Did I mention that we ended up at a place called Shipstal point?
Well, after saying goodbye to Clares family, we motored away from the town quay at Poole and followed the lateral buoy markers across a shallow but choppy expanse of water which led us around Brownsea island and west to Long Island. The depth was just enough to take the boat so we flaked out the anchor and with 35 meters distance to the shore, inflated our dinghy – called “Big Cuddles”- that’s the unofficial name – the official name is “Son of Jim”, so we can always avoid embarrassment should we need to refer to our dinghy in polite company – which there seems to be plenty of.
It’s amazing just how quickly time slips past, and after 3 days of walking, fishing and bird watching, we took advantage of a small weather window opening up for the lengthly passage across Lyme bay with the pretty town of Dartmouth on the other side.
The anchor was weighed before dawn and we motored under a dark blanket of stratus and watched the dawn break against a backdrop of granite cliffs that lead us out to sea.
It took 14 hours from our point of departure and aside from sighting a basking shark who drew along side us to take a look, the journey was pretty uneventful until finally, the dark form of the south Devon landscape began to reveal itself across the western horizon, and, as the light of the day began to fade, we could make out the winking cardinal buoys through drizzle which signalled the rocky entrance of the river Dart and would guide us safely to anchor upstream.
Well, after saying goodbye to Clares family, we motored away from the town quay at Poole and followed the lateral buoy markers across a shallow but choppy expanse of water which led us around Brownsea island and west to Long Island. The depth was just enough to take the boat so we flaked out the anchor and with 35 meters distance to the shore, inflated our dinghy – called “Big Cuddles”- that’s the unofficial name – the official name is “Son of Jim”, so we can always avoid embarrassment should we need to refer to our dinghy in polite company – which there seems to be plenty of.
It’s amazing just how quickly time slips past, and after 3 days of walking, fishing and bird watching, we took advantage of a small weather window opening up for the lengthly passage across Lyme bay with the pretty town of Dartmouth on the other side.
The anchor was weighed before dawn and we motored under a dark blanket of stratus and watched the dawn break against a backdrop of granite cliffs that lead us out to sea.
It took 14 hours from our point of departure and aside from sighting a basking shark who drew along side us to take a look, the journey was pretty uneventful until finally, the dark form of the south Devon landscape began to reveal itself across the western horizon, and, as the light of the day began to fade, we could make out the winking cardinal buoys through drizzle which signalled the rocky entrance of the river Dart and would guide us safely to anchor upstream.
Dartmouth is just the most charming place you could encounter and reminds me of the kind of town that’s written about in a fairytale. Within the sloping valley, forestry flourishes and gives way to pastel coloured Victorian homes which lead down to the commercial waterfront where fishermen land their catch in brightly painted boats. Across the wide shimmering chocolate coloured river is Kingswear, mirroring Dartmouth in character and charm, and to top it all off, as if We weren’t blown away with this picturesque setting enough, the south coast blood and custard steam engine winds its way through the valley on the Kingwear side, its horn echoing off and filling the steep sides of the valley as it heralds its arrival.Yeah, not bad for £6 a night……
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.