Dartmouth Devon UK

The beaches of Herm glowing in the sunshine

The highlight of our 1300hrs departure from Guernsey was being intercepted by JJ, Matt and Simone to wave farewell to us and wish us good luck on our travels.

The beaches of Herm glowing in the sunshine

It was a fantastic send off which had intended to be with a boat on each side of Blue Velvet but, in the finest traditions of seamanship, Simone in the other motorboat found himself distracted taking in tow a sailing vessel that had got a line wrapped around its propeller.  We waved to Simone as he towed the disabled vessel in the opposite direction towards St Peter Port whilst enjoying being escorted up the Little Russel by JJ and Matt.  It was a grand farewell from Guernsey.

Tuesday morning in Dartmouth on the midstream pontoon

We actually needed to get to Falmouth to have our new pulpit fitted but the weather was not playing ball.  The westerly wind might not have been good for Falmouth but it was ideal for a passage towards Dartmouth; perfect for seeing our friends Nici and Strevs who live there.

So, we set off close hauled on starboard tack and 11 hours later, at just after midnight, we completed a 73 mile passage to Dartmouth and tied up on one of the mid-stream pontoons by the Upper Ferry across the River Dart.

(Top) The Britannia Royal Naval College and Upper Ferry and (below L & R) the Dartmouth Steam Railway
 train running down the Kingswear side of the estuary close to our mooring 

The morning brought delightful views of the River Dart with the Britannia Royal Naval College overlooking us on the high ground above the Upper Ferry, the Dartmouth Steam Railway train running down the Kingswear side of the river close to our mooring, and the picturesque estuary laid out before us.  But it was a prompt start for us because we had arranged to meet Nici and Strevs for breakfast at a café in the town before spending the morning at their house catching up on the latest news.

Looking upriver from above Warfleet Creek

We hatched a plan for an afternoon walk, followed by drinks and then dinner out before heading our separate ways for a few hours, which allowed us to catch up on a little ‘post passage admin’ on BV.

Kingswear

A couple of hours later, mid-afternoon, we met up again with Nici and Strevs (and Saffy their dog) and set off on a leg-stretch out to Dartmouth Castle at the southern entrance to the river.

(Top) Looking across to Kingswear from Warfleet Creek and (below) the
Britannia Royal Naval College and Royal Dart Yacht Club 

(L) Looking up-river and (R) across to Kingswear Castle

It’s a lovely walk with great views up-river and across to Kingswear and the tea-room at the castle does great ice-creams too!

Looking out from Shoals seafood restaurant over the Shoalstone Seawater Bathing Pool

After evening drinks up at Nici and Strev’s house, Nici drove us out to Berry Head just to the east of Brixham for a lovely seafood dinner at Shoals restaurant which overlooks Tor Bay.  A perfect evening with friends, with perfect weather to enjoy the views.  It would have been nice to dally longer in Dartmouth but overnight the wind was expected to veer to the north and we needed to take advantage of the brief period of favourable wind if we were to get west to Falmouth. The tide meant it would be an 0700hrs departure, so Dartmouth turned out to be a lovely, but brief, 36 hour stop-over.

Dartmouth, Devon, UK