22nd July – Friday
We arrived back in Plymouth at about 4 pm after a tedious six hour train/tube/train journey from home. On checking the weather and tides, etc. we decided we would get organised to leave Plymouth first thing on Saturday morning and head into the River Yealm which is just a short sail eastwards.
We made our shopping list and walked to the local Co-op and came back with our rucksacks full. Carole then got our laundry up straight, while Chris settled our account with Sutton Harbour, filled the water tanks and made sure everything electronic was charged up for the morning. As time was moving on, we had some Chinese takeaway for supper and after tidying away, we settled down in our bunks with our books. (Note Chris is becoming a bookworm now, too.)
23rd July – Saturday
We left Sutton Harbour and managed to get through the lock on free flow so had a nice smooth exit. The River Yealm is not far from Plymouth; just outside then round the large Mew Stone rock. To enter the Yealm there are numerous rocks and a sand bar to get over. The first mark to find was the church on the hill, then once the church had a bearing of 10′ we then found the two transit markers on the hill at 90′ and followed these towards the two red buoys. We then picked up the next two transits on the other hill bearing 49′, which cleared all the hazards.
Once in, the river opened up and we could see yachts moored along the main channel and a pontoon with a few other yachts. We decided to take the pontoon mooring and safely came along side. Sometime later we saw a large motor boat passing us and then turning around to take the space in front of us. Chris popped his head out of the cabin to see what was happening with Carole following. The problem was that the motor boat was approaching the pontoon with the tide and the wind behind him and as it turned into the pontoon it found it could not control it and hit the pontoon. Carole was pushing the bow off and Chris was on our deck making sure that their stern was not going to hit us. The skipper still could not see why he lost control and came in for another attempt. Carole managed somehow to catch a line and push the bow off and get them safe. Chris commented that it was interesting to see another way of getting a boat onto a pontoon!
There was no phone signal or Internet on any of our networks –Vodafone –EE –Three. The only way to get a weak signal was to go ashore and walk up the hill. The weather was nice and sunny when we arrived, so Chris put the outboard motor on the dinghy and we took a trip up the river so we could enjoy the gentle breezes and warmth of the sun. We proceeded cautiously as it was fast approaching low water, so before we touched bottom, we turned around. On our way back, Chris spotted a very unusual jellyfish, moving quite quickly through the water. We tried unsuccessfully to follow it to take a photo, but the outgoing tide was taking it too quick for us. Before we went back on the boat, we managed to squeeze into the very crowded dinghy park and visited the facilities. Dinner was meat pies, mashed potatoes and Chris’s favourite, broccoli, and once the washing up was done, we settled down with our books.
Sunday morning began very damp and deteriorated as the day went on. However, we took the dinghy ashore and took a walk along the main road into Newton Ferrers, where we found another Co-op, which was open for business and busy, and other small shops and pubs, which were closed, so that coffee and cake would have to wait until we were back on the boat. Once back we had a very tasty brunch of sausages, eggs, bubble and squeak and tomatoes and after clearing away, we visited the facilities for a nice hot shower. When the harbour master paid us a visit, we settled our dues as we had decided to leave the Yealm and go to the River Fowey on Monday. We didn’t mind being without phone and internet when the sun was shining as we could do other things, but when you were stuck on the boat in the rain and mist, there was only so much reading you could do! We had an early night and hoped for some better weather to come soon.