St Mawes

For those who complain I write too much...

Spent a couple of days up river past St Mawes before coming back to Falmouth for supplies.

P.S. It's not compulsory to read everything here. There is no test afterwards!!

For everyone else....

Fri 25 July
After discovering the reason that mooring on the fuel pontoon is prohibited when it’s closed – the whole pontoon gets towed away by the harbour master for refilling! – we decided that refuelling was probably best done soon after the pontoons’ return. At busy times, it runs out of fuel every day!

Mark managed to find a chandlery tucked away down a tiny side street and they were happy to let Pippin in with us, so he had a blissful half-hour exploring the surprisingly big store. We left with a chunky piece of rope to try and stop the rudder from banging at night but realised we’d forgotten to measure the size of one of the blocks for furling the genoa. One of the wheels on the block is starting to disintegrate, presumably from UV damage, but since the furling line is a continuous line with a very neat splice, we will probably need professional help to undo the line, replace the block and then re-splice as the splicing needs to be thin enough to go through blocks and the furler itself.

Since we had done all the laundry, we took the opportunity to access the cubby hole under the bed before remaking it. Pippin stuck her nose in and managed to snag a new toy, a small grey rhinoceros, which promptly got shaken to bits before having its stuffing pulled out. We secreted a few more bits and pieces away then packed up ready to cross the harbour to St Mawes.

St Mawes itself is packed with moorings which made it quite tricky to weave our way between all the boats to get further upriver. Eventually we emerged by Percuil sailing club and found a quiet spot to anchor. Sitting in the sunshine on the foredeck in such peaceful surroundings, it was hard to believe we were only 3 miles from the bustle of Falmouth.
We took the dinghy back downriver to St Mawes and beached it, before strolling through the little town. We walked up to St Mawes Castle, then meandered our way back to have an ice-cream, then sit outside the pub with a drink, watching the world go by.

Sat 26 July
I was startled to get up in the morning and not be able to see outside – a thick fog had descended and we couldn’t see boats that were moored less than 50 metres away. The sun made a brave attempt to break through but was soon smothered again. It was after lunch before it lifted enough for us to explore further upriver in the dinghy. We didn’t actually find anything, so came back close to our anchorage and went ashore for a walk.

We followed several footpaths, but apart from coming out at the sailing club, every path led to a road in the middle of nowhere with no villages apparent, despite the original signposts. Unfortunately Pippin ripped open her ear again, possibly on barbed wire, and ended up being quite a gory mess. Despite me squeezing her ear to stop the bleeding, she kept shaking herself and reopening it. We cleaned her up as best we could in a small stream and when the bleeding seemed to have stopped, we headed back to Talia. Unfortunately, the little minx managed to open the wound again all over our bed and the seat cushions, so after cleaning up again, we had to keep her outside in the awning for several hours. She spent the night in her crate snuggled up in blankets, with me checking her regularly, but fortunately the cut stayed closed.

Sun 27 July
We motored back down the Percuil River and sailed back across to Falmouth under the genoa. When we stopped for a drink, we bumped into Steve and Barbara from Moomin, who were on a short break for their wedding anniversary, rather than staying on from the MacGregor Rally the previous weekend!