Sue and I rejoined Spellbinder after quite a long train journey to Falmouth Town. Spellbinder awaited us on her buoy, and I quickly fitted a new raw water pump, as the old one was beginning to leak. We shopped, took on water, and headed off to the Helford River to anchor for the night.

We spent the next day enjoying a good walk around the southern edge of the river – true Daphne du Maurier country, including Frenchman’s Creek.

It was a pleasure that evening to welcome Sue’s old friends Stephan and Tessa, who live locally and who came over for supper.

We set off for Scilly the next day, in light conditions with just enough north in the wind to motor sail. It was a bit of a slog but we arrived happily in one of our favourite anchorages, The Cove, between the islands of St Agnes and Gugh. We went ashore and stretched our legs, celebrating Sue’s birthday with a drink at the Turk’s Head pub.

We had a great walk around St Agnes the next day, and in the afternoon Sue explored Gugh.

The next day we crossed Tresco flats at high water, finding a convenient buoy at New Grimsby, allowing us to have a great walk around Bryher and a delicious lunch at the Hell’s Bay hotel. My bouillabaisse was fabulous.

That evening we were kindly invited for a drink on Tresco by a fellow RCC member and the author of the Scilly pilot book. Thank you David!

We headed to Hugh Town briefly, taking on fuel and water, shopping a bit and enjoying lunch at The Mermaid. We then headed off to a new (to us) anchorage, Perpitch Bay, south east of St Martin’s and close to the Eastern Isles. We saw many seals in the rocky islands nearby. St Martin’s is one of our favourite islands, and we had a good walk around the south side, culminating in a drink at the Seven Stones pub. We came across a French couple with young kids and lots of imagination, having the finest of adventure holidays.

We left at dawn to sail back to the mainland. It was a long day, but a relatively uneventful one, much of which was spent listening to the amazing Test match cricket. We anchored up the Fal, joining old friends Jim and Jo in their Bowman 40 No Rehearsal at Trelissick.

We headed to Falmouth Town anchorage the next morning to meet up with our new crew Paul and Rosie. The café at Trago Mills was the venue for us to watch the English batting collapse. With poor weather forecast, we headed back up the river to rejoin Jo and Jim and to anchor at Malpas. We had a delightful walk and ended back at the Heron pub before entertaining everyone on board.

We had a cracking sail the next day. Originally planning to anchor at Lantic Bay just east of Fowey, instead we powered on to Plymouth, and all the way up the Lyner River, to a secluded spot called Dandy Hole. I had long wanted to anchor there, in a spot of deeper water cut off at low water, in a place of great tranquility and beauty. We enjoyed a great beach BBQ and a fine sunset.

It was a top evening and, after coffee the following morning, we said farewell to Jo and Jim. We left at low water, and just about ploughed our way back down the river (something one can do at neap tides), finding deeper water. To wait for the eastward tide we anchored off Cawsand, going ashore to explore this delightful village at the entrance of Plymouth Harbour.

We took the tide round Start Point to Dartmouth, taking a buoy off our old haunt Dittisham, and enjoying supper at The Ferry Boat with old friends Simon and Karen. We explored the village the next morning, looking at our former house September Cottage, and learning that the community had just taken over the Red Lion pub, post office, shop and accommodation combined. Great news. We then walked over the fields to Dartmouth for lunch.

Paul and Rosie left us on the steam train in the afternoon – great to have you on board again guys! Sue and I ate out well at Mitch Tonk’s excellent Rockfish restaurant that evening. Mitch is a fellow Hallberg Rassy owner and follows this blog. If you are reading this Mitch – the monkfish tail was to die for, thank you.

Another dawn start, and another gentle downwind passage took us after many hours back to the Solent, where we anchored for the night in Osborne Bay, just in time to see the fireworks at the end of Cowes week.

And so ended an excellent summer cruise. The Channel Islands, North and South Brittany, and Scilly and the West Country never disappoint. Not quite as adventurous as recent years, but fantastic nonetheless. And I haven’t worn a jumper all summer.