were being rolled about, but nevertheless, Carole prepared dinner for us which warmed and filled us up. chris radioed Penzance to let them know our intentions but got no answer. It seems that the harbour master only comes in about 30 minutes before the tidal gate opens. It was a relief when the radio came to life with his voice saying that the gate would open soon. As we entered, the harbour master greeted us and gave us our berth for the night.
The inner harbour is full of old boats and our berth was rafting up to two very old yachts which had seen better days. We found out later that both these yachts are owned by the same family, the inner one having sunk then been re-floated and the other one was where they lived. They had all mod cons – a fridge balanced on the deck with various bits of driftwood, paint cans, etc. To get to shore, we had to climb over the boats then negotiate the metal chain link ladder up the harbour wall. The harbour master and his team are very welcoming and helpful. This is also the cheapest place we have stayed.
Unexpectedly, Chris had to travel into London to work early on Wednesday, leaving Carole to discover the delights of Penzance – the laundrette and the open-air seawater swimming pool (thank god for the hot shower after). Neither place would be subsequently visited by Chris.
The morning Chris caught the train Carole noticed that the fish had gone from the bucket. After a conversation with our new neighbours we found out that their cat had enjoyed a free fish breakfast.
Again, the weather forecast for the area is very poor – windy, cold, misty and damp