Cyclone of Langstone: What on earth's been going on?

It's over 3 weeks since the last update!

There's a reason for that. Well, a couple actually.

It all started with a phone call from Jo's father, Keith.

From hospital...

A few months ago Beryl, Jo's mum, had fallen in the night breaking her femur in 2 places. Well Keith clearly wasn't prepared to be outdone and so, on 23rd April, he fell in the night breaking his femur in 2 places!

Naturally this put him in hospital where, from his hospital bed, he assured us everything was OK. Unfortunately, after a few days in hospital, Keith caught an infection and it reached the point where Laura, Jo's sister, suggested that we really should return home.

By this time we were in Newlyn so, before going any further, let's backtrack to Falmouth where we left off.

Our plan was to set sail after meeting up with Belinda and Martyn (see the last bit of the last blog) from Falmouth to the Helford River - just around the corner. However, Storm something or other was just around the corner and so we decided to wait until that had passed through before slipping our lines. That meant we had a few days to kill, so we went for a bit more sightseeing - starting by getting the ferry to Flushing (snigger). From there we walked around the coast to Mylor, cutting back via an inland route.

A Flushing street (downpipe?)

Well it's different! Look at all those gnomes mum!

Flushing waterfront

A view over the River Fal from our walk. I wonder what they use to anchor the ship mooring buoys?!!

Mylor has a church.

St Mylor Church

Within the grounds of this church we came across a memorial to HMS Ganges. We were intrigued by this because the early part of my dad's Naval career was spent at a Naval base in Shotley called HMS Ganges.

It turned out that this memorial was to 53 boys who'd lost their lives between 1866 and 1899 whilst training on HMS Ganges for a career in the Royal Navy. The ship was moored a short distance from Falmouth's small Naval dockyard and had the distinction of being the last sailing battleship to round Cape Horn without the aid of steam.

The boys mostly dies of scarletina, influenza and measles, but a few were killed in accidents on board or by drowning. 14,000 boys were trained on board HMS Ganges during those 33 years, so I suppose losing 53 wasn't so careless...

The ship was removed from Mylor to Harwich on 27th August 1899. There it continued to train boys until 1905 when a shore training establishment bearing its name was opened.

Ganges was renowned for its strict discipline and the excellence of its instruction. Apparently much was expected of a 'Ganges' boy when he took his place as part of a ship's company. About 120,000 were trained in the shore base with most becoming senior rates. A few, including my dear old dad, reached commissioned ranks.

Didn't he do well!

The HMS Ganges Memorial

After listening to 50mph winds whistle around the marina for a night or 2, we finally set sail from Falmouth on Sunday 28th April. We'd decided to skip the Helford River as we wanted to make a bit of progress so headed directly for Newlyn. This meant rounding the Lizard - the most southerly point of England (yes, I thought Lands End stuck out further too but, look at the map, it doesn't!).

The Lizard is another headland that needs to be treated with respect because of the potential for rough seas. It wasn't angry when we passed - perhaps just a little miffed - but we were nevertheless pleased to leave it behind for the better natured seas of Mount's Bay.

The Lizard

Looking back towards the Lizard

We knew we wouldn't get to Newlyn much before 2000 (8pm, not 19 years ago!) so decided to anchor off the beach to save a few quid. It was a little bit rolly, but not too bad most of the time.

A view of Penzance from our anchorage...

... and one of Newlyn

Before heading into Newlyn Harbour, we decided to go and have a butchers at St. Michael's Mount. I've no idea who St. Michael was, but he apparently had a thing for Mounts. France has a Mont St. Michael too. They're both rather special...

St. Michael's Mount

And again. Not a bad pad, is it?

Now Newlyn isn't a marina. Well, I suppose it is a bit, but for fishing boats and not yachts. A few passing yachts are tolerated, but they definitely play second fiddle to the fishing boats. Fair enough I suppose. The fishing fleet actually do something useful after all!

Our neighbours at Newlyn Harbour

Having said that, the charming Harbour staff made us feel very welcome (although a few of the fisherman seemed to go out of their way to ignore us!).

Newlyn is a proper working port and has its own appeal which I hope the pictures below capture.

This river ran through the town before meeting the sea at the harbour

A rather good memorial to lost fishermen

Newlyn town from the harbour

A Newlyn Street

Newlyn Harbour with Cyclone right in the middle of the picture

Must have been going some to end up there!

And so back to the beginning.

It was in Newlyn that we got the call from Jo's sister, Laura.

Laura had been doing a grand job of supporting Jo's mum and visiting her dad in our absence. She gave us daily updates on Keith's condition and we'd asked her to let us know if she had any concerns about his health deteriorating.

So when the call came, we knew we had to return home pronto.

To cut a long story short, we made our case to the Harbourmaster for leaving Cyclone for a week (he readily agreed in the circumstances); hired a car; returned home; visited Keith a number of times (he was thankfully already bouncing back to 'good' health); called in to see my mum (another 140 miles further on); and returned to Newlyn. About 900 miles in a week!

We picked up the hire car from Penzance, so here's a picture of their harbour:

Penzance Harbour

On our return to Cyclone we faced a dilemma.

Should we continue with our circumnavigation or return slowly home?

After a lot of thought we decided on the latter. Hopefully it wouldn't happen, but we dreaded receiving a similar call later on when we were somewhere more remote.

And then the first miracle happened (bear with me here!). We weren't going to make it to Scotland to see Nessie (the Loch Ness monster) and so Nessie came to Newlyn to see us! Yes, really!! Look at the photo!!!

Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. In Newlyn.

And miracle number 2 (those of a nervous disposition should look away now...). Jo's had a gammy finger for ages - maybe a year or more? Every now and then it erupts, spewing pus in all directions (I did say look away now and, OK, I'm exaggerating - but it's not been very nice!).

The miracle? After all this time, a splinter appeared from her finger! Well, more of a plank actually - see picture!

Jo says it's much more comfortable without it!!

Gammy finger and offending plank!

Ok, nervous types can look again now.

On 9th May we started to retrace our steps. Our plan was to visit the places we'd left out on our way west, with our first destination being the Helford River.

Leaving Newlyn Harbour with St. Michael's Mount in the distance

Approaching the Lizard for the second time. Rolling, rolling, rolling..... Raw Hide (I must learn the words!)

We anchored in the entrance to the Helford River for 2 nights. Very attractive and we had it to ourselves.

The view from our anchorage

Looking up river from our anchorage. Those rocks cover as the tide rises

Helford Passage on the north bank of the Helford River

Helford on the south bank

From Helford it was 40 odd miles to the River Yealm which is just east of Plymouth. You'd think it'd be hard to find somewhere more beautiful than Salcombe, but I reckon the River Yealm is.

A little way up the river Newton Creek separates Newton Ferrers on the north bank from Noss Mayo on the south. At low water it's possible to cross between them on a walkway known as a Voss. Look at the pictures and tell me it's not gorgeous! We stayed for 6 nights and did several walks, so I'm afraid there's a lot of them!

View from Cyclone on our mooring. Newton Ferrers with Newton Creek in the foreground

The dinghy park. Finding a space wasn't easy!

Another view...

... and another...

... and another. These properties had gardens opposite that bordered Newton Creek

Looking towards the entrance to the River Yealm from inside

Looking out to sea from the River Yealm. That's the Mew Stone (the big lump). Apparently a local thief was once marooned there to stop him nicking stuff. A forerunner to deportation perhaps?!!

Yet another view of the entrance. Well you try deciding which to leave out!

A woodland view (for a change)

Looking east along the coast

Noss Mayo at high water

Newton Ferrers from Noss Mayo

St Werburgh's Church, Wembury

The National Trust Cafe near the above church

Yet another view of the River Yealm

It was while enjoying our time on the River Yealm that we received the sad news of my Aunt Molly's passing. Molly was an enthusiastic follower of our adventures. Rest in peace Molly. Our condolences go to my cousins Gavin, Roderick and Merryl.

After 6 enjoyable nights we really did feel it was time to move on so, on Friday 17th May, we set sail for Dartmouth. It was a slow old sail as I'd decided to fight the tide rather than go with it so that we'd arrive at a sociable time. It wasn't too bad, but it got a bit wearing seeing speed over the ground of less than 3 knots at times. Yes, you could walk faster!

Start Point

The entrance to Dartmouth Harbour

Is that Cyclone? No, but similar... It had just taken on 8000 litres of fuel (must be worth a few days off school "protesting", eh kids?!) and its next stop was Norway!

And Dartmouth is where I'm writing this. On a mid river pontoon with the laptop powered by the ship's batteries and internet accessed courtesy of my phone and the 4G network. Ah the wonders of technology!

But for balance - one for you cousin Tim? - a steam train photographed from Cyclone!