Milford Haven Interlude
Willing on the weather window
Our first impressions of Milford Haven were very good. However it must be said that the attractions of Milford don’t run terribly deep! Having explored the immediate area on foot we can say that there are some good highlights:
Lawrenny and Milford Haven Marina
Time for a shower!
We enjoyed 6 nights at Lawrenny Quay, with the tide racing past us one way, turning us around and then racing back again. At times (springs) we would have struggled to row against the current, but fortunately the trusty Yamaha never let us down.
You know it’s time to move when…….
Having a spider take up residence at the wheel shows that we have enjoyed our stay here, but it was time to disturb him and move on.
Greystones was interesting enough for a couple of days. We watched England v Russia in a bar with good humoured locals. Paul fished with no success (but that never deters him, he’s very good at it) and we expanded the period of interest by catching the train to Wicklow
A flying visit…..then to Greystones
Alice leaves and a fog descends………..
Thanks to Mr O’Leary’s steerage class airline Alice was able to pay a flying visit – after work on Sunday, arriving midnight Sunday and departing Tuesday 5pm – for the princely sum of £20 (return!). The coach from the airport was 16E return, so all in all a cheap visit………………or not!
All’s Well That Ends Well
So what went wrong to lead to the title of this blog?
1. We had to get up at 4.00am to get to Dublin in daylight. And we like our bed;
2. Paul usually gives too much “offing”, but not through the Copeland Islands overfalls;
3. It took 5 minutes longer than the passage plan to get to Howth (Dublin) – 16 hours and 5 minutes!
4. After getting excited about Howth they told us we couldn’t stay;
A sailing blog at last
We ended up staying at Rothesay for 12 nights waiting for a weather window, but enjoyed every moment. The weather was breezy but beautiful. It is not our intention to sail every day and visit as many places as we can (exhausting ourselves in the process). Instead we intend to linger and smell the roses (well, ok, the seaweed), just as we did here. But the time came….
Waiting for the weather!
We called the Rothesay berthing master on our way back from Portavadie. “Hello Dave, it’s Paul on Calypso here – have you any room?”
“Aye, you’re the guy who cannae steer in reverse” was the retort. Yes we have plenty of space – even fer ye”.
And so we arrived on Sunday, allowing Graham and Amanda to catch the early ferry on Monday morning, leaving us to sit out the forecast high winds for a day or three. So we thought.
Life’s a bag of prawns……..
We are writing this in Rothesay harbour having just waved goodbye to our friends Graham and Amanda, who traveled to Kip to spend a farewell weekend with us and to bring up final bits and pieces – and alcohol to fill the bilges with!
Re-winding a little, we arrived at Kip by train. The journey did not go as smoothly as it might – firstly we couldn’t retrieve the tickets as Paul had chopped up the card that they were purchased with, and then………
Hard Work Rewarded
So after two long hard days of servicing, antifouling and waxing the boat – I thought it was time to find out what the “Scooby Snack” on the menu at the Chart Room looked like. So here it is – and as a lifelong fan of Scooby Doo – I have to say that they did it justice! Scooby Dooby Dooooooooooo!!!
Shaggy and I took a van-full of gear to Calypso at the weekend and not only ………….
Preparing to move aboard
We have been acquiring “stuff” over a period but the “stuff to buy” list was getting longer. So since the Christmas break we have been stepping up the pace.
Since we acquired Calypso we have been purchasing things, as you do, for your hobby – new life jackets, anchor, granny shopping trolley (oops, the secret’s out but it’s useful, honest guv), fishing gear etc. etc..