Truro River near Malpas
We were pleased to be moving, we love the Helford but the weather was not brilliant and our plan was to go up Carrick Roads to near Malpas where we would park on a harbourmasters pontoon and have a very peaceful couple of days.
We had a short but fantastic sail across the bay, I just out out a really small amount of main sail and we were whisked off down wind it was sublime. The navigation up Carrick Roads is a bit tedious as the channel twists and turns and it seems to take ages to travel what is in fact a short distance. On previous visits there have been huge ships laid up in the river but this year we were surprised to find them all gone. Whilst it is quite a spectacle to see ships in a river amongst trees it was a blessing that they were not there as they run their engines all the time.
We arrived at the pontoon and found a perfect space, but before we had finished tying up the harbour patrol arrived to collect their fee. To our surprise one of the officers was the lady who looked after our boat two years before when we had to return home at short notice leaving the boat for a week. They have had a change of policy in the past we were charged in the 12m+ category at a fixed rate £25 but now the have set the charge at £1.80 per metre for boats over 15m so the price was higher but still reasonable. There was a splattering of other boats on the pontoons and none of them occupied, apparently the owners move from the river to the pontoon owing to the series of low pressure systems. Sadly the owners of the boats had just plonked their boats anywhere along the long pontoon, later in the day visitors started to fill up the pontoon but because of the bad parking it ended up with plenty of space but no room. I suggested to one owner that we pul his boat along to the next boat to create an additional space for a visitor as not only was he bang in the middle of a large space but he had put his tender alongside the space behind his boat making it very difficult even for a modest boat to get in. he said his couldn't care less and wasn't moving. It thankfully very rare to meet anyone that selfish in the yachting community.
The next day we went to the Heron Inn for Sunday lunch. This involved a two mile trip up the river in the dinghy. We took the occasion to also go for a walk. What a good decision that was, if we had decided to go for dinner we would have been drenched as shortly after our return it rained heavily for twelve hours non-stop.
We had a short but fantastic sail across the bay, I just out out a really small amount of main sail and we were whisked off down wind it was sublime. The navigation up Carrick Roads is a bit tedious as the channel twists and turns and it seems to take ages to travel what is in fact a short distance. On previous visits there have been huge ships laid up in the river but this year we were surprised to find them all gone. Whilst it is quite a spectacle to see ships in a river amongst trees it was a blessing that they were not there as they run their engines all the time.
We arrived at the pontoon and found a perfect space, but before we had finished tying up the harbour patrol arrived to collect their fee. To our surprise one of the officers was the lady who looked after our boat two years before when we had to return home at short notice leaving the boat for a week. They have had a change of policy in the past we were charged in the 12m+ category at a fixed rate £25 but now the have set the charge at £1.80 per metre for boats over 15m so the price was higher but still reasonable. There was a splattering of other boats on the pontoons and none of them occupied, apparently the owners move from the river to the pontoon owing to the series of low pressure systems. Sadly the owners of the boats had just plonked their boats anywhere along the long pontoon, later in the day visitors started to fill up the pontoon but because of the bad parking it ended up with plenty of space but no room. I suggested to one owner that we pul his boat along to the next boat to create an additional space for a visitor as not only was he bang in the middle of a large space but he had put his tender alongside the space behind his boat making it very difficult even for a modest boat to get in. he said his couldn't care less and wasn't moving. It thankfully very rare to meet anyone that selfish in the yachting community.
The next day we went to the Heron Inn for Sunday lunch. This involved a two mile trip up the river in the dinghy. We took the occasion to also go for a walk. What a good decision that was, if we had decided to go for dinner we would have been drenched as shortly after our return it rained heavily for twelve hours non-stop.
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The apple does not fall far from the tree - Blackberrying -
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Near low tide -
A lucky escape - after lunch it rained for 12 hours.