14th July – Thursday
As our rafted up neighbours decided to stay in Salcombe for one more night, they moved off onto another space on the pontoon just after 10.00, leaving us free to go when we were ready. At 10.30, just as we were about to slip our lines, we heard the harbour master announce the imminent start of a dinghy race which would effectively close the harbour for around 15-20 minutes. However, shortly after this, a further announcement was made that the race start had been delayed by 10 minutes, so Chris radioed in to seek permission to depart. Permission was duly granted if we left immediately, so we slipped our lines and motored out of the harbour just passing the dinghy racers as the start gun went off. Phew!
We continued under engine, following the buoyage and comfortably crossing the “bar” until we were a couple of miles offshore. We then put the sails up before turning right and heading westwards towards Plymouth. The breeze had picked up to around a F4 and enabled us to more or less maintain our course while sailing quite close to the wind. The wind and current were trying to push us nearer to the land than we wanted, so we had to tack a few times to keep us on track. However, as we neared the turn into Plymouth, the wind started to decrease and we very reluctantly brought the sails in and put the engine on. We couldn’t really complain, though, as we hadn’t expected to have much of a sail at all, as the wind direction forecast was a NW and we had had a brilliant sail and NO RAIN.
We followed the buoyage on the chart and just before we reached the Sutton Lock, Chris radioed in to request permission to enter. The Lock Keeper already had details of our booking at Sutton Harbour Marina and once we were locked in, he popped his head out of his window and gave us directions to get to our berth. He also advised that someone would be there to meet us and take our lines. We got ourselves organised and made our way through the marina and sure enough, one of the marina team was there waiting and soon we were tied up safely. Full marks for the welcome to Sutton Harbour.
Chris connected us to the power supply, then while Carole put the kettle on and got the shower bags ready, Chris visited the marina office to pay for Seaduction’s berth for the week, while we return home. After a lovely hot shower and a change into fresh clothes, we took a walk out of the marina to source our supper. Just across the road, Carole spotted a tapas restaurant and bar (ZUZiMO! at 153 Vauxhall Street) and after a quick look at the menu, we took a chance and went in and we were really glad we did. The food served to us looked good and tasted even better. The two ladies who served us were helpful and friendly and the bill was very reasonable. We will certainly come here again when visiting Plymouth and heartily recommend it to any other visitors here.
We came out of the restaurant and took a walk to the local Co-op to pick up some bread and fruit to keep us going on our journey home tomorrow. It was then back to the boat for an early night, as we would have to be up reasonably early to make sure we got everything done before leaving to catch the 10.44 train to Paddington.