Beaulieu first impressions

01/11/2015
by kelewis37
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Photo of Beaulieu River

Beaulieu River by Kathryn Lewis

Sailing to Beaulieu through the Solent – approaching from either the East or the West – is a magical experience, especially if you arrive in the late afternoon as the sun is beginning to fall.  There is a bar that restricts arrival time as you don’t want to get stuck in the entrance or wait around for enough water to get over the bar.  Once you’ve made it over the bar there’s a clearly marked channel and a light house that helps to navigate up river as far as Beaulieu.

We visited Beaulieu three times during the last sailing season, once at Easter and twice during the summer.  It’s also not strictly true to say that these are first impressions as I’ve visited Beaulieu on a number of occasions since I started sailing in the Solent in 1998.  The blog is, however, new so what follows are my recent impressions.

The river winds East and then roughly North through the Beaulieu estate which is at the edge of the New Forest.  From the river you’ll see a wide selection of birds, boats and on shore cottages that only the very wealthy can afford to live with private pontoons and some with private helicopter landing pads.  It’s about a 40minute motor up river before you get to Beaulieu.  You’ll turn a corner and the village of Buckler’s Hard will emerge on the left with the Agamemnon Boat Yard and Beaulieu Marina just a bit further on.

You’ll be met by the harbour master who will direct you to a marina berth or mid-river mooring. Both are good.  The marina’s better if you and your crew want to get off easily to go for walks or visit the local pub.  The mid-river pontoon has electricity and water and there’s a water taxi service available if you can’t be bothered to break out the tender.

Ashore the facilities are fairly limited, if you’re after a party then you should’ve gone to Cowes.  There are good showers and laundry facilities and a boatyard that could probably fix any problem you might have.  There’s no longer a shop in the street at Buckler’s Hard.  A few limited provisions such as milk and bread are available in the marina office.  There’s a pub, the Master Builder, in Buckler’s Hard.   If you fancy the 3 mile walk, or trip by tender if the tides are right, to Beaulieu the village boasts: a post office, news agent, a few shops and the Montagu Arms hotel and restaurant.

The reason to visit is to enjoy the quiet, mess around on or around the river and watch the trees grow.  There are plenty of walks and you can take to the water to swim, kayak, sail or motor.  I developed my obsession with Stand Up Paddle boarding after watching one of our boating neighbours paddle up and down the river on an inflatable paddle-board as his morning’s exercise.

Yarmouth – things to see and do

01/08/2015
by kelewis37
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Solent / UK

It’s not a surprise that there’s a lot to do near Yarmouth.  The Needles is a well known UK landmark and tourism in some shape or form has been around since Queen Victoria built Osborne House.

An open top bus operates frequently and follows a circular route from Yarmouth to Freshwater Bay to the Needles and the amusement park before looping back to Yarmouth.  If you’d prefer to stretch your legs then there are plenty of walks across to Freshwater Bay or up onto Tennyson Down and along to the Needles.  In fair weather taking your boat out to Alum Bay to anchor and swim is also a pleasant excursion.

photo of Needles Park

Needles Park photo by Kathryn Lewis

We took the open top bus to the Needles amusement park which, off season, had a melancholy feel.  We choose to walk along the footpath to the Needles Battery and picnic’d sitting on a bench in the sunshine watching the boats leave the Needles.  We’d been to the Needles Battery before but were interested to see the English rocket launch site which is hidden on the south side of the Needles promontory so we climbed around to that and tried to imagine the British version of a rocket scientist jerry rigging a rocket together with half the budget of the Americans.  According to the information pack some of the technologies that the British team created are still in use today.

Photo of view from Needles picnic spot

View from Needles picnic spot by Kathryn Lewis

From the Needles Battery we walked across Tennyson Down to Freshwater Bay and picked up the bus to take us back to Yarmouth.

If we had more time

Yarmouth – food

01/06/2015
by kelewis37
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Solent / UK

Yarmouth punches above its weight where food is concerned.  I counted six pubs, two bakers, four cafes, two general stores and at least three ice-cream shops.  This is in a town of three streets!

The Isle of Wight is developing a reputation for gastronomy and so it wasn’t a surprise to me that there’d be excellent food – cooked and ready to prepare – available.

We visited

The George Hotel 

The hotel is under new ownership. Previously it had a one Michelin star restaurant and the new owner told us that she’s hoping to win that back soon.  The bistro opens out onto a garden that slopes down to the Solent and is a fantastic place to spend a sunny Summer afternoon.

We were visiting in the Autumn and there happened to be a special dinner comprising a private tour of Yarmouth castle, talk on the history of the castle followed by a five course tasting menu.  We were able to enter the castle from the grounds of the hotel rather than the traditional entrance and enjoyed fantastic canapes and Prosecco on the roof of the castle whilst we watched the sun set.  The talk was interesting and covered the full history of the castle’s commissioning by Henry VIII through to the decommissioning after the end of the second World War.

view from Yarmouth Castle looking to the Solent

Yarmouth Castle looking to the Solent by Kathryn Lewis

The dinner was interesting and an opportunity for the chef to try out a range of dishes on a supportive audience.  He can cook.  The meal was good but not much different from other aspirant Michelin starred restaurants.  I hope this talented chef develops the confidence to make the dishes unique.

Grace’s Bakery

A lovely bakery that looks over the harbour.  Fresh bread, cakes and pastries all locally produced.

The Delicatessen

On the Market Square there’s a great delicatessen selling everything you’d need for a picnic or to cook up an evening meal for the crew.  We stocked up on vegetables and a picnic lunch to take with us on our walk to the Needles.

Wish List

If we’d stayed longer we’d also have tried out the following:

King’s Head Pub – great evening meals especially if the crew fancy a relatively cheap night out.

Salty’s – traditional fish and chips

The Bugle – also a good pub and food option

Gossip’s Cafe – for tea, coffee and ice cream looking out over the Solent.

Other restaurants 

Yarmouth – first impressions

10/21/2014
by kelewis37
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Solent / UK
Advertising in Yarmouth

Advertising in Yarmouth

The sunset was beautiful.  We’d sailed West.  Sunglasses on as we pointed Trouper towards the last of the sun.  The next half hour was dusk and it was dark when we arrived in Yarmouth.  We’d pre-booked a berth in the marina though, in October, at the tail end of the season there was plenty of space.

The leading lights made the entrance straightforward, even in the dark.  You just have to dodge the ferry that runs once an hour.  It also helps if you call the harbour master on the right radio channel.  We decided to moor up – as we couldn’t get through but, guess what, if you call them on channel 68 rather than 86 they’ll respond!  Once moored in the correct berth we got the dinner on and the heating.

Yarmouth harbour has changed so much; even in the 15 years I’ve been sailing.  There is now walk ashore access from pontoons rather than fixed piles where you moor fore and aft.  The shower-block with marina office is still the same with helpful staff and a good range of facilities including: toilets and showers, laundrette, tourist information, wifi/internet access.  Over the bridge is a boatyard and the town of Yarmouth is a five minute walk in the other direction.

I do have one gripe about the facilities and that’s the cost of the showers.  Before the pontoons went in you could understand separate charges for the showers as the cost to moor was relatively cheap.  Now our bill is much the same as in Lymington but we then have to pay a further £1.30 per person to use the showers…. it makes staying at The Berthon Marina or Lymington Yacht Haven an option worth considering instead.

Yarmouth itself is tiny, two rows of shops, a pier, church, about seven pubs and a castle.  There’s been a settlement here since times historic.  We learned, at a talk on Yarmouth, that it was once an Island but that was during the time of Henry VIII.  It’s also had 2 Members of Parliament and pirates though not at the same time.  We planned to stay a couple of days as we wanted to go for a walk on Tennyson Down and try out the new restaurant at The George Hotel.  That first night though we ate a good meal, read our books and luxuriated in our warm cabin.

Mylor – first impressions

10/12/2014
by kelewis37
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Cornwall / UK / West Country

Mylor. The last stop on our Summer Cruise of Devon and Cornwall.  Our first challenge, finding the channel to enter the marina.  This was marked but depth of tide meant that we could only enter +/- 3hours around high tide due to a shallow area in the channel.

We found the entrance due to a larger boat ahead of us.  They’d slowed down.  Presumably they were waiting for more tide to allow them over the shallow patch.  So we snuck past.  They looked on nervously not knowing, of course, of our special shallow draft keel.  Once over the shallows it was a straight line to the marina entrance.  We had reserved a spot as we were keeping Trouper there for a week.  We were directed to the outer pontoon which was protected from the SW but not from the E so was a bit bouncy from passing traffic.

The marina staff were really welcoming and helpful but were busy.  The change in forecast meant they were flooded with boats wanting to stay for Falmouth week and others wanting safe harbour from the forecast storms generated by hurricane Bertha.

Mylor itself seemed to be mainly marina buildings with comprehensive shower facilities, chandlery, boatyard, restaurant, bar and marina offices.  All were very neat and even colour coordinated.  We didn’t have long to explore as we had a train to catch in the afternoon.

We did meet our boating neighbours.  The owner of a Hanse moored ahead of us was on the last leg of a circumnavigation of Britain.   He’d recently retired, though didn’t look old enough, and had spent the Summer turning left.  Leaving Southampton he, with various friends and family leaving and joining along the way, sailed up to the Orkney Islands and then down the West coast and around the corner.  He too had failed to get to the Scilly Islands but otherwise had a fantastic Summer and start to his retirement.  He was staying for a few days so promised to keep an eye out for Trouper while she was on her own – which was very kind.

In terms of other facilities, Mylor is close to a supermarket – Tesco vans seemed to be delivering to the boats – with Penryn and Falmouth relatively close by.  We heard that the food in the marina restaurant and bar is very good.

We caught the Falmouth train from Penryn to Truro the branch line that links the mainline to the Falmouth docks.  Now it’s mostly locals and tourists.  It’s a taxi ride from Mylor through winding country roads.  Our taxi driver was hoping that the storms wouldn’t mess with the Red Arrows display later in the week.

 

 

Plymouth – first impressions

09/27/2014
by kelewis37
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Devon / UK / West Country
Ferry in Plymouth

Ferry in Plymouth

London was pouring with rain, a thunder storm had taken out a signal box on the train line, there were no trains and it was the start of our Summer holiday.  Luckily we managed to squeeze our way onto the 6:00pm train to Plymouth and only arrived one hour later than planned.  Plymouth was still steaming hot.  They were still enjoying the last days of the heat wave that had come crashing to a halt in London with Summer storms.

Tom had taken Trouper down to the Mayflower Marina in Plymouth over three days the previous weekend so we could maximise our holiday and minimise the passage making. We opened the hatches and turned on the fans to try to cool the boat down.  I felt as though we were genuinely on a Summer holiday as the contrast between home and Plymouth was so stark.

The only problem was that we were late arriving and hadn’t gone to the supermarket so we were short of the usual provisions.  The next morning we decided to cut our losses and breakfast on shore.  Luckily the  marina has a fantastic cafe/restaurant, Jolly Jacks, and we had a superb breakfast.  Less fun was the miles and miles long walk to the main road and buses, taxis etc to take you to the nearest shops.

The Mayflower marina is a favourite of mine.  The first time I visited was in 2000 where we’d stopped overnight on a delivery trip to Dartmouth.  We couldn’t get over the fact that there are bathrooms available.  We were very surprised to see fully fitted out bathrooms each with their own shower or bath, toilet and sink.  It was delightful after two days on passage in blustery conditions.  I’m pleased to say that the bathrooms are still there, fully updated and as splendid as they were in 2000.  The chandler was a sad state of affairs.  It turned out that the owners were closing down at the end of the season so they were running their stocks down.

Across the water is a redevelopment of some old naval warehouses.  Royal William Yard was a former victualler for the Royal Navy but has been turned into a small marina, restaurants and shops.  We stupidly didn’t explore until it was too late and missed out on the opportunity to try some new restaurants.

The nearest supermarket is a Lidl where we managed to stock up on some good quality fruit, veg and staples (including a handheld mixer for £12).

We stayed in the marina for two nights using Trouper as a B&B to enable us to go to the Port Eliot festival.   With that achieved we set off for Salcombe.

I felt sad that we didn’t really explore Plymouth I would have liked to have swum in the Lido or visited the old town and Plymouth Hoe but they’ll all be there the next time we visit.

Southampton Boat Show 2014

09/20/2014
by kelewis37
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Solent / UK

The Southampton Boat show is currently running with the last day tomorrow.   I haven’t been for years but, of course, now we have Trouper.  This time we had an agenda.  We wanted to find out more about: boat electronics, alternative energy sources, scout for a boat bargain and look at the new boats.

Boat Electronics

We looked at the B&G instruments as that would be compatible with what we already have.  They had a massive stand with all the latest gizmos on display.  The chart plotter radar display looked interesting but it would be a costly upgrade for us as it won’t connect to our existing radar so that would have to be changed too.  One for the wish list (eBay) rather than an immediate purchase.

Alternative energy sources

Every possible option seemed to be available from wind and solar to generators and fuel cell.  Tom liked the fuel cell and I liked the solar.  Both add complexity to our current set up and would need to be stored somewhere.  We’re trying to keep the boat rubbish to a minimum as we’ve sailed on other boats where the amount of stuff you lug around grows exponentially with time.  All are costly ranging from about £700 for solar to £8000 for a generator. The return on investment in terms of convenience or financial savings are limited and, if I’m honest, beyond the natural life of the product.  I think we decided to try one flexible solar panel to act as a way of topping up batteries when we’re away for days at a time but we’ll wait until next year to purchase.

Boat bargains

We did quite well with the bargain hunting.  We managed to get two replacement fenders, genoa sheets, mainsheet traveller, fuel can for the tender and a copy of next year’s almanac.  Luckily the stands will keep purchases safe until you’re ready to leave.  We think that we made about between 5%-70% saving on chandlery prices but you do need to shop around the various stands.

New boats

We looked at X-Yachts, Beneteau, Ancona Yachts.  All had boats in something that was around the 43′ length.  The boats had a number of layout options.  The Beneteau’s looked to be good value for money, spacious with a wide range of options.  The Ancona yacht was more traditional in feel and I had confidence that it would be a safe sea boat.  Interestingly the X-Yachts have split their range into sporty and classic.  We went on the classic and it had the feel of a hotel room complete with walk in shower.  However the internal finish felt cheaper than their older boats and I was left wondering how quickly signs of wear and tear would begin to show.  Call us biased but we didn’t see anything we liked quite as much as our current boat for what we want to use it for.

We had an interesting day, picked up a few bargains (but nothing superfluous) and some ideas for enhancements to Trouper.

Salcombe, things to do, see and secrets

09/15/2014
by kelewis37
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Devon / UK / West Country

Salcombe is a playground for all manner of outdoor activities both on and off the water.  I left with the impression that pretty much anything is possible. We restricted ourselves to water-related activities this time but I’ve included here things I’d like to do when I next visit.

Beaches

South Sands ferry

South Sands ferry

There are plenty of beaches and coves to play in both in Salcombe, South Pool and up towards Kingsbridge.  We went to South Sands and to the coves on the east side of the estuary.  We arrived by tender but regretted that we didn’t have an anchor.  We used a stone as a substitute but needed to keep an eye on our tender too.  The tide is strong so it can be a bit of a work out.  Along the coast there are plenty of rock pools for crabbing or admiring the wildlife.

I’d wanted to have a go at Stand Up Paddle boarding but the lessons were booked up.  A few people had hired boards and were paddling around the bay.  There were also lots of kayakers touring both the upper reaches of the harbour and out in the falls at the entrance.

Walking

There are plenty of walking routes.  The walk to and around Bolt Head is supposed to be incredible.  We didn’t have time to do this walk but I’d go back especially to give it a try.  There are plenty of other walks both long and short and judicious use of the ferries can be a fun way to get about/take a rest en route.

Bolt Head

Bolt Head

Overbeck Garden and Museum

Overbeck was the former home of an eccentric scientist and inventor.  The description of walking through a banana grove and looking at a ‘rejuvenator’ piqued my interest.  Sadly I have to go another time.

Start point

On previous times we’ve seen dolphins at Start Point and if you don’t want to lose your mooring you can even take a tour boat to look for basking sharks and dolphins.

Steam train

Perhaps a wet-weather trip but I’m fond of steam trains and the Kingswear to Dartmouth round trip is also on my list to try.

Secrets

I didn’t know this but according to Wikipedia Salcombe is the home of a curious piece of criminal history.   John Allen (originally Anthony John Angel) was convicted of murdering his wife Patricia and their two children 27 years after the event. They disappeared without trace in May 1975 and were never found. He claimed that she had walked out on him but his ex-lover, Eunice Yabsley, later claimed that she had seen scratches on his forearms. After falling out with him, she wrote a book “Presumed Dead” in 1992 and the police re-investigated the case. John Allen was convicted in December 2002.

Salcombe shopping

09/13/2014
by kelewis37
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Devon / UK / West Country

There are lots of shops in Salcombe.  Jack Wills and Quba hail from this town in addition to the yacht shops of Musto, Henry Lloyd and so on.  We were fairly busy swimming and sailing and pottering so we didn’t take much advantage of the shops.  If it had rained, well that’s another story.

Jack Wills, Quba, White Stuff, Musto, Fat Face, Sea salt… all are here with full racks of clothes and the usual summer sales.  The special shops are Jack Wills and Quba as they were founded in the town so there were additional lines here that you can’t get in other shops.

There was a good chandlery tucked away beside the main car park with an aladdin’s cave of chandlery bits and pieces.  My favourite shop was the RNLI shop and I bought a tea-towel and a mug with the international code of signals so I can ‘mug up’ on the signs.

Sadly, I couldn’t find a good bookshop, stationers or supermarket.  If the tides had been in our favour I would have also gone up river to Kingsbridge where there’s a market and a full range of shops.

Salcombe food

09/05/2014
by kelewis37
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Devon / UK / Uncategorized / West Country

Salcombe has a reputation for good food.  I was keen to just get some fresh bread and meat as our last shop had been at a cut-price supermarket in Plymouth.  Whilst they had done a good line in fruit and veg I wasn’t so keen on their meat, fish and dairy.

Over the course of three nights we visited a fair range of foodie places ranging from coffee shops through to fine dining.  Here’s the full list.

Visited

P W & J Coleman Butchers a proper butcher with a fine selection of fresh and cooked meat.  They even have a carousel of roasting chickens if you can’t be bothered to cook.  We picked up some steak and a range of cheeses to add to our vegetables and supermarket stocks on board.

Upper Crust Bakers this is a delightful bakery.  The front of the shop is quite small but they have a good range of bread, pastries and cakes.  They mainly bake with sour-dough rather than manufactured yeast which I prefer.  The doughnuts were incredible and a great treat after a swim at the beach; excellent

The Plaice Restaurant as you’d probably guess this is a fish and chip restaurant.  We couldn’t be bothered to cook so Tom did the fish and chip run. He had to queue but our order was freshly prepared and it turned out the fish of the day – pollock – had been caught locally.  The chips had their skin on which meant they weren’t as crisp as maybe you’d expect but we felt as though we’d had a much healthier meal… setting aside the lack of vegetables and the fried fish, of course.  Excellent fish and chips.

Sailor V Restaurant we stopped at this coffee shop for afternoon tea with ice-creams.  This is in a good location at the south end of the shopping area.  It felt like a bit of a retreat after the crowds.  The coffee shop turns into a restaurant in the evening.   We thought we’d go back but didn’t make it during this trip.

South Pool Salcombe by Kathryn Lewis

South Pool Salcombe by Kathryn Lewis

Millbrook Inn firstly, you have to book.  Secondly you have to find it.  Woe betide you if you get the tides wrong as you’ll be left high and dry with and eye-wateringly expensive taxi ride back to Salcombe.  Luckily we managed, one, two but not three. This was a magical pub/restaurant up an arm of the ria in South Pool.  It took about 30 minutes to putter up the river and then a short walk into the village.  We had a fabulous french inspired menu of fish dishes with a half bottle of wine.  The service was friendly and there was a barbecue outside for those that wanted simpler menu.  We, along with five or six other tables, left the pub at around 9:00pm to ride the tide back down to Salcombe.  Good food but London prices worth it for the magical experience.

Salcombe Coffee Shop another day, another coffee shop.  This one seemed to emulate the London independent artisan coffee shops.  It provided my only good flat white of the trip again, at London prices.  The woman in front of us in the queue said she limited her visit to one a day.  I’m not surprised as she was buying a coffee order for a family of five.

Wish List

Winking Prawn – beachside dining that has a good reputation locally but we weren’t able to try.

Crab shed – hidden away near the fishing fleet dock apparently it does good seafood but I’ll have to save until another visit.