Lunar Sea

Around Britain – Year 3 – Portishead to Ramsgate – 2022.   Leg 2 - Penzance to Plymouth Day 13 – 13 th June – Penzance to Falmouth – 36 miles .   Penzance Wet Harbour Our first impression of Penzance wasn’t a good one, in the area around the train station and the main street running down to it.  For the sailor, the wet harbour was still very much a commercial one. With fishing boats and large cargo boats used to carry goods to the Scilly Isle’s.  Some areas were set aside for yachts, but they would always be rafted and in our case, we were initially on the outside of four other boats.  What with the rafting and the clambering over the inner boats and the new vertical ladder arrangements to get ashore, this made it quite a hazardous experience?  One that Julia had decided that we would book ourselves into a hotel for a couple of nights, and with the promise of a bath this was a great option.  The hotel was in Chapel Street which turned out to be in the...

  Around Britain – Year 3 – Portishead to Ramsgate – 2022.   Leg 1 - Portishead to Penzance Preparation. Preparation for year three had begun in earnest last year (2021), but because of more Covid restrictions we postponed the third stage of our adventure for a further year. All the little things to do before you set off; checking engine filters, fuel, water, electrics, and electronics, all needed to be proved. Being in Portishead for nearly three years gave me enough time to attend to a variety of items that had needed repairing or replacing; renewing hull Port mirror films, repairing some of the head’s woodwork, cleaning the engine intercooler, replacing the life-raft.   Also, the running rigging; the sheets, the reefing lines, the mooring lines, and all the odd lengths of rope all washed, three sets of bedding per cabin all washed and ironed.   Restocking of in-date pyrotechnics, tinned food, and medicines. Sorting and stowing all the charts needed for t...