Basically a few Hundred yards into the river I spotted a silhouette which looked larger than the Buzzard and distinctively different shaped.. setting the Camera on a +0.7ev to compensate for the dark shape on the light background of the sky I fired a sequence of shots once focussed  and here are the most pleasing and exciting shots telling me once again I’d just missed the spectacular Catch …

What a start to the afternoon.. I saw him a few times after that and in 2 different places  at almost the same time telling me there was at least 2 around..
I let the tide carry me down the river  as  it was just nice to be out of the strong wind and drifting on an incoming tide…

Another fleeting glance and my heart beating fast when I thought the Osprey was coming back for another kill nbut closer examination told me it was in fact a Buzzard.. another beautiful Bird of Prey but quite common in  these parts.

A little further along the river and one of  my favorite waders came into view, and the one true master of the river songs which I dearly love to hear as night falls or dawn breaks out on the river is the Curlew with his long curved  probing beak…

Then came the screech once again but alas not the right one and another Buzzard flew overhead..

Next up was the flying squad.. a flock of small birds/waders which looked remarkably like ringed plover and sandpiper..

and of course there’s always a few of these yellow footed stabbers around.. the little egret majestically wading the shallows of the river..

I had one more sighting of the Osprey on my way back up the river, and a few fallow deer to complete a great afternoon’s trip down the Ruan…

Thanks for joining me

All there truly was in the Creek was fish, lots and lots of Mullet and hundreds of little fish jumping everywhere showing us there was an abundance of food for the Kingfishers but silent was the creek from his chik chik chik  and very little if any bird movement at all.. not unusual we’ve come to notice in these past few months when everywhere seems to be suffering from a lack of water and wildlife.
But here on the river there was a plentiful supply of water and food and yet NO KINGFISHERS!

Holly Blue Butterfly at the end of Frenchman’s creek 

Disappointedly we slowly cruised back up the creek towards the main river  where at least a few egrets Herons and Cormorants were visible.. mostly sitting on the branches of fallen trees at the edge of the river.

Slowly we cruised back up the river hugging the edge and checking the overhanging branches for any birdlife especially my personal favourite the kingfisher, surely not gone from my favourite river…

from Frenchman’s creek to Bishop’s quay we saw very little signs of anything apart from the odd Black headed gull now in full summer plumage, contrary to their name showing  a beautiful chocolate brown head and red beak, unlike its cousin the Mediterranean Gull whose head is actually black and extends firther down the neck than the Black head.

And so it was all the way back up the river apart from the usual crew of Curlew Greenshanks and Redshanks opposite Bishop’s Quay, a flock of which flew past us at more speed than my camera could capture in  the dim light under the canopy of ancient Oak trees that line the Helford river.

Arriving back at Gweek we passed a pair of swan’s leading their five sygnets towards the top end of the creek, obviously to where the Fish and Chip van rested every wednesday evening supplying tourists Locals and visiting Yachtsmen with very welcomed food.
It was here that we met our old friend Graham Swanson and partook in  Fish and Chips and chatted about life on the river, his and Joy’s time sailing and exploring together and his plans for his new future..
All in all it was a very pleasant trip,  a little disappointing by the lack of wildlife, but made very enjoyable by pleasant company of friends on our return..

That’s all from this trip folks.. as always there’s lots more images in the Gallery HERE so enjoy those until we return hopefully with our little lady in tow very soon.

Mel

Well for me at the moment Summer is here and I’m waiting in so much anticipation to meet my Little Lady who is due to be born any day now.. and not a moment too soon for my poor darling wife Leanne who hasn’t had a good time of pregnancy… Thank god my treatment has enabled me to do more because in the early stages it was a matter of who could do the most or we’d just sit and watch each other wondering if the other would be able to help if we needed it.. but as always we did, we do and when the call comes we will because thats what we do.. we just love each other..
I’m hoping its not too much longer before our little miss shows herself to us, especially after last night when Leanne laid her legs across me for comfort and I felt how swollen and hard they had become from the water retention.. I know that pain so well from my times of edema ridden legs feet and hands and I wished I could make it better for her.. but alas all I could do was hold her and hope it wouldn’t be long before it would all be worth it.. she would hold our baby and our world would be complete and the swelling would subside and her legs would be beautiful again.

So we’ve not been able to get about much together, and her walking has been even more limited than my own because of this so we’ve spent an awful lot of time just sitting in the harbour at Penzance watching the ups and downs of everyday life…
We did however have a change in the week this week when we went to visit our friend Aidan on his catamaran up in Gweek,  It was a lovely sunny afternoon and we were amused by some tiny Mallard Ducklings who were catching worms and running to the edge of the river and washing them in it … unfortunately a mooring rope got in the way of the photograph and I missed whether this particular duckling washed and ate the worm or just washed it and let it go… Do ducklings actually eat worms?? (answers on a postcard please… well an email these days lol)
 While we were there I walked through the boats and noticed one of the permanent fixtures of Gweek.. a beautiful Beloved Yacht called Balair belonging to friends we’d met a couple of years ago in Gweek Graham and Joy Swanson, Both writers, Graham having written the book Cruising Cork and Kerry about their journey in Balair, was looking rather sad and neglected… This troubled me somewhat because they loved their boat and I was quickly reminded of how at the back end of last Year Joy was not at all well and I suddenly became very concerned and worried.
It prompted me to email Graham that evening and ask after their welfare not having seen them this year so far, and also to mention how lonely Balair was looking and offer any help he may need being as he is himself 80 yrs old..
Today I received a sickening and saddening email to find out his beloved Joy was taken from him in February.. such a sad sad loss and clearly one which has affected him deeply..
Equally saddening I was to learn that he can no longer get aboard Balair and he was having to let her go too.
Well I sadly couldn’t do anything for Joy but I certainly could make sure that if Balair was to be sold that she looked her absolute best and so I’m calling upon my son and friends to help me make sure she shines like new and that all the work is done on her. It’s the least we can do for two wonderful people and though I’m not very able myself these days with twisted joints I do have a knowledge of restoration and can lead a team to make her new again.. Unfortunately my Pot isn’t large enough to save Graham the trouble, and no doubt sadness of selling her or I would gladly become her new owner.

 Well back to brighter thoughts we will keep you informed of our latest addition to the  team as and when she arrives…
A special thank you for the wonderful Blog review we received in the Cornishman this week for our  Cornwall Life Blog, I was quite moved by it… then again I am I realise more and more a very Emotive person and in many ways I’m privileged to feel that. so thanks to all

Mel

By this time a yacht rounded Falmouth Castle and picked up the wind from Falmouth and Flushing and was laid almost flat as he screamed down towards us…  Being on a starboard tack I moved our boat over and found a bit of shelter from the land and decided to drop the Mainsail rather than make things any worse for Leanne.. so we sailed across into St Mawes on just a part reefed Genoa…Much more wifely acceptable it was rather wobbly out here tho as we passed St Mawes Castle we noticed a semblance of swallotail lurking in the gentler waters of St Mawes and sure enough he headed over towards us on his burbling engines just as we were completely swamped by the wake of a passing Landau cruiser travelling at about 20 knots across the carrick roads.

We met up with Aidan on his Catamaran and sailed through to Percuil under engine and dropped anchor in the pool by the sailing club.. Aidan circled us a couple of times and eventually dropped anchor behind us.
We spent a pleasant afternoon having tea and coffee on his deck… here’s a few of the Shots Leanne managed to grab on our Journey.. unfortunately I couldn’t hold the camera while sailing so she took these from the companion way when we were more upright

Lady Emily at Anchor in Percuil…

After a pleasant afternoon in Percuil, the decision was made that Leanne would in fact travel back with us, despite the offer of a lift by road to loe beach, despite the warnings of wind over tide in the carrick roads and the wind having freshened from earlier, but with the promise that I’d at least put one if not two reefs in the main so we set off!!

We were very tight to the wind after rounding St Mawe’s castle and the chop on the Roads was as I’d expected.. washing the decks with every wave.. We bounced our way across towards falmouth with me telling Adam to go below or he’d get very wet.. I was prepared and with the next wave saturating him he eventually went below.. I sailed as tight to the wind as I could to keep a good tack on and get us down the Carrick roads as quickly and easily as possible..

Not a lot of chance for Photographs apart from Adam and leanne keeping each other amused watching me taking a soaking all the way down past Mylor..

Safely back on the Moorings in shelter from the NW wind  we dried out, secured the boat and set off ashore having had a thoroughly enjoyable(if not very tiring) Day..

M

All was going to plan except there was even less wind than forecast so we had to motor sail most of the way at around 3-4 knots or drop to 1.5knots on wind/sails alone..
We arrived at the mouth of the Helford and rounded August Rock in just under 2hours.. we didn’t feel so bad as we only passed one yacht under sail.. all others were just on engine.. at least we were Motor Sailing.. (which is using the engine to boost the sail power.)

As we trundled down the Carrick Roads at the start of our journey.. Egret (A small motor Cruiser usually moored just behind us in loe Beach) came past us on the starboard side showing the glassy reflection in the almost still waters…

Egret overtaking on glassy waters

There was one of the big Cruise liners sitting at Anchor in the Falmouth side of the river SAGA ..probably full of the over 50′s Saga louts lol.. she made a pretty picture sat there so out came the camera…

SAGA RUBY Cruise liner sitting in the mouth of the river

A little further down the Roads we obviously came closer to her and had to pass between the Anglian Princess Coastguard vessel and the Saga Ruby which both towered above us…

The Anglian Princess

Leaving the Saga Ruby Behind in the Carrick Roads

Out into the open Bay at last and still no change in the wind.. so as I said earlier it was looking like a motor sail all the way..

however we weren’t alone as this Dragonfly Trimaran came out alongside us and cruised out into the bay under engine…

A Nice Tri- Hull coming out of the Carrick Roads

We were soon passing the outer reaches of Falmouth Castle and out over open water towards Helford…
The castle looked busy today looking at the amount of cars in the car park there.. one of the beauteous things about sailing there’s usually lots of space..something I like a lot.. moreso since I got ill.

Falmouth Castle from the sea

Soon we were well out into the bay and heading down towards August rock… our next waypoint on the chart and one we needed to make sure we were on the outside of as we rounded the Gedges into the Mouth of the Helford river.. thankfully it was marked with a great big conical Green buoy so it was easy to Navigate..

Things were made clearer and easier for us as the Helford River Pleasure cruise Princessa from Falmouth overtook us and we were able to follow in his wake into the mouth..

Princessa taking visitors to see the fabulous Helford River

Looking back over the distance we’d covered in the last hour or so we could see a few now had sails up but they were just trying to pleasure sail… anyone still trying to get anywhere were under engine too..

Falmouth in the distance

Around the Gedges and into the the Mouth of the Helford River and Mission accomplished for our first major sail… bugger all really but quite an acheivement for us to have managed to navigate and safely arrived in the Helford river with the Lady Emily and crew feeling pretty proud

Fun and games going on as usually in the mouth with the water skiers flying about

water skiing in the Helford

And waiting there in the mouth at anchor was the Jubilee Sailing Trusts Flagship.. the Lord Nelson.. a fabulous Tall ship designed to help the disabled to sail… quite fitting really that as a registered disabled person here I was sailing my own boat into the river past it.. albeit heavily drug induced lol it was still a pretty proud moment for me

The JST Flagship Lord Nelson

Well! Here we were finally Checking out the anchorage at Durgan on the Helford river so we could stop and have some Lunch.. however we did decide to head up with the inflow of the tide to where we’d originally planned on staying for a few days opposite Tremayne Quay in the pool where we could anchor safely and be central for anywhere we wanted to get to using the Dinghy..

So we did finally arrive and dropped anchor directly opposite Tremayne quay behind a nice old Gaffer and just down river from a brightly painted little houseboat.. and we sat to have lunch there and sort ourselves out… little did we know what was to come!!!

Goose winging up river to catch any available wind...

We sat enjoying Lunch and watching the River life and the odd boat trying to sail up with the tide.. Leanne spotted a solitary Canoeist in the distance and said.. is that Aidan?.. sure enough within minutes he’d reached us on his kayak having seen us come into the river so we invited him on board to have some lunch with us..
The Marine VHF radio was still on from our trip and on came the shipping forecast courtesy of Falmouth Coastguard, so we switched to 84 and listened while we had lunch in glorious sunshine anchored opposite Tremayne Quay.

Wind increasing to Gale force 6 going 8 later 9′s and possibly going cyclonic – Oh Goody!! so the decision was to stay anchored and at Low tide with no way of getting out of the way facing Gales racing up the Helford or weigh Anchor and head back to the safety of our mooring at Loe beach.. and so after lunch we pulled anchor and headed back down to the mouth of the river.

Passing Helford passage the rain started so I said to Leanne you get your waterproofs on and then take the tiller while I put mine on.. However! it would appear that the waterproofs were actually still in the back of the van in Loe beach Car park so it was going to be a damp journey back…

So out of the river mouth and out around August Rock and by now it was raining.. heavily we thought but not by comparison of what was to come before we were half way across Falmouth bay.. it became torrential, literally as though someone was pouring water down on us… I’d told Leanne to get into the cabin and pull to top cover over as it was pointless both of us getting saturated when it wasn’t necessary.
Fortunately or Unfortunately the wind still wasn’t with us yet and try as I may I couldn’t catch any wind to help with the journey so we simply motored all the way up to the Carrick Roads.

I could see the storm heading our way on the horizon.. it was quite black rising just above the ships out in the shipping lanes and growing closer all the time.

Last boat out on the water I turned into the Carrick Roads, just one other yacht motoring into Falmouth and the Towering sight of Saga Rose still sitting at anchor…

Looking back I suddenly realised the shipping lanes were no longer visible, they were lost in the mist of the rain and winds heading our way…Still breathless in the Roads I tried again to catch some wind in the Genoa but to no avail. I wound it back in and carried on engine only past the Saga rose.

Just as I passed her bow she let out a long single ear splitting noise from her fog horn. I almost ran off the front of the boat with surprise..I couldn’t understand why she’d done that as she was still firmly anchored with her circular at Anchor sign on the bow, then I saw the pilot coming up alongside her ready to get her off and out to sea just as the storm was heading in.. finally we reached the moorings at Loe beach and Leanne came up to get us on the mooring.

The rain was relentless and I couldn’t have been any wetter if I’d jumped in and swum for shore… saturated was an understatement..

We moored her safely up and closed everything down and loaded the dinghy, which had about 8 inches of water in it, locked up checked the moorings and everything around the boat and headed for shore..

Back at the van we took turns with the umbrella and fresh clothes and underwear and got dry and changed in the disabled toilets at Loe beach.

Dry Warm and standing beneath the big fishing brolly at the van with a nice freshly made cup of tea we reflected on the trip and agreed we’d made the right decision to leave the anchorage and head home.

Looking out ov er the Carrick roads was a completely different scene to when we’d started out earlier that day just showing how quickly things can change..

The Fast approaching storm over the Carrick Roads

The only people out on the water as the storm came in was the Falmouth Gig boat Crew and those aboard the Saga Rose which had just pulled out of the Carrick Roads…

As with all things related to sailing, any trip is an idea until it actually happens.. especially down here in the far South West where everything is so changeable so quickly…

So our planned trip from Loe beach to the River Helford was about to change…
We set off from Loe beach at 12 noon and headed down the Carrick roads… the winds were a fresh South Westerly so we were reefed down and had the Genoa out just over two thirds…
The wind gave us a good speed of around 3-4knots but it was very gusty as always along the Carrick roads and I could tell Leanne was feeling very uneasy every time the boat heeled over.
I had more feelings of control now and wasn’t panicky when these gusts hit but these were actually quite strong and becoming more frequent so it did make me wonder if it was probably such a good idea to head out into the open sea in a force 5-6.

Our mentors, Keith and Julie had both said they wouldn’t have expected us to make the trip with the forecasted winds being so strong but I’d decided I’d only really know once we rounded black rock and could see the sea conditions for myself…
Sometimes my stubborn Northern attitude and true grit determination isn’t always a good thing and when I heard Leanne’s voice from the cabin saying.. I can’t do this! (she was trying to make tea) I’m coming up, and then seeing her face as we heeled over at about 45-50 degree’s in a long gust, I said to her.. ‘You’d be happier going up the river wouldn’t you?’
Now although she said I don’t want to spoil it for you and I feel stupid etc, in many ways I was glad she’d said yes as it gave me the reason to be able to say ’Okay lets come about and head back up the river ‘ especially as the gusts were getting longer and stronger..

I ran through everything in my mind and prepared to turn the boat around.. checking for gusts on the water and traffic.. (which there wasn’t a lot of), I threw the rudder over and pulled the genoa ropes for Lea to pull it over as we turned…
It was a good manouver, probably one of our best as we only lost 1 knot on the turn about, and we were soon picking up speed again heading towards  Loe beach and the creek that would lead us up the river..

There was a lovely look of relief on Leanne’s face as we trundled along, though only momentary as the next gust hit us as we came about level with the end of Restronguet Creek.. that was a particularly strong one and lasted a good minute.. which doesn’t seem long but certainly does when its trying to lay you flat… so with Gunnels in the water and my confidence slipping a bit I eased it slowly into the wind to help it come back up… She responded beautifully and we were soon heading into the shelter of the pool at the bottom of the river…
The winds were probably still plenty strong enough to sail up to the King harry ferry but I decided we’d drop the mainsail and use the engine as I’m still not totally confident of sailing in a confined space… Leanne did a great job getting the mainsail down while I held her steady into the wind with the engine ticking over… and we could then relax and motor slowly up the river towards Malpas… at last Leanne could make some tea comfortably and we sat together going up the river…
I took us past the King Harry ferry crossing and it was then time to hand the tiller over to Leanne so I could get my camera’s and take a few pictures as we sauntered up the river… there were a few Herons about fishing on the edge, though it wasn’t easy to get any good shots as the wind was still knocking us a bit even with the sails down..

You begin to realise how small you are by comparison when you see some of the moored ships that sit up the river… I did wonder at what my reaction would be  if I was to meet one coming at me while out at sea lol…  but on this occasion Leanne kept us on a nice steady course past them…

Ther mooring buoys do make a good spot for the blackhead and med gulls to rest..

Past the ships and veer to starboard and we come to the beautiful little, Very Popular, Smugglers pub… they do a fabulous cream tea and its a place I definitely will be taking my German Brother Jan and his wife Irina if we get a chance on one of their visits from their new home in Byron Bay .

It was extremely busy and i’m not yet fully versed in pontoon mooring so we carried on past and up further towards Malpas…  Another Buoy another Blackhead.

A quick check on the GPS chart plotter to see our depths and any obstructions etc and back on course for Malpas…

Plenty of depth and water so on we go.. it was all a bit much for this gull so she decided to settle down for a rest…

There were some lovely boats moored up both in the river and on the visitors pontoons… (where we’d hoped to moor and explore the creeks with the dinghy)

and another Heron lurking in the rocks by the edge of the river…

we came to the top of the river and had to turn around as the visitor moorings were a little unclear… Leanne thought that all the yellow buoys were visitor moorings but I thought they may be private and the pontoons were a bit full of boats… there were spaces but I didn’t feel confident enough to attempt fitting in between a couple £30k plus Yachts so we slowly turned around in the pool..

There’s always lots of activity on the rivers, which was one of the reasons for us setting up Riverimages.. and for our entertainment today we saw two guys and a girl trying to Sail a Canadian Canoe using a groundsheet… and why not…

managed to catch a Flying Cormorant as it passed us..

Right in the pool was anchored a beautiful 40foot plus Catamaran with bits residents on the sun deck enjoying the river and the weather out of the wind..

Thought I’d add that one just for Aidan

Well realising that I couldn’t get on the end of one of the mooring pontoons I made the decision to head back down river a bit and see if we could find anywhere to anchor or moor up so we could have some late lunch…

By now our flypast friend had found himself a nice Buoy to sit on…

The reason why I didn’t want to risk trying to moor up to the visitors pontoon for the very first time…

Carrying on back down river and we came upon the windsor castle and Santa Giulietta from Hamburg resting there in the river… the crew were giving the Windsor castle a repaint..

Back round the Bend and again past the Smugglers… this was a good steady point in the river with plenty of depth to allow me to climb over the coach roof up to the front of the boat and get a couple of nice shots of the skipper..

I’m going to be a little cautious how i say this as its something which is so often incorrectly said about Leanne and I  BUT! I think this is Father and daughter enjoying their Hobie Pedal Paddle Kayaks.. my apologies if I got it wrong lol..

Passed by the pride of falmouth heading up river and a couple more ferries cruisers coming back down made some nice wobbly bits for us to spill some tea lol… thankfully I’d already got back to the cockpit..

Of course many people still wonder what the hell you’re doing when you point a camera at them…

Well by the time we got back to the bottom of the river where the last pontoon was we’d decided not to bother and just head back onto the moorings and have some food there… the sun was out but it was windy as hell so we sat on the moorings having lunch and I sorted out the ropes from the lockers… the great thing about sailing boats is there’s always loads of rope and stuff to play with

Lots of activity out on the water of the Carrick Roads now including this beautiful Gaffer which sailed right by us and made me want to raise our sails again…

Well that about rounded up our day and cut the planned few days away short as with a severe wind warning from the coastguard and the promise of it bringing some horendous weather with it we decided to call it a day and head off home to re-schedule for later in the week..hopefully… but its just a thought