Helford to Torquay

It wasn't one journey, a series of hops: from Falmouth to Helford, Fowey, Newton Ferrers, Dartmouth and Torquay.
You could give Torquay a miss, but the rest are really wonderful.

Helford was Astonel's original base before we bought her and brought her round via France to Gravesend.

So this piece of rope suggests the ties that we have with Falmouth and Helford, if you care to  believe that.



What you also get once the weather has cheered up, is a 4.45 visit to the heads and this kind of sunrise. Bleedin' lovely, innit?

 Fowey was delicious in both the culinary sense when we had a repeat of a bouillabaisse meal that we had had in 2010. Not the same bouillabaisse, of course, because that would have been disgusting.

And the sun had come out, so much so that we had to rig our bimini. An old shower curtain with some eyelets can make a lovely shaded spot for reading.

 In Dartmouth it rained, something that the boat needed because there are scary notices in marinas now 'water not for boat washing'. Boat looks a bit better, but the list for winter refits is growing.

 We took the train, of course, the one from Dartmouth to Paignton. This is the observation car, and a lad who could have stepped out of the book "Closely Observed Trains" who took money from us. Notice the driver leaning out of his cab and encouraging him.













 The engine was a 2-6-2 something or other.

We had a brilliant fish meal in a 'Rockfish' restaurant. Competition for the Padstow man.











I was encouraged to do a cartoon to stick to the wall so that children could colour it in. Good luck to them.







And below, I asked if I could sit right on the front of the train, and this is the proof, the living evidence of that event.