BLUEMOMENT

A letter from Gerlundshire

Bowling to Peel IoM, what a fine place, Peel that is but Bowling as well.

The sun shines in Peel, the people that run the harbour are very friendly, the showers and the toilets are VG, you can actually buy kippers there, they have DevoMax or is it IndieLite, what a happy place.

Then southerly stormed in the Irish sea(Bardsey Island in a southerly, not fun at all) we were forced into Pwllheli, in the land of the Wales. A rather souless marina filled with many mega mobos the like of which one does not see in Scotlandia. Millions of pounds worth. I decided they must all belong to footballers but there are so many of them that even the second division in Gerlundshire must pay well. The town was quite pleasant.

After that down to the great Haven of Milford. What a wonderful place. The floating pontoon at Dale is free, the pub in Dale is well worth a visit and to cap it all there was another Invicta26 moored there. Must be a good place. The sun shines, the mixture of pleasure boating and petrochemicals seems to work well. The waiting pontoon outside Milford marina's lock was a it bouncy but OK for a visit to Tescos, picking up some fuel and downloading the crew.

Leaving Wales it was solo across the mouth of the Bristol Channel, never seen so many dolphins, round Gerlund's end in the dark, oh the romance of Longships and the Wolf Rock, and up to Falmouth. The not entirely white person in the woodpile was the Lizard, or rather the foul tide round the Lizard. It brought me to an almost standstill. Not what you want after 24 open eyed hours. Red Bull, or if being honest Red Bull and Dark Rum worked a treat though. 136nms in 28 hours. Brutal.

And so to Falmouth, home of the Royal Fleet Auxilliary it seems, some super yachts; the Maltese Falcon arrived today and loads and loads of other boats. It's fantastic. Very boaty and very relaxed. Happy days. Even an outpost of the National Maritime Museum. Pretty little town, some of it very bijou, some a bit tatty, a main street not filled with charity shops and most people wearing shorts.The pasties are good and perhaps authenically Cornish, the beer seems real and the sun shines. The Gerlundish are welcoming, affable and very pleasant....................and there are no midgees.

About 510 nms from the Athens of the North, not sure yet how many to get home.

Had to skip the Scillies because of time lost in Pwllheli.

Off to Looe next then Dartmouth then perhaps the fleshspots of the Solent.