Plymouth to Falmouth to Mylor (3rd July - 5th July)

As Robert Burns said in 1765, whilst ploughing a field: 'the best-laid plans o'mice an' men gang aft a-gley (often go awry). How Robbie Burns knew about our plans on board the good ship is a mystery to me but there you are, he did,  because otherwise why did he write about it in a poem. Our plan was to nip from Plymouth to Falmouth and having picked up Robert D to pop round Lands End and up to Skomer Island and then Milford Haven in Wales. This we did not do and so yet again Robbie Burns gets it right with his prophecy of a wryness. Mind you, as is almost always the case, we had lots of fun not doing what we planned to do so that was alright!

Having dropped Jeremy off to return to France it was just Rob and me setting off out of Plymouth Sound on a lovely sunny morning.

Looking back at QE Battery

Heading out between the breakwater and Cawsand

Breakfast was the all-new Brimble Hot Dog. Half a baguette with a hole made for it with a knife - NOT SLICED. Sauce injected in followed by the sausage. Risk of accidental sauce release avoided. The Bilge Cleaner in the right of the picture adds a boaty flavour.

We decided that it was time to set up the spinnaker and so we spent a happy few hours setting up a proper grown-up spinnaker system. The good ship loved it.

After a lovely sail, we moored up in the shadow of the excellent Falmouth Maritime Museum (you must visit) at Port Pendennis Marina. 

The following morning we set off with new crew Robert on board. The wind was moderate but the sea state was rough. So rough in fact that Robert felt obliged to reject the previous night's dinner and then after a few more minutes his breakfast ...I can't remember exactly what Robert had for supper. but breakfast was a delicious cheese and ham panini made on the excellent GSB Panini maker. 

Such things happen and we decided that as we were on holiday we should turn round. It was entirely my mistake to rush off in such haste. We decided to return to Falmouth and visited Mylor Marina which
I've never been to and which is really lovely.

Entry into the beautiful Mylor marina is straightforward and the team were welcoming. We talked about payment but they weren't that interested ... so refreshingly different to MDL (#moneygrabbingmarina)

We ate dinner on board and as we were clearing up a couple went past ... it transpired that the man here with his wife (them on the right of the picture) holding the pan, invented the Boatie Pan.  How cool is that? Nice chap.

Drone practice. Robert D is an ex-cameraman and understood camera stuff. We were impressed with all sorts of technical advice he gave us but didn't really understand much of what he said; well, any of it really. The challenge with the drone onboard will be how to land and take off when there is no room to land or take off. We decided that hand take-offs and landing were the only way. We started to practice

Take off was OK. The landing was scarier.

Excellent aerial view of the three of us. It's great to get close-up pictures of  the crew like this one that shows
just why a drone is a vital part of the equipment on board

... and this one. The sun glare on the left-hand side is apparently a recognised good thing and some professional photographers add it for authenticity. We found we could do it very easily by accident.
This could mean we are naturally professional.

Mylor church was super fab. The gravestones had some amazing epitaphs. My favourite was the whole story of a man unfairly shot by customs officials and what rotten sods they were for doing it. Still, with Brexit approaching we will need to get more used to this sort of event.

Great detail ... makes a spin round the churchyard a real must

This was a great story. In the boat in this pic is fisherman, Ned Bailey and his dog Bleiz.  As he went past, on his way into the little harbour at Mylor, Bleiz jumped over the side as Ned shook his fist at him and shouted, 'and don't come back'. We had a right giggle. It transpires this is their party trick for people watching from the shore. Bleiz has a nice cooling swim and them rendezvous' with Ned back at the harbour a few hundred meters down the river.

Chatting later, Ned said that a few years ago Bleiz had genuinely fallen over the side. It was some time before Ned missed him. He was beside himself and contacted other fishermen to help him search for his dog. After 4 hours they gave up knowing that Bleiz couldn't have made the mile or so ashore. They were wrong though. Bleiz was picked up walking along the shore by some tourists, taken to the local vets and shortly after was reunited with Ned. 

The following day we mooched around the corner and back to Port Pendennis. It was only a mile away so we decided to go aground. This happened whilst Rob and I were studying the wind instrument that is immediately next to the echo sounder. At the moment we went aground we knew exactly what the wind speed and direction was but unfortunately not the depth. This was our mistake. Robert was intrigued to understand how Rob and I knew we were aground. We explained that it was the way that the boat lifted up in the air whilst making a scrunching sound before stopping moving.
Experience shone through and must have given Robert real confidence in our ability.

A rather flashy yacht at Port P. The owners probably walked round to look at Brim but we didn't see them.

That afternoon we visited the Falmouth Maritime Museum. It is double excellent and gets a triple Brimble Rating.

Our quest for the best pasty started and finished today. The problem with this sort of quest is that there are only so many pasties you can eat in a day without overdosing and expiring. Current medical advice is one or less.
So we had one but not from this shop, although we nearly did. But didn't.

Our consciences were sorely affected by the pasty so we decided to go for a run and a drone flight to lose some calories, pass the time and of course further polish our piloting skills. We needed to wait for Chris 'The Perk' Perkins to make his way down from London, England before we set off again in search of a new country ... Wales. Chris had demonstrated his usual pragmatic approach with the last-minute change from a pick up in Wales to a pick up in Cornwall. 

The view from the drone-field was amazing

On the way back we ran back past Port Pendennis docks. The Shipyard looks to be thriving which is fabulous.

Shortly after our run we rendezvoused with The Perk and prepared the good ship for the next leg. Learning from our previous mistake of rushing off with a new crew we decided to give Chris a good couple of hours to settle in before we left!