A very good morning in Plymouth ‘getting things done’!
Last night we reconnected all the navigation light wiring to ensure they were all configured correctly, had a bowl of Marianne’s chilli con carne and were in our ‘pits’ and asleep by about 9 pm!
This morning we were up at the chandlery and by 0915 had bought a new auto pilot (Raymarine ST2000), nicknamed Audrey. She required some installation and we were kindly loaned a meaty power drill (thanks Fast Tack Yachts) and, with Nigel’s electrical skills Audrey was fitted and ready to go by midday. We also filled up with water and fuel before heading out into Plymouth Sound to calibrate Audrey.
The calibration required turning Little Scarlet through several very slow circles – see picture of our navigation track. After a few false starts we managed to achieve the turns at the appropriate speeds and Audrey was deemed to be fit for service so, once again, we headed west. We had no clear plan (no surprise) but at dusk we decided that rather than pressing on to Falmouth we could try Fowey instead.
Nigel had visited before. In the mid 1980’s he had commanded the training vessel HMS MENTOR and Fowey was a regular destination with the trainees but all he seemed to remember was that apparently Dawn French owns (or owned?) a rather smart house overlooking the harbour entrance!
We didn’t see Dawn but found the visitors' pontoon up the river. We were all secured and had our tender (nicknamed Terry) inflated and ready to go in time for us to get to the pub for supper in The Ship Inn. The pub was great; good food, good beer (‘Proper Job’), entertaining local fishermen at the bar and Nigel found a crest of his old ship on the wall!
A return back on board at a sensible hour was delayed due to a diversion to listen to some live music in another pub but fortunately Terry the tender was in a fit state to get us home to Little Scarlet…
