26th July – Tuesday
The weather forecast for the next few days did not look that good so we decided to spend just one night at Fowey or we would have been weather bound for two or three days with no electric, hot showers, etc. We left at about 10:30 to make sure we rounded Dodmans Point at slack water at 13:00. About 5 other yachts headed out at the same time.
The wind was light and on the nose, so we continued on engine, but hoped that once past Dodmans Point the wind would pick up and it would go a bit more west. As expected we were able to put our sails up at Dodmans Point and were now sailing towards St Antony’s Head for Falmouth, making large tacks. Our intention was to take a berth at the Falmouth Marina but it was full. However, our next option was Mylor Yacht Harbour on the Fal Estuary, which had space for us. We were arriving very near to low water and the approach was just like the East coast with just under a metre spare under our keel with all the alarms going off. We edged gingerly into the harbour and were pleased to find the Harbour Staff waving at us to guide us to our berth and take our lines, which made us very pleased with our choice of Marina.
First job was to plug the boat into the electric, then we were off to visit the marina office to pay our dues. We then found the very nice facilities block and enjoyed a nice hot shower, before having a walk round to see where we were.
We prepared a supper of hot chicken Caesar salad with freshly baked bread (courtesy of a supermarket par-baked pack) and after washing up, we watched a little bit of TV before bed.
27th July – Wednesday
The day began damp and grey – again – so while Chris sorted out some work matters, Carole visited the well equipped laundry room, which had 3 washing machines and 3 tumble driers, work surface, 2 big sinks for hand washing and even chairs to sit on while waiting. (Perhaps a woman had a hand in designing this area!) After putting the clean clothes away, tummies were rumbling, so Chris baked off some more bread and fried some sausages for our brunch. After clearing away, we decided we would take a walk to Mylor Bridge to buy dinner from the local butcher. We set off with directions from a local lady and began the steep climb from the harbour with the temperature beginning to rise. Quite quickly we stopped to remove one layer of clothing and by the time we arrived in Mylor Bridge (about 2 miles later), our deodorant was working hard. We bought what looked like a nice piece of steak from the friendly butcher and then 2 very cold ice creams from the village store which we enjoyed sitting on a bench outside the butchers. Chris then muttered something about getting a taxi back, which Carole ignored. Our walk back to the harbour was slightly less onerous as more of it was downhill than uphill, but nonetheless we were still cream crackered by the time we arrived back on the boat. We had already said that if the steak was tough, we wouldn’t be taking it back! For supper we had steak and salad with a Chris-made chilli dressing and it was a tender, tasty steak. We finished off our meal with some very acceptable Jamaican ginger cake and hot custard. After clearing away, we settled down with our iPads with Radio 2 playing in the background. The marina was very calm and quiet, apart from the sound of the wind and an occasional bird cry.
28th July – Thursday
We were up reasonably bright and early and after breakfast Carole got cracking giving “below decks” some TLC with cleaning cloths and polish. Chris took a call from our friends, Tom and Linda, who live in Falmouth and arranged to meet them for coffee in Castaways restaurant and cafe in Mylor Harbour – one minute’s walk from the boat. We both decided to have showers on the boat, which gave Carole an opportunity to give the room a good wash out afterwards.
At ten past eleven we strolled up to Castaways and enjoyed a pleasant hour catching up with Tom and Linda as we hadn’t seen them since we sailed here in 2012. We all enjoyed a good coffee and Danish pastry which would keep us going well into the afternoon. They then offered us a lift back into Falmouth, which we gratefully accepted, so that we could have a walk around and buy our shopping for the next few days.
Once our shopping was done, we found the taxi rank and were brought back to Mylor Harbour by a very personable taxi driver, who lived in Falmouth with his wife and family and seemed very happy with his life. It was a refreshing change to meet someone like that. After putting all the shopping away, Carole returned to the laundry room and did the last of the dirty washing. We then decided that, if possible, we would eat out tonight and luckily Chris managed to get a table at Castaways for dinner, which proved a good choice, as we had a really excellent meal. We returned to the boat for a cuppa and an hour of TV before heading to bed at a reasonable hour.