May 22, 2026
This post will likely take me a few days as I move South lest it be broken up into multiple boring posts. One boring post should be enough.
The weather should improve tomorrow and hopefully prevent me from having to use the stabilizers on both sides. That’s a repair I have yet to tackle.
To avoid bad weather I need to cross the English Channel into France on Tuesday so that is my target. Due to tides I can’t leave early tomorrow and may not get away from the dock until 10 or 11 am.
While here in padstow I began getting back to a more normal boating life. Riding my bike, minor repairs and reading. In this instance I also watched a lot of television. I finished 5 seasons of Outlander in the past few weeks and while I haven’t read the books the series appeals to me.
I was able to ride most days, not far and the hills here are much steeper than I would have guessed. The good news is that I am getting a lot stronger. (I particularly notice that the riding is much more difficult and attribute some of that to age and loss of aerobic capacity and declining muscle mass.)
I also did some repairs. Having upgraded to newer chart plotters I, I now have access to modern navigation equipment. If you were paying attention seven years ago I put a thermal camera aboard for those nighttime transits. I have now wired it into my plotters directly and that is a huge improvement.
I removed some antiquated equipment and wiring and cleaned up a bit. There is more to do but I am working on making Home Free better and that feels good.
The pier where I am tied has a lot of families fishing for crabs during the day and unfortunately they feed the birds which means my boat is getting shellacked with bird poop. I will be cleaning a lot somewhere in the next week.
To cap off my visit I am taking in a meal at one of Rick Stein’s restaurants, in this case, the Seafood Restaurant.
I had never heard of Rick Stein before but he’s a big deal in the UK apparently. I ordered the set menu and the food is very good and the service is great (that’s the biggie to me, great service).
On the 23rd, I was prepared to get underway, but because the harbour is protected by a tidal gate my departure was mid-morning. With the gate opening at around 10:15, I was underway around 10:30 and trying to make distance in fantastic weather. The day was almost completely uninteresting (other than motoring my way down the Cornish coast on a yacht, but normal beyond that) but for a few stretches of fog.
I made it around the bottom of England and anchored near Lizard Point, which is the southern most point in Britain. Lizard point isn’t the most protected spot to anchor, but the seas and winds are both relatively benign and I was exhausted. I slept early and well.
I must also send a shout out to Megan who is celebrating the start of her 30th trip around the sun on the 23rd. I hope you have a great birthday Megan and thanks for being an amazing daughter. I hope this next trip around the sun is at least as good as the last and hopefully better.
The weather on Sunday (24th) is slated to be amazing again. I am cruising at 6.5 knots with no stabilizers running and the seas are nearly flat. If this keeps up (it should), I will arrive in Brixham or Torquay around dinner time and try to get a slip for the night while I figure out how to sign out of the UK and head to France.
This year (now almost two months back on the water) has been good despite being alone for much of the time. Notably my fish feeding diet has not been so good. I haven’t been sea-sick once. While my weight is dropping again, it is from cycling, not from leaving the contents of my stomach in the ocean. Probably a healthier choice, but despite some very trying conditions (particularly last week), I haven’t been sick once. Maybe I’m getting used to this finally, or I am just picking better sailing conditions.
As expected the weather today was amazing. I did the entire run (about 11 hours, but one hour was waiting for a place to tie up) without even starting the stabilizers, so overall a pretty calm day. I have ended up in Dartmouth (not the one in Nova Scotia) and tied to a town dock.
This place is crazy busy. It was hard to find a space, but in the end I did, and then I went for a nice bike ride. The hills here are also crazy. Getting out of town, I climbed 140 metres by the third kilometre with grades topping out at 14%. Another hill during the ride topped out at 21.2%. That was fun.
Because the weather is amazing, tomorrow I will cross to France I think, and be on the correct side of the English Channel when the weather is less good on Wednesday. I keep thinking I would like to stay here longer, but I really don’t want to. I want to practice my French and enjoy flatter terrain.
I will end this post now, and work on a new one for my arrival in France.