28th May
Our first night in Darthaven Marina was a good one despite the strong wind. After showers and breakfast, we walked into Kingswear village and bought tickets for the 1 o’clock steam train into Paignton. The journey took about 30 mins and gave us some very pretty views of the countryside and coastline. Paignton was a typical busy seaside resort with pubs, cafes and amusement arcades. It also had a lovely beach onto which fairly lively waves were breaking. We had a pub lunch and on our walk round the town we picked up ingredients for our supper. We took a phone call from our friend, Peter, who would be joining us later, so we had to get back to the boat to prepare the guest cabin for occupation. (While we are sailing just the two of us, our third cabin is our “spare room” in which everything not being used gets put.)
Peter arrived in good time for supper and with the Eurovision Song Contest on the TV in the background he kept us entertained with all what he had been up to since we saw him last. After supper, while Carole washed up and tidied away, Chris showed Peter some of his new “toys”.
Next day became a really nice lazy Sunday. We took the ferry across into Dartmouth, had a wander round the little shops, and then found a smart looking fish restaurant for lunch. After turning down dessert we took a stroll in the sunshine. Peter treated us to ice creams and we found a nice spot in the shade with the sound of Totnes Brass Band in the air.
We returned to the boat via the ferry for a cup of tea before Peter left us to make his journey back home. Peter will be joining us again for some sailing when we reach Scotland.
We left Darthaven Marina on Monday after lunch, heading first to the Fuel Barge to take on some fuel. It took us two attempts to get tied on to the barge as Carole was not quick enough to tie the stern line on (one point to Chris!). We then put the genoa up, turned the engine off and sailed up the river to Dittisham. We decided it was such a nice spot, we would pick up a mooring buoy here for the night, so Chris radioed in and a very nice Dart Nav man whizzed over and helped us raft up to another boat. Home-made chicken curry and rice tonight