Mayflower Marina, the meeting place on Saturday 16h August, could have been a bit problematic, as I did not know that the Fastnet Race was finishing there that weekend so that all the pontoons were packed with yachts and crews recovering from a hard wet thrash to windward up channel. But there was just enough room for my Jady Lane and Les Richmond’s Lightning dinghy which he admits is a bit minimalist for cruising any distance; but, even though he is a good bit more senior than I am, he enjoys racing it and it goes very well. The sun shone, but as the wind was fresh from the east, we were content to spend the morning at the marina sitting, drinking coffee and talking about boats before Les had to return to his weekend guests.

As I was there in my boat I continued the rally on my own, making use of the fresh breeze to sail up the Tamar over the ebb tide through the bridges at Saltash and beyond Weir Quay where I ran out of wind a little before low water. There I anchored and waited until after an early supper I got under way again with Suzuki and motored on up stream with the wind falling light and patchy behind the hills. The Tamar is a big spacious river below Weir Quay, and a gentle rural one from there to Calstock. But after that it changes as its opaque muddy waters wander between cliffs worthy of the Rhine Gorge on one side and something like the Amazon jungle on the other; but the whole area is dotted with derelict mines and other industrial workings so that it takes on a gloomy and almost threatening feel about it even on a sunny evening. Feeling oppressed but undeterred I pressed on to the head of navigation just below Gunnislake, but decided the weir there would be a noisy companion for the night so returned to Morwellham and spent the night on a convenient mud bank at the museum, in peace.

Sunday morning was also fine and I left mid morning after waiting for the tide to start running out. I motored down past Calstock to Weir Quay where a good southerly breeze picked up, allowing a most satisfying tack with the strong fair ebb tide down to Saltash where I recovered in the early afternoon. Again I am sorry it was a rally for one, but I tell you about it here to give you an idea of variety of thing that can be done in these excellent sailing waters, and I would like to share them with others. Aidan de Ia Mare