The Circle is Complete

We decided to spend a few more days in the Solent - having seen the Needles countless times from the water, we thought it would be interesting to see the same view from the land.  Yarmouth is one of the few places we'd not visited, its close to The Needles, so that was our destination.


Yarmouth has new walk-ashore pontoons, there is also  a Pier, the only surviving wooden Pier in the British Isles but is apparently under attack by wood eating  Gribbles  - although very much smaller ones than the Gribble Seat!!!

We took a bus to Alum Bay where there is a bizarre visitors' centre complete with glass blowing and sweet making opportunities along with a chair lift down the cliff to the water's edge - we resisted these temptations and set off for The Needles.


Unfortunately the weather was not kind.  There was not a needle to be seen - only fog.


As we had time on our hands, we walked back to The Needles the following day, by then the Summer Season had officially ended, so sweet making etc was off but the sun was out!

The Needles - with and without fog.

Back in the 1950's, the UK was at the forefront of the Space Race - the cliffs by The Needles were apparently perfect for rocket engine testing, the rockets being tested were initially Black Knights  (Nuclear Warhead Technology) and later Black Arrows (commercial Satellite Launcher).  These were then dismantled and shipped to Woomera in South Australia where 22 of them were launched into orbit.

Interestingly, Rocket Testing was abandoned in 1972 when the Government declared that they could see no future in launching satellites into space.... Oops.

Alum Bay - North West corner of Isle of Wight - can't quite see it,  but there is a chair lift there.

We walked along the cliffs on the South coast to Freshwater bay - the same route that we had taken the day before in the fog.  Not sure that we'd have felt so comfortable with this route if we'd realised that there were styles to the cliff edge along it!

The clocks have gone back, and its's time to go home - despite the lovely weather in the Solent, we can't escape the fact that it's now officially winter.  

Even the Yarmouth Mooring Buoys have been lifted out.

November Sunshine in the Solent

We had company for the final leg from Brighton to Eastbourne:  Mike and Taryn to sail us back, and Pete to look after Zilla.  A brilliant ending to our travels.

The Beachy Head lighthouse must be there somewhere.

Sunset as we reached the Sovereign Harbour entrance.

The last few minutes of the journey.

And some celebratory Champagne in the lock - thank you all for your contributions!

And to finish - some photos of us sailing a couple of weeks ago.

So we have come to the end of a fantastic 6 months on the sea - living in a space the size of your average bathroom. 

TV watching was replaced with planning the next leg of the trip, the British obsession with weather reached OCD levels, catering with a pressure cooker, tiny fridge,  and only buying what you could carry back to the boat became the norm.  Could be a reflection of my cooking, but we spent £236 on gas and £231 on diesel - we really did sail most of the way round the UK.

So what's next?  After 4 months I finally had to agree with Ian that a J-109 is not the ideal boat for an ocean crossing:  It's fantastic in light winds, can cope with any sea and wind conditions, but it is not comfortable - sleeping and cooking at 40 degrees is not easy.  The 85 litre water tank is not enough, there is limited convenient storage space, although the spinnaker pole did make a good temporary drying rail it wouldn't be ideal for more than two crew and one dog!  I hate to admit it, but I can now understand why people have cruisers.

Watch this space ...  And thank you for reading the blog.