3rd Aug (Update from Camaret)

Fri 27th
More of Padstow and a chance to update the web diary with some pictures via the WiFi access in the Old Ship pub (they only ask that you make a contribution to the Lifeboat fund). On Saturday we got ready to leave by catching up with laundry, showers, and topping up with diesel and fresh water; after which we moved out of the harbour to a buoy in the bay ready for an early morning start to the Scillies.

Sun 29th July
We left at 5:30am to head south , the wind was not very good and we had to use the motor most of the way to make a decent speed. However, we arrived in the Scillies and dropped the anchor at one of the un-inhabited islands (Great Ganilly). What a difference – from one extreme to the other! From being in the goldfish-bowl of Padstow where people are sitting on the harbour wall above the boat, swinging their legs over your head and looking at you as though we’re part of a ‘Big Brother’ show to the absolute peace and quiet of being the only boat at anchor and the only loud noise is the sound of the fish jumping….. Blisssss
Next day – Monday – we moved the short distance to Hugh Town on St Mary’s and picked up a visitor mooring so that we would be closer to the shops and be able to stock up for the planned passage across to La Coruna. One problem was that the weather window that we were going to wait for in the Scillies seemed to be here waiting already -- waiting ready for us to cross -- try to explain that to the crew ‘ we may be leaving tomorrow ‘. Well; we went to the shops and stocked for the siege of the sea but it was noticed that there was some apprehension – time to have a crew meeting…

The outcome of the meeting was that as we had already discussed and agreed that if the weather was too bad to cross directly to N Spain then we would do a shorter hop to France and continue down the coast south. There had been no chance to prepare (mentally) for the crossing and it was not worth causing extra stress in rushing straight to Spain. ( I think that Bill Bligh should have had more crew discussions – but then Pitcairn would not have children with freckles & ginger hair..)

Tues 31st
12:00 (ish) left Hugh Town to cross the English Channel to somewhere near Brest and ended up going into Lampaul bay on Ile D’Ouessant. The overnight trip across was a good sail and because we knew it would be busy with shipping we decided to stay up together and just take turns at cat-napping. The main plan to cross the main shipping Traffic Separation Scheme in daylight worked but there were still a lot of ships to be aware of during the night. Arrived at about 14:30 BST on Wednesday 1st August ( or 3:30pm French time).

Thurs 2nd Aug
Left from Ile D’Ouessant at about 9:30 BST to Camaret which has a bit more in the way of shops etc. Talk about in at the deep end though – our ears (or brain) haven’t yet changed to picking up the French language but we try to slow things down by explaining in pigeon French that we are sorry but we don’t speak very good French – we are from Scotland (with a smile). And the Auld Alliance is remembered and most people make an exception for us.

Fri 3rd
A day at the shops and looking at the charts & pilot books to work out some options for the next legs.