Weymouth to Lulworth

Just having a cup of tea and deciding what to do as we can't set off until 1pm today to get the tide up to Portsmouth, so we are going to have breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs in Lulworth Cove.  The meal last night in the Ming Wah chinese restaurant was fabulous, best meal we've had all holiday.

Lovely day today, a few clouds but sunny and warm.  There's a huge Grand Banks boat here moored in front of us must be 50ft long, we met one of the crew yesterday, right old sea dog he was!

 

These are some views of the Jurassic Coast from Weymouth to Lulworth.  The scenery here is stunning.

And whilst we were in Lulworth I could just see the beginnings of a Galleon !

 

 

Torquay to Portland

30th August 2013

Last night in Torquay

Booked a restaurant we have been to before in the past called Man Friday overlooking the harbour.  I ordered the seafood pancake and Bill ordered the brill fillets with a lemon style sauce.

My pancake turned up and the size of it was bigger than my iPad surrounded with numerous mussells in their shells and a handful of elasticated bands called squid.  The mussells were OK and the pancake was ok but the filling was probably a cheap white fish, maybe ling but tasteless.  The sauce definitely was not thermidor in my book but more of a white sauce with wine in it, and it was clingy. Bill's fish was described as baked in the oven but in actual fact had been cooked from frozen and it was hardly cooked.

We were tired, didn't complain, voted with our feet and didn't leave a tip.

So, fast forward to breakfast.  To die for, yep, you'd die waiting for it.  Run by kids, this cafe located overlooking the inner harbour we'd been to before 2 years ago - don't bother.  A gimpy looking waiter hardly 16 years old must have gone to every table with my egg and bacon roll by the time it got to me it was cold.  Bill's sausage bap took 3/4 hour and at least was hot but the place needs managing and sorting out.  Everywhere was busy otherwise it would have been empty, the service was that bad.

But hey we are on holiday !! I have my own bacon and our fresh eggs from home  - just sometimes we don't want to wash up in our tiny galley.

So now we are here back in Weymouth as the swell is too much for the night in Lulworth Cove, and guess what , we are going for another Chinese meal at the Ming Wah, our usual place we go to.



Clouds have formed over so it's Jeans time rather than t-shirts and shorts.  More when we get home tomorrow and sunday I'll be able to upload some pictures.

On passage to Portland now then deciding where to go for our last night.

The swell and wind came hurling at us just before Portland Bill and the Morena was weaving in and out of the dips in the waves making the journey slightly uncomfortable.  Here's a picture of a trip fishing boat that followed us in :

 

 

 

 

Decided at the last moment to go back into Weymouth.

Dartmouth, Dittisham -> Torquay

29th August

Last night in Dittisham pumped up the dinghy went ashore to the Ferry Boat Inn for a meal.  We booked as it was very busy (01803 722368) but managed to get a table without any problems. I had seafood linguini which was lovely and Bill had the Haddock, chips and mushy peas, a right old traditional dish.  Great night out.  Lovely and quiet here, even the seagulls in the morning were absent.

Here's a picture of the castle at the entrance :

 

Just left the Dart River on passage to Torquay where we will be plugged into the shore and my hairdryer will work !

Unfortunately the weather has become overcast for the first time since leaving but it's still warm. Nearly at Torquay now.

Voyage to Weymouth

Because of the state of the tides we ended up here rather than Lulworth Cove on our latest travels, where we now have to wait for the tide until 1pm to get to Portland to get the west going tide down to Dartmouth, which means we probably won't get the until about 8pm tonight.  It's that or we would have had to leave at 3 am this morning.  We forgot the milk but luckily remembered in time before we left Portsmouth.  It's all to do with lists - I forgot it on the list.

                                                       The classic harbour of Weymouth

So, after a chinese meal last night overlooking Weymouth Bay - a new one we haven't tried before (we prefer the Ming Wah) going round Portland Bill essentially has to be timed correctly : 4 hours after high water Portland.  Here's a picture of the Lighthouse from the sea :

Arrived Dartmouth at dusk last night and anchored up - only to be told that we had to move up river 500 yards, because we were anchoring in a "trots" area whe there are underwater chains linked for permanent  moorings.

Woke up to a lovely sunny day and went ashore in the dinghy to find the Regatta in its preliminary stages, it starts on 29th (tomorrow) so we decided to come up to Diddlesham for the night as last night was very noisy with loud onshore bands until 1am.

 

This is a little picnic boat that takes out people to eat on the water - for small parties only.  We all held up our glasses high and wished them a nice day.

 

 

 

Lovely and peaceful In Dittisham, where we have a very nice meal in the Ferry Boat Inn (above - the pink building on the LHS) on shore that evening. 

 

Here's a picture of a paddlesteamer that takes punters up the river :

 

9th August 2013 - Day out to Newport IOW for lunch

It's raining this morning but supposed to be brightening up, so decided to go to Newport for lunch.  By the time we were at Gilkicker Head it was roaring sunshine, so plodded along to Cowes avoiding the racing yachts.  I would like to point out here for the record that POWER DOES NOT GIVE WAY TO SAIL and any yachties out there who don't know the rule of the road better go and read up about it,  If you are coming at right angles on our port side YOU MUST GIVE WAY.

Rant over !  Passing by the entrance to Island Harbour up the river Medina we took in the very sad sight on the old Ryde Queen, formerly a passenger boat then in the 70's was a disco.  Fast forward to 2013 where she lies here rotting away.

 

We are heading for Newport Quay, you can only get up here 2-3 hours before high water and best to leave 2 hours after high water otherwise you dry out.  Newport is the Capital of the Island - I used to live here 40+ years ago and don't have particularly good memories of it but it's different when you are in your own boat and not have to rely on expensive public transport.  The Bargeman Pub on the quayside is very popular and the food good.

 

I sunbathed on the stern of the boat for an hour to let our lunch go down before setting off for Portsmouth and subsequently to the Wheatsheaf to get rid of our eggs that were laid today.   

 

 

 

Looking back down the Medina River from the entrance to Newport.  That red roof is Newport Rowing Club.

I'm hoping our next trip will be to the West Country for a holiday but we will have to wait for the weather forecasts.