Etoile - Sailing round Britain with a Dog: Back to the Mainland

We left the beauty and tranquillity of the Scilly Isles at the beginning of October - again we saw nothing of the Cornwall Coast which was shrouded in fog which gradually thickened until we had visibility of less that half a mile. We did see a pod of dolphins early on, but they were almost touching the boat at the time!

We stayed in Port Pendennis Marina in Falmouth - it's the first one we came to - and was clearly the home of some very large vessels.

There were also several Navy Support Vessels which kept their engines engines running 24/7 which did little to add to the ambiance of the location!

Another creation from the Pendennis Superyacht Yard?....We didn't know that a Laser had reached the Superyacht status!

A Force 8 kept us there for three days, we were right next to the Maritime Museum so decided to pay it a visit -

The Museum was holding Touring Exhibits of Polar Explorers Scott and Shackleton and also Lighthouses which were excellent - as the Museum ticket entitles you to a year's entry we visited several times and I believe we saw everything including Ben Ainslie's 2000 Laser.

The view from the observation tower in the Museum.

There were a few more unusual boats at the Museum - these were apparently going to be used to carry children in the forthcoming Oyster Festival but I'm not sure I'd trust them for long!

The wind was still blowing a F5 to 7 but we really felt that the delights of Falmouth had been fully explored so decided to move on to Plymouth 40 miles to the East. We had our small headsail and two reefs in the main and all went well.

Tough Fishing off Falmouth.

Plymouth had a selection of Marinas - guided by the Pilot Book we chose Sutton Harbour Marina, which is in a Lock basin right in the centre of the town.

It was very smart, with comfortable seating presumably for watching the boats manoeuvre in the harbour.

We took a quick walk round the city walls up to Plymouth Hoe where Drake kept watch for Spanish Invaders (or played Bowls)

Drake keeps watch.

Memorials - on Left - National Armada Memorial - for 300th anniversary of the first sighting of the Spanish Armada.

Middle: Naval memorial to Commonwealth Sailors lost in WW I and WW II.

Right: Royal and Allied Airforces Monument.

The Royal British Legion

Looking out to sea.

Looking West - the Lido.

And back at the Marina, The Killer Shrimp?

We only spent one night in Plymouth, then went on to Torquay where we were meeting up with some friends in the area.

We are now almost on home turf - for the first time we are sailing in waters we have visited before, although it was now 2 years ago.

Torquay seemed to be an interesting combination of small fishing boats and super expensive power boats, plus loads of jet skis.

Next stop: Portland (Weymouth) the new Olympic Venue. Slightly challenging pilotage as we hadn't updated our charts, but the IPad came to the rescue and we found our destination in the dark.

This Marina is clearly a well kept secret - I think we were the only visitors.

Next Stop Poole - to meet up with Clare, in her last year at Bournemouth University.

We could see the Isle of Wight in the distance, so it is starting to feel that we are almost at the end of our journey. The price of Poole Marina reflected our proximity to the Solent - it's the most expensive of our trip so far.