30th August – Tuesday We slept quite well, but woke early and were both up drinking tea well before our alarms went off at 7 o’clock. While Carole made the beds and wiped the condensation off the insides of the…
Dover to Ramsgate
29th August – Monday Our trip today was a relatively short one, but we still didn’t want to be pushing tide unless we really had to. Chris worked out that the best time to leave was about 9 o’clock, so…
Dover
Sunday 28th August We woke early Sunday morning and checked the weather. Not much change but we had the wind and tide with us and there were no major hazards apart from getting into Dover. We locked out of the…
Eastbourne
Saturday 27th August We were up and all ready to set off for Eastbourne at 10:00 so that we rounded Beachy Head near low water. We managed to put the sails up and were making good progress. As we passed…
Gosport – Brighton
Thursday 25th August We returned to Gosport on separate trains as Chris had some work to complete in London. Carole returned early afternoon and began preparing the boat and us for sailing to Brighton first thing in the morning. There…
Gosport
19 – 22 August – Friday to Monday As we tucked Daniel and Bobby into bed, we reminded them that we would be sailing across to the mainland the next morning so they would have to be up and ready…
Newtown Creek
18th August – Thursday We awoke to a lovely bright morning and after breakfast and showers onboard, we got organised for our short sail into the Newton River. Chris filled our water tanks and checked our charts and books as…
Yarmouth August
15th – 17th August – Monday to Wednesday We spent three days at Yarmouth, really enjoying our time with Sally, Tony and children. On Monday we spent the day at the Needles landmark attraction. We visited the Alum Bay Glass…
Poole to Yarmouth
14th August – Sunday We awoke to a beautiful, sunny morning and after showers and breakfast, Carole took a walk to the Tesco’s to buy milk, water, etc to see us through while at Yarmouth as the stores there…
Poole
12th August – Friday We left our berth in plenty of time for the 10:00 bridge opening. There were several others leaving with us so we had to jill about for a few minutes in a limited space. The bridge…
Weymouth
8th August – Monday The morning began dry, bright and breezy and as our trip across into Weymouth was very short, we had a relatively lazy morning. We had already called Weymouth marina and booked ourselves in for a few…
Portland 2
7th August – Sunday Despite the strong winds overnight we had a reasonable night’s sleep. The problem here is that although the water is protected by the breakwater, the wind just comes straight in over Chesil beach with nothing to…
Portland
6th August – Saturday Our alarm went off at 05:30 and we quickly got ourselves ready to slip our lines at 06:00. Chris checked the weather forecast which was a SW 3-4 increasing W 5 later with possible fog patches.…
Salcombe 2
4th August – Thursday We were awake before the alarm woke us, with Chris immediately checking the latest weather forecast and Carole putting the kettle on for a cuppa. All looked as expected and so we got ourselves ready to…
Plymouth
31st July – Sunday We woke after a reasonable night’s sleep on the mooring and after getting washed and dressed, we decided that we would take the dinghy over to the town and treat ourselves to breakfast before heading off…
Helford to Fowey
30th July – Saturday We were awake just after 7 am feeling refreshed after a quiet night. After we had dressed and had our first cuppa, we sorted out the dinghy and outboard engine so that we could explore further…
Helford River
28th July – Friday We awoke to sunshine and light showers and after having our own in the marina facilities, we discussed over breakfast whether we should stay one more night in Falmouth or head in to the Helford…
Falmouth
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…
River Fowey
25th July – Monday We both woke early this morning, although Chris was up first putting the kettle on for a cuppa before we went across for a shower. The night had been a damp, cold one and Carole…
Plymouth and the River Yealm
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…
Plymouth
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…
Salcombe
12th July – Tuesday A good night’s sleep was enjoyed by both of us and we were up just after 6.30. We got ourselves organised and left Noss Marina at 7.30. The wind was just making a few ripples on…
Noss on Dart
10th July – Sunday After a reasonably quiet night’s sleep, we awoke to a grey day and a weather forecast of strong winds. As we had now been on a mooring buoy for three nights, we decided it was time…
Dittisham – Cont’d.
7th July – Thursday (contd.) Not long after we got settled on our mooring, we were paid our first of three visits by one of the Dart Navigation harbour masters collecting mooring fees/river dues. Since our last visit in 2012,…
River Dart – Dittisham
7th July – Thursday Chris inflated our dinghy (Tender to Seaduction) on the pontoon so that we could tow it to Dittisham. This is quite difficult if we have to do this out on the water. Once inflated Carole helped…
Brixham
6th July – Wednesday We sorted ourselves out first thing Wednesday morning ready to catch the 10:00 bridge opening. Chris calculated that we needed to be at the tip of Portland Bill at 13:00. If we got this wrong we could…
Weymouth
3rd July – Sunday We were up bright and early and left Poole Quay at 09:00 to be at the No 1 Bar Buoy off of Studland Bay at 10:00. We were joined by two other yachts heading the same…
Poole
1st July We checked the weather forecast and decided things looked OK to move on to Poole. We topped up our diesel here as Yarmouth have a good pontoon to come along side. We slipped our lines and left the…
Yarmouth
30th June We woke up to sunshine today which made a change from the bad weather we have been having. We prepared the boat for sailing and after breakfast and a shower we slipped our lines and left Southampton Quay. …
Southampton
29th June 2016 Southampton We left the boat at Southampton Quay Marina for a week to go back home. We had a good journey back via London by train and tube and it wasn’t until we stepped off the bus…
East Cowes and Southampton
17th – 19th June We left Haslar Marina in Gosport at about 10:00 and joined the channel to leave Portsmouth Harbour. All yachts must leave via the small craft channel. This was very busy just like the M25. Once out…
Gosport
16th June Thursday Passage planning for sailing is always difficult. You need to take into account many factors: wind, tide at departure and arrival, is there enough water when we arrive, etc etc. I had made my plan to leave…
Brighton Continued..
12 June Sunday We had tied up safely on visitors’ pontoon 11, starboard side to, facing shore. Our intention later, when the wind died down, was to turn the boat round, facing out. Evening time came and we were certain…
Brighton
12th June 2016 We set our alarms for 6 am and were ready to leave our pontoon for the lock-out at 7 am. All went to plan and we exited the lock. Carole put all the fenders away before we…
Sovereign Harbour Cont’
11th June We should have had a lie-in this morning, but our body clocks seem all out of sorts and we were wide awake at 7 am, so we got up and had breakfast, tidied up and washed and dressed…
Dover to Sovereign Harbour
10th June 2016 We had set our alarms for 06:00 so as to leave at 07:00, but stirred before they went off. We got ourselves organised and were soon out of the lock. We followed three other yachts out of…
Our plans for 2016
We have decided to revisit the South and South west of England this year. In 2012 we sailed these waters and enjoyed the varied ports and harbours. We are planning to leave at the end of May or first week…