Fowey

Tue 22 July
The plan is to spend just one night here, then move on to Falmouth, with the aim of getting to the Scillies by the weekend. It was a fairly uneventful trip across - just 20 miles and we managed to sail most of the way - the sea was flat calm and if we'd had more wind, we would have gone straight to Falmouth, skipping Fowey altogether. As it was, the light winds meant we were only doing 3-4 knots most of the time. The forecast promised rain and fog but so far, we've not seen either and we're crossing our fingers that the good weather holds just a little bit longer.

We had to raft up to get on the short stay pontoon in order to top up our water tanks and buy more calor gas. Topping up the tanks proved to be somewhat tricky as the hosepipe wouldn't reach around the boat we were rafted on and our own hosepipe wasn't going to be long enough either. Since our water tanks are unlined, we cannot drink the water and just use it for washing and doing the dishes so we carry about 40 litres of drinking water in separate containers. In the end, we emptied all our jerry cans into the top of the tank, then carried them ashore to refill them.

Having swapped our empty gas cannister for a full one (£15) and paid for a mooring (£13.50) at the harbour office, we untied Talia and headed out to the visitors moorings. After half an hour of delicate manoeuvering between moored boats, we completely failed to find a free buoy and gave up in disgust. Instead, we motored further up the river to find the visitors pontoon opposite the china clay quay. There were a couple of free spaces so we quickly tied up, then suddenly spotted a boat we recognised cruising up the river right next to us! Mike and Bobby, on board Hera, a MacGregor 26X - we waved them over and they rafted on us for the night. We all went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant - the food was great but the service left a lot to be desired! Because we were delayed at the River Avon due to the bad weather, we missed the MacGregor Rally in Falmouth last weekend. Bobbie and Mike had stayed on after the rally, hence meeting them in Fowey.