Speedwell of Rhu Ship's Log

8 th to 9 th of August 2012 - Helford River

Wednesday 8 ^th August

The German boat on the outside of the raft had left the previous evening so we were able to leave our berth as soon as the gate opened. This it did at around 0820. As soon as the green light showed, we motored out and across the bay to get a close look of St Micheal's Mount.

Once over on the east side, we then altered course and headed south east out of the bay toward Lizard Point. We had a good angle to the wind so got the sails up. The wind wasn't strong and it was a bit cloudy but we could see land quite clearly.

LIZARD POINT

We passed around the Lizard and into The Helford River where we picked up a mooring buoy. There were a lot of small boats heading across between the two villages. It was the perfect weather for messing about on the river.

Thursday 9 ^th August

The main reason we had decided to return to Helford was to complete a section of the South West Coast Path we had missed in 2011 due to colds and blisters. On that occasion we had instead spent the day watching seals at the seal sanctuary. However, today we packed our lunch, donned our boots and headed ashore in our tender. We crossed the creek and managed to find the coast path, we then walked the 6.5 miles to Porthallow and back again. We would have preferred a circular, and possibly, rather shorter route but had no map. It was another beautiful sunny day, apart from fog which came down quite thickly in the middle of the day. As we got to Porthallow we could see a few yachts lurking out of the fog and our walk was accompanied by the sound of fog horns of various pitches coming from the boats below.

We arrived at Gillan around high water so found the ferry. This proved to be a boy and a boat. We had to sit at the stern to allow it to beach far enough so we didn't get wet feet. When we arrived at Porthallow the pub was open (it had been closed all day last time we had been there). However, we gave it a miss and sat on a bench to eat our lunch before returning the way we had come. This time the tide was out so we were able to paddle across the river at Gillan, although without sandals or crocs the stones were a bit uncomfortable.

When we got back to Helford we were very happy that the cafe was still opened, as it was nearly 5pm, and we could have a cream tea. We followed this with a walk down to the pub where we had supper and a well deserved pint, before returning to the boat. By this time the fog had cleared and it was again a very warm evening. Boats, with loud outboards motors, were going back and forth across the river until well after dark.

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