Lazy day on the Fal

After 3 nights of luxury in Pendennis Marina it was time to move on. The forecast is 2 days of light easterlies/cyclonic and then 5 days of strong easterlies. A dash SE to ChanneI Islands or NW to Ireland is possible but would we (ever) get back without a struggle? The safe option is stay on S Coast.

So the idea of a lazy day at anchor was born. We motored over to St Just, across the Fal estuary from Falmouth and plenty of room there. But there are more sheltered and prettier options up the river. We motored up as far as L'Amour Creek, outside of which is an enormous P&O commercial ship and a large tug, quietly rusting away. This part of the river is still very deep and the Pilot book says 'beware of anything' in this area because it is used to mothball ships not needed. 

In principle we could get almost to Truro, however the top of the tide has passed and this is no time for us to risk touching bottom. The unpretty ship dominates this area, so we turned back and anchored off Channel Creek due south of Trellisick House and Gardens, of which we have a lovely view (pic). Wooded shoreline on 3 sides and a view SW back into the estuary. Just off the main river channel where boats from tiny to enormous keep up a constant traffic. Always something to watch. We had to set our anchor twice as the first time we ended up sitting too close to another boat. As Nic's dad used to say 'if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing twice!'. Many others came in during the day, and more than one had to do the same thing. We then had anchor-anxiety for a while, constantly checking that our position was steady, we weren't dragging. The plotter helps with this (pic).

Before lunch we set up the boarding ladder and ... stepped off for a swim (pics). Absolutely lovely. We swam round and round the boat because to go anywhere else risks collision with the many boats on the move. With both of us in the water it did occur to me to wonder whether the ladder would be ok for us to climb up. As I'm writing this you can be assured it was.

A lazy afternoon ensued after a generous lunch - swimming makes you hungry. Unfortunately a bbq on one of the beaches has dance music which drifts across, oh, and a barking dog, but hey it's bank holiday Saturday and perfect weather, so we are chilled. We will stay here the night, reading books and playing cards before turning in to the sound of gentle, lapping wavelets ... and possibly drunk peeps with loud music!


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