St Michael’s Mount, Lands End and Padstow

On Sunday the castle on St. Michael’s Mount was open to visitors and we spent a very interesting morning touring and taking in the magnificent views.  On Monday morning the gardens were open and we retuned to enjoy them and admire the wonderful collection of succulents and other Mediterranean and sub-tropical species.

Rapunzel looks out of her tower (after hair cut)

Then early on Monday afternoon we set sail around Lands End, the late start timed for the tides.  The wind was NW4 and we made fast progress to off the Runnel Stone rock, but then had a beat around Lands End and up to Cape Cornwall.  Given this we chose to pass outside the Longships rocks to avoid tacking up the narrow rocky inshore passage.

The north Cornwall coast is very inhospitable, with none of the deep rivers and esturaries of the south coast.  Given the NW wind, it was, sadly, not possible to call in at St. Ives and we had to press on to Padstow and also arrive at high tide so it would be safe to enter over the Doom Bar in NW winds.  The Doom Bar, like its namesake the excellent Cornish Doom Bar ale, can unsteady a sailor.  Fortunately the wind strengthened to force 5 and with a following tide we had a very fast passage into the night, arriving off Doom Bar about 01:00 on Tuesday morning.  This was the first time we have attempted night entry into an unknown estuary and we were a bit apprehensive.  Matters were made worse when we suddenly stopped dead just as we had dropped the main sail for the run in over the bar.  We were not aground as we first feared, but had tangled with fishing gear, perhaps a lobster pot line.  These hazards can rarely be seen at night.  Eventually we got ourselves free by starting the engine and letting the rope cutter do its work – a kind of mincer I fitted to the propellor to deal with snagged lines.  We were then able to proceed over the bar and into Padstow harbour.

Our next passage will be a 68nm northwards towards Milford Haven, but northerly winds look set for the next few days, so we shall bide our time in this seaside port.

love from Ynskje & Tony