Fowey

Two days in Fowey. We are amazed we have time to do this, and that we have still accomplished quite a lot. The winds are looking much better on Friday for the return trip to Dartmouth, so rather than mess about around Plymouth, why not stay and enjoy Fowey – so we did.

Day 1 we took the dinghy into Fowey, no more than 300 yds. We had to see the Harbour Master to pay our dues and to do some shopping. We rediscovered the café we had been in a couple of years before; Pinky’s. Very quirky, great coffee and good internet. Then up river past the china clay wharf where they load the material onto large ships. A little ugly but, as Bob remarked, it is a working and profitable venture that bring life to the area – and an income other than tourism. There is a little muddy creek opposite where yachts can berth alongside a pontoon. Not much else there, other than a rather odd café with rather odd people. It seemed to be a café run by the owner for his mates. There was no one else there and no likelihood of anyone else being there – ever. We had a Doom Bar and retreated to the dinghy.

Back up the river and across the Polruan (Fowey's equivalent to Kingswear). It certainly is the scruffy side of the river but has a working shipyard busy servicing fishing boats and the like, and a couple of nice pubs. We had lunch in the Lugger and then walked up the hill to the castle (protecting the entrance to the harbour) and then on to the coast watch hut. This is a volunteer service that watches our coastline and passes information about incidents to the coast guard. A very nice gentlemen in there was on his 4 hr watch, knew our boat and told us very enthusiastically about the service they provide. All very worthwhile. He suggested we call him for a radio check as we leave Fowey and we will.

We walked back down the hill into Fowey watched some of the work on the fishing boats and then went back to Liquid Asset to read books, drink tea and generally do very little – this is what holidays should be about!

We watched the boats come in checking their buoy pick up techniques, had dinner – a massive fish pie – delicious, and then set about what cheese we had left on the boat.

Day 2 started early at 3:45 with the battery alarm. When the domestic batteries run low it sets off the alarm. We have to run the engine to charge them up, so obviously we had not fully charged them the night before. I was not going to start engines at this time of the morning, so I suppressed the alarm and went back to bed. It would not hurt.

At a more realistic time, 8 am, the crew roused. The first one up puts on the kettle for tea and this usually bring the remaining crew out of their cabins; we have got into a bit of habit!

A lovely sunny day; so we had breakfast on deck and considered our options. A walk was in order in the morning and some severe relaxing in the afternoon. We decided to explore the Fowey side a bit more.