Etoile - Sailing round Britain with a Dog: The Bristol Channel

The rainbow over Swansea should have been a clue: It rains a lot in Swansea! We had planned a day of rest after the excitement of the Bristol Channel Waves, so the rain was no great inconvenience. Eventually we managed to get out and have a look round - there was the very impressive River Tawe Barrage, complete with fish ladder.

This was very popular with the harbour seals - clearly an excellent source of fresh, but somewhat exhausted, fish could be found attempting the ladder!

Swansea did have a pretty spectacular sandy beach

Swansea's answer to Tobermorey?

Our next stop was to be Cardiff - to visit the city, the huge freshwater Cardiff Bay, and Steph's sister in law, Veronica. Just under 50nm in 6 1/2 hours, could it be our new speed record? Great sailing, spinnnaker given another airing and we just arrived as the tide turned against us.

Completed in 1999, the engineering of the Cardiff Barrage was very impressive.

As we kept being told, the Bristol Channel has the second largest tidal range in the world and prior to the barrage the bay used to dry out on each low tide - it is now a 2 square km freshwaterlake, fed by the rivers Ely and Taff. Apart from the invasion of the Killer Shrimp and the Zebra Mussel, all is good in Cardiff Bay!

The Barrage Road, complete with 3 Bascule Bridges

The breakwater and sluices, complete with Fish Ladders and Salt Water Traps.

And most important - the Race Starting Box - clearly in touch with their feminine side!

The view across the bay - the Millenium Centre (aka The Armadillo) visible in the distance.

The Millenium Centre

The Giant Mirror? Apparently also a water tower with water running down it - but not today.

The National Assembly for Wales, and the obligatory Monument: the Merchant Seafarers' War Memorial.

Actually a very good Monument to Lives Lost at Sea - a boat from one side, and a fallen face from the other.

There was also the Scott of the Antarctic Memorial - his ship Terra Nova departed from Cardiff in 1910. A fine creation, but not too sure he would have approved of being placed next to the Norwegan Church, even if Roald Dahl was christened there!

Having seen the sights, and spent a lovely evening with Veronica and her daughter Naomi we decided to brave the Bristol Channel again - next stop Padstow. The photo shows us in the lock, at half tide.

The Bristol Channel fought back! We allowed ourselves 20 hours for the 100nm trip, as Padstow is tidal we left Cardiff at 5pm thinking we would arrive in good time for the 3 hour tidal gate and in daylight - Padstow is the Home of Doom Bar, so a night time arrival was not in our plan.

The sea state was horrible - the wind was not particularly strong, but the swell coupled with a short wave length made us crash into every trough. Boat speed was seriously reduced, Zilla was seriously unhappy - by the time we got to Lundy Island we realised Padstow in daylight with water was not going to happen. Plan B: 45nm trip back across the Bristol Channel to Milford Haven.

It was a long night!

Padstow Round Two: Another night crossing. We left Milford Haven at 1600, allowing ourselves 24 hours to cover the 100 nm.

The Dolphins came out to play!

Not only did they stay with us as it got dark, but they came back again and shone like phosphorescent missiles as they played round us. A truly fantastic sight.

This time we made very good speed across the Bristol Channel - back past Lundy Island too early! We ended up using our anchor for the first time and spending 3 hours in Port Quinn Bay just round the corner from Padstow - all fine, apart from the Imminent Gale Warning issued while we were there.

We just had a good night sleep in Padstow, then the plan was to spend a couple of days on land in Bude with Nick and Sally.