We left Cardiff at 0830 on Monday 14th July and set off across the Bristol Channel to Porlock near Minehead in order to visit Brian Debney, former Harbour Master at Porlock Weir. Brian built Severn Swan during the late 1970’s and early 80’s. We first tracked him down about 5 years ago via google and Thornbury Yacht Club.
We knew that Brian was out with the binoculars so we tried to put on an appropriate show as we approached, with all sails up. We are too big for Porlock Weir so Brian guided us by phone to the anchorage off the beach opposite the pub and we rowed ashore. We had help from Jim, the Commodore of the Porlock Sailing Club, to haul the dinghy up the beach and then went to the pub to find a very emotional Brian. We had a wonderful couple of hours hearing his tales of circumnavigation, downed a pint and then had to scarper quickly as the weather started to deteriorate.
We left Porlock at 2000 in big waves (to me anyway), rain and increasing wind. I threw up all the way to Lundy where we anchored at 0330 in relatively calm water.
Our schedule only allowed us 3 hours to get ashore, explore Lundy, and get ready to leave again.
The weather could not have been better after such a hideous night. We pretty much galloped round the nearest end of the island (which is only 3 miles long and half a mile wide thankfully) and managed to squeeze in half an hour for puffin spotting. I would definitely like to come back here one day as it must be one of the most tranquil place I have visited. It would be a brilliant place to unwind.
Up anchor again and off to Padstow. Despite the blue skies and sunshine, the sea was very lumpy for the first couple of hours and cooking bacon butties was a challenge that I had to abandon half way through.
We threaded our way up the estuary to Padstow Harbour during the early evening with a non-functioning depth sounder, managing to nearly run aground in the process, and tied up to the wall in the inner harbour. It was a lovely summer evening and Padstow was heaving with tourists (can’t make any gaffs with parking the boat with such a large audience). We did a quick, and increasingly desperate, tour of the streets around the harbour looking for Rick Stein’s fish and chip takeaway and then sat on the wall to devour our bounty. I have to say that it really was the best fish and chips that I have ever tasted, and not much more expensive than the average chippie.
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