The weather didn't let up for most of the day, but by late afternoon things had cleared up and there was just enough of the day left for a quick look at Plymouth before we head on to Poole.
The crew had a stretch of their little legs before I made my way down to see the Plymouth Hoe (lol) - according to the tourist website - no visit to Plymouth is complete with a visit to see the Hoe...(lol)...the site is here
I swear the word 'Hoe' was everywhere, and in some cases to hilarious effect, well I thought so - but I suppose I'm a bit childish...
Hoe Road is where is it's at, 'it' being Smeaton's Tower, the older of the existing Eddystone lighthouses, the newest one was installed out on the rocks and this one, or most of it, was removed and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe.
It has been fully restored and painted a few different colours over the years, but currently, it stands in a red and white colour configuration. You can actually go inside, but due to Covid restrictions - it's closed until further notice, but I bet the view is awesome!
It also has these tiny windows for light, can't imagine they are too effective, but I suppose you couldn't have had them much bigger given the waves they would have been exposed to!
There were also a few plaques at the base commemorating various stages in this particular lighthouses' life, and rather than me regurgitating the info poorly, I just took some pictures of them...
As I was leaving they put the lights on, it did look a bit better with the lights on!
On my way to the Hoe, I took a series of pictures of a boat, and if it's the boat I think it is, it's not half as old as it looks, but either way, t'was very pretty.
One of those photos that could easily have been taken 100 years ago...if it wasn't for the modern navigation buoys in the water, that at one time this was just how all sailboats kinda looked...I like the way they look, but the maintenance bill on a traditional wooden yacht can just be (on some boats) insane.
lots of work, money, and more importantly, time to keep them nice and pretty - so I have a certain kind of respect for those boats and the people who sail them as I appreciate the work that's involved in keeping them in prime sailing condition...
There was a sign that talked a bit more about the Hoe and how Sir Francis had played bowls here.
Upon hearing the Spanish armada was approaching, he decided not to go and fight them but instead finish his game of bowls - It may sound a bit brazen, but he knew that with the tides and the wind being as they were that day - that it would be some time before they arrived...
It's a shame there wasn't more of the day left as I would've liked to have checked out a few more places and Plymouth was quite interesting, everywhere you looked there was some chunk of history - but on this occasion, there wasn't much time...
I also saw some flashing words in the distance...at first, I was thinking it was something to do with Covid for some reason, a sort of protest or something - but I was totally wrong...
The words read "NO NEW WORLD" and It's actually a Mayflower 400 'art installation' called the Speedwell - you can read some more about it here if you want.
Plymouth bay is usually buzzing with all kinds of boats but it all looked quite peaceful out there for a change.
Getting back to the marina I noticed a few mini monument type of plaques on the wall that I hadn't noticed on the way out.
The first one was all about Eddystone Lighthouse and the contributions Smeaton had made, and just some general info on it that I thought was useful...
The second was a similar tribute to Brunel who had a hand in creating this very marina and some surrounding sites.
I was aware of some of his other railway contributions, but was unaware of his contributions here, and was a bit of a surprise to see this actually...
And finally, there was the 'Titanic Connection' as I mentioned in the previous blog, and this was not planned in any way, I almost didn't even come to this marina, but it ties in well with my previous blog post about the Titanic
So apparently the surviving crew members were brought here for 'debriefing' or in other words, ordered not to talk about some stuff as the company was having a bit of a PR nightmare...
The marina is enclosed in the old harbour, although a new surface has been put on top of it, underneath it's as original as it gets..with its rotted timbers and crumbling brickwork...
Complete with vaulted supports and looking more like something out of Venice than Plymouth, was quite strange, actually...and the stairs you see in the pictures are the original ones the crew were marched up after arriving here - they don't make stairs like that anymore...lol
And that was that - we are due to leave here tomorrow lunchtime so that we can sail through the night and get to Poole first thing in the morning, so between now and then I had planned just to sleep for as long as I could...
The next day, the tanks were topped off, the crew were fed, dues were paid, and we're outta here. The weather couldn't make up its mind on whether it was going to be a nice day or an awful day - either way, we were leaving, and somewhere between the marina and the bay, it decided it was going to be awful for a while...
...but the awfulness would eventually pass, and we would enjoy a bit of clarity, so we could actually see some of the scenery we were passing.
Sailing at night means we don't get to see too much of the scenery as we pass it, but night sailing has its benefits - in fact, it's getting to the point where I almost prefer night sailing, somehow there seems to be more going on at night than I had thought!
And with the sailing being quite nice at this point, I went and sat on the bow for a while, I always enjoy just watching a sailboat do what it's designed to do, but I still say it's best at night when the stars are out...
It was about this time that we got a mini surprise visit from a lone dolphin and her calf, or rather I assume it was her calf as it was half the size and was keeping very close.
I'm not sure whether dolphins raise their young away from the pod, but I didn't see any other dolphins nearby, and if there were they would normally come for a swim at the bow, not sure, but sure it was nice to have a little visit from some curious creatures...
The decent easy-going sailing lasted for a good few hours more, but it was soon to be dark, and we would have to go into night-mode.
Today had a bit of a rough start but ended on a positive note with some nice sailing, but as the night rolled in things did pick up, the wind and waves did get a tad large, but just for a few hours...but nothing too sketchy.
And to think I was nervous about night sailing, now it's just another thing we do - and to be honest, I feel it's best not to see some of the conditions we sail in. Some of these waves at night can just get enormous, huge walls of water that block out the stars, and some of these waves have a rumble to them that can be quite unsettling...
But we sailed through the night till we could see the lights marking the channel entrance to Poole. It was well-marked and in some places a little too well-marked. At night all you can see is flashing green, white, red lights, and the odd yellow light, and it can be a little too easy to mistake one flashing light for another.
We got to the marina entrance at about 6:30am...just as some more nasty weather was moving in for the next 12 hours...it was already gusting up to 30 knots as we entered the marina - docking a yacht in 30 knots of wind can be tricky.
We were greeted by a well-spoken security guard who directed us to our berth, he gave us the codes to the gate and requested that we check-in after the staff had arrived, and that was that.
And after an obligatory brush of the crew, the engine and equipment were all shut down, and we all piled into the forward cabin to get some sleep...in 24 hours we will need to be on our way to Newhaven...