May 2015 Southeast England
England | Dartmouth | Dartmouth Castle
May 29, 2015
Dear Family and Friends, We had and eventful passage from Newlyn, England anchorage SW England to Milford Haven, Wales on Wednesday (125nm). Our day started at 0430 as we motored the 10nm to Lands End in calm seas,lobster pots and fog patches. Up went the main sail then jib as we continued to motorsail until noon. The promised SW winds picked up and as we crossed the Celtic sea up the Cornwell coast across the bay to Bristol. Gradually down came the mizzen then the main until we were sailing over 8kts with a furled jib. Al claims he has not seen waves like this since crossing the ocean in 2006. We lost our sunshine and then got some rain. The winds turned more west which helped but as we approached Milford Haven about 6nm out the waves churned and tidal streams slowed us to 2.5kts. Milford Haven approach is well lit with two deep water ship passages so it was easy to navigate up the 3nm to NW corner Dale Flat anchorage about midnight. We dropped anchor in sandy bottom but an hour later let out more chain as we dragged a bit.
Slept good and woke to beautiful sunny day. Decided to continue up the River Cleddau to find a quieter place to be out of the wind. Good thing Al decided to sail off the anchor for we discovered a lobster pot wrapped in our anchor attached by string to other pots. With some jigging we were able to break free and sail away up the river. Once past the fuel dockyards above the bridge the river offers beautiful countryside. We took a mooring buoy up Carew River at Lawrenny Quay. Had a quiet day resting after our wild passage, cleaning up and some small repairs. We got lots of wind and some rain overnight so Artemis is clear of salt water.
We made some miles these past two weeks visiting Poole, Portland, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Falmouth and Newlyn all in Southeast England. We rented a car in Portland for two days and visited Plymouth Castle, Weymouth, Corfe Castle, Lulworth castle and cove, many small towns along Jurassic Coast (incredible coastline and geology) to Lyme Regis and Sidmouth.
Dartmouth we enjoyed a nice walk out to the castle. Bustling busy town. Plymouth we took a ferry to Barbican (Old town Plymouth) where the Pilgrims departed to America. Pretty parks and seaside walks. We didn't spend alot of time in these towns as we will come back this way later in the summer. Despite the wildness of our passage to Milford Haven it was still a good weather window for rounding Lands End and heading north. One needs to remember "they say" Force 5 or 6 gets wilder in the Irish Sea than elsewhere:-)
We plan to stay in the Milford Haven area as even stronger winds and weather are predicted through Tuesday. It's been colder 45-55F, wetter and windy but lovely when the sunshines. Hopefully June will bring on summer. We will move to a marina tomorrow and perhaps rent a car for a few days. Hope all is well with you. We love hearing news from home. Love and God Bless Sally and Al
Dear Family and Friends, Once again I just realized my main source of communication to family and friends has been facebook and skype. Those who have kept up on our travels and pictures via facebook may want to disregard this log. We sadly left Limehouse Marina, London on a beautiful spring day April 14. We enjoyed a fast trip 40nm down the Thames River and picked up a mooring buoy at Queensborough.
The next morning we headed north another 40nm across the Thames Estuary to the Orwell River and Suffolk Yacht Harbor. We hauled out there and did our spring maintenance. We've always been so busy doing spring maintenance on Artemis at Suffolk that we had never taken time to visit and explore nearby Ipswich. We rented a car for part of our stay so we finally made the effort. Ispwich is a lovely town and as we discovered much bigger and interesting than we had expected. We retrieved some things stored at our friend Jools house in Woodbridge. We spent a night with friends we met in Turkey Sandra and Ray s/y Strategem in their beautiful home Highfield House in Thornhan Magma, England and spent a day exploring historic Cambridge.
May 7, 2015
We finally began our 2015 Cruising season once again sailing across the Thames Estuary heading south this time 52nm to Ramsgate, England. We've had a lot of SW winds as we've headed south but have been able to get in quite a bit of sailing when not pounding straight into the seas. Fortunately our passages are not always exactly SW nor are the winds always exactly SW:-)
Next stop 15nm to Dover where we climbed to the castle to renew our English Heritage membership. We had a relaxing Mother's Day lunch at Cullins Yard restaurant.
Sovereign Marina in Eastbourne (43nm) was a new stop for us but the town was not close and we left the next morning for Gosport across from Portsmouth (64nm). We stayed a couple of days at the excellent Hassler Marina, Gosport and replenished our provisions.
Now we are in Cowes Yacht Haven (8nm) on the Isle of Wight. This is the first town on our cruise we have not visited before. The village is quaint, busy with tourist until 5PM when all but bars and restaurants close for the day. We rode the chain ferry across the River Medina to East Cowes yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny high 60's kind of day. We packed a picnic and walked to the Osbourne House. This English Heritage site was a royal seaside palace build for Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their nine children. It's a gorgeous palace especially the Durbar Banqueting Room done in Indian plaster mould decor. Many beautiful gardens, trees and walks around the grounds. Papa Albert built his children a Swiss chalet on the grounds as their special play house with their own personal gardens surrounding it. It must have been wonderful to escape from London crowds to their "little" paradise on the Isle of Wight. Today is a bit colder, rainy and windy this morning. We are waiting for a package to arrive here before moving on to Poole. Planning to visit the Classic boat museum in East Cowes later today. Hope this log finds you well and happy. Love and God Bless Sally and Al
