The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| Exe Regatta Committee boat | 2016-07-16 | On a rather nice Westerly acting as the Committee Boat for the catamaran racing of the 2016 Exe Regatta. Knowing nothing about dinghy racing, we were pulling up and down various flags at the request of the endlessly patient PK. No real idea what most of the flags meant and I suspect a very goodly proportion of the competitors don't (I think they just listen for the alternate sound signals).
Still a very pleasant way to while away a Saturday afternoon on the Exe.
Tags:
Exe Regatta 2016
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| Exe Regatta canoeing | 2019-06-09 | A paddle from Generals Lane slipway in Starcross up to the Turf. Stopped at SYC on the way back to watch some of the Exe Regatta and to let the tide get a bit stronger to help us back against the wind.
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Exe Regatta
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| Bike ride to the Double Locks | 2016-07-17 | A bike ride along the Exe Estuary and canal to meet up with Rose and Midge for the first time in ages.
Wobbled back along the cycle path and stopped at SYC for a quick view of the 2nd day of the Exe Regatta.
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Exe Regatta
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| Blackthorn Farm | 2016-09-14 | On to Blackthorn Farm campsite.
A nice spot just outside Holyhead,
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Dunbar and Belhaven | 2016-09-08 | Up to Scotland and to Dunbar.
Found a good campsite and Belhaven Bay just to the west of Dunbar.
The campsite backed on to Belhaven Bay - another excellent beach walk (not shown on the GPS track) for Scooby - his first Scottish one!
Watched a group of Scots getting married on the "Bridge to Nowhere" at Belhaven Bay.
Then an evening cliff top walk into Belhaven, past the harbour and then on to The Volunteer for a smoked haddock and mashed potato dinner.
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Llanddwyn Bay and Island | 2016-09-14 | The stunning Lllanddwyn Bay on Anglesey at low tide.
.
A heatwave hit (for one day) and we went along Lllanddwyn Bay with the mountains on Snowdonia in the misty background.
On this day, with the heatwave, it was as good as any beach either Liz or I had wandered along anywhere in the world. And it was on Anglesey!
Skipping on past most of Ynys LLanddwyn island (dog ban until end of September) we wandered on a little to the next huge bay.
Wow!
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Dunstanburgh Castle and Craster | 2016-09-07 | Another day, another Northumberland beach for Scooby.
A great walk along to the evocative ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle and then the excellent beaches at Embleton Bay.
Back via Craster where the famous smoked fish shop / restaurant was advertising an interesting take on Cullen Skink soup. Unfortunately, they were shut at the time...
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Lligwy beach and Moelfre | 2016-09-13 | On to an Anglesey and the rather excellent Lligwy Beach.
Scooby happy that the "beach quotient" picking up again.
Then along the cliff top to the pub in Moelfre and back again.
The campsite we were staying at was good with a gate right on to the beach. However, the rules and regulations were a little OTT
Actually, we'd recommend the place but they do themselves no favours with their rules and regs so we went on looking for the more liberal parts of Anglesey (well - one can live in hope).
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Lindisfarne - Holy Island | 2016-09-06 | A walk around the island of Lindisfarne.
The journey there was as expected with the road being a causeway accessible at low tide.
Once there though, any thoughts of peaceful contemplation etc were blown away by the huge crowds.
Skipping swiftly on past the priory and the castle (not least because we'd forgotten our NT cards), we yomped on to the north of the island which was much more pleasing.
Scooby's second Northumberland beach well up to scratch apparently.
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Conniston, Wray and Windemere | 2016-09-12 | Via Kirkstone Pass and Connistone Water and then on to Windemere.
An NT campsite on the shores on Lake Windemere.
A lovely campsite and a walk along Windemere and back past Wray Castle
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Seahouses to Bamburgh | 2016-09-05 | First walk along the Northumbrian coast.
From just north of Seahouses along to just south of Bamburgh.
The Northumberland beaches are just as stunning as expected.
Scooby very impressed if this was to be the quality of the beaches for the next two weeks.
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Summer holiday 2016
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| Skyside Campsite | 2016-09-11 | No doggie walk here but an absolutely stunning setting for our anniversary dinner outside a pub in the Lake District.
I thought the Lake District was about, er, lakes. This campsite was surrounded by crags and pikes and, let's be honest, mountains. A stunning setting.
Now known as Skyfall to Lizzie and Aidan (rather than the slightly more prosaic Skyside).
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Aidan's fall on Hadrian's Wall | 2016-09-04 | A march along some of the best bits of Hadrians Wall. Sheltered behind the wall from a sudden rain/hail shower and felt very "Roman Centurion" like. Didn't feel quite so Centurion like when I slipped coming down one steep part of the wall and bounced badly on my side buggering up my back for much of the holiday!
Stunning walk though.
Then on to Vindolanda.
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Kielder Observatory | 2016-09-11 | Into Kielder Forest and up from Kielder village to Kielder Observatory.
Stunning view - but not of the observatory which unsurprisingly looked at little like a wooden box from the outside during the day time,
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Summer holiday 2016
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| Hadrians Wall Campsite | 2016-09-04 | A comspite near Hadrians Wall - the middle bit!
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Demense Farm In Bellingham | 2016-09-10 | Heading west, we were back just below Hardrians Wall at Demense Farm campsite in Bellingham.
A campsite on another working farm, Lizzie may object to me mentioning that she complained about the cow mooing overnight.
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Summer holiday 2016
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| North Lees Campsite | 2016-09-03 | An over night stop in the peak district - near Kinder Scout - on the way up north.
First injury to my back falling over pushing a stalled motor home out of a rut.
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Alnwick | 2016-09-10 | A short walk around Alnwick,
Again, we were too tight to pay the entrance fee for the castle.
Mainly we wanted to see "Barter Books" - the second hand book shop in the old train station.
An excellent, excellent shop. Long may they flourish after Starbucks, Next and all the others have fallen out of fashion and had a quick bankcruptcy.
One can but hope - I could have spent hours in the place!
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Summer holiday 2016
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| Walkworth to Amble | 2016-09-10 | As Scooby had seen the signs to the beach when we were in Walkworth the previous day, we had to come back to try the beach out.
Unfortunately, as we were heading on later in the day, it meant that we had to be on the beach before low tide.
To be fair, Scooby didn't complain too much but the "tennis ball bounciness" was below par compared to the rest of the holiday.
Walked as far as Amble looking for a breakfast egg & chips but reluctant to swim across the harbour just for a second breakfast.
Tags:
Summer holiday 2016
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| Three Cliffs Bay | 2016-09-17 | The last of the beaches on Scooby's "Tour Of Britain's Best Beaches".
After 1650 miles and 16 days and ten beaches, our final beach was was at Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower.
Not quite all to ourselves and there were several thousand people doing a 14 mile walk for Macmillan Nursing.
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Summer holiday 2016
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| Warkworth | 2016-09-09 | Stayed at a lovely campsite just outside Warkworth - Walkmill Campsite - recommended.
Walked into Warkworth and had a look at the outside of the castle - my do English Heritage know how to charge!
Then tried a couple of the pubs in town.
The GPS looks as though it went a little crazy while we were in The Sun in Walkworth - that's understandable as the decor is really something. Not sure how to describe it - maybe a mix between Camelot and your favourite local. Still - surprisingly - a big "thumbs up" from us due to its friendly staff and the (huge) size and quality of our dinner!
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Summer holiday 2016
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| Berwick On Tweed | 2016-09-08 | A quick walk round Berwick on Tweed - the last English town before heading into Scotland.
Probably didn't do it justice but saw some of the town walls that Elizabeth I spent so much on!
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Summer holiday 2016
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| Exe estuary to Brixham | 2016-05-27 | A sail down from SYC on the Exe Estuary to Brixham ready for an early morning start across to the Channel Islands.
The ship shown in the photos (the THV Patricia) was doing buoy maintenance on the buoys marking the wreck of the MV Emsstrom off Torbay. Wierdly, we saw the same ship come in after us to anchor off Dixcart Bay at Sark two days later.
Tags:
CI & France 2016
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| Brixham to St Peter Port, Guernsey | 2016-05-28 | A very foggy sail from Brixham in Devon to St Peter, Guernsey in the Channel Islands. The photos give an idea of how foggy it was.
Left at the hideously early time of 03:30 (to make the tidal gate for the Little Russel channel off Guernsey).
Left in thick fog that continued all across to the east going lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme off Casquets. This would have been more scary without the two AIS sets and radar spread across the 3 yachts. AIS data meant we had to alter course for unseen ships before the TSS but not actually in the TSS. By the time we got to the east going channel the fog had lifted to maybe a mile or two's visibility. This visibility continued until we started the tide assisted "sleigh ride" down the Little Russel at which point the fog came in with a vengeance. At this point the two, independent GPS chart plotters we had on board (one a hand held Garmin) were very reassuring. Roustel Tower came into view exactly where expected with just 100 yards visibility. The "pier gates" for St Peter Port harbour weren't visible until we were between them! Twenty minutes after tying up on the SPP waiting pontoon, the fog lifted!
In time for dinner at La Scala. The SYC "cruise in company" events are getting popular - there were 16 yotties from SYC at La Scala.
Tags:
CI & France 2016
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| St Peter Port to Sark | 2016-05-29 | A lovely sail from St Peter Port, Guernsey across to Dixcart Bay, Sark.
Having seen, from the sea, the high, narrow path from Sark to Little Sark (La Coupee - Google it) I'd never have thought that I'd actually walk across it. Worth it though for some of the photos taking looking back to Guernsey and Herm. The ship that can been seen in some of the photos of the yachts at anchor is believed to be the Patricia seen two days previously off Torbay!
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CI & France 2016
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| Sark to Treguier, France | 2016-05-30 | A long downwind sail from the overnight anchorage at Dixcart Bay, Sark to Treguier in Brittany, France.
The wind was just about dead aft so lots of goose winging (with preventer set) and running.
We were going to go south of both the Plateau des Roches-Douvres and Plateau de Barnouic but Julian P on Kinfolk had the good idea to go between - there was lots of room for this when we looked at the charts.
This meant that we got to Treguier quicker than expected so we abandoned the plan to anchor in the lower reaches of the river and continued all the way up to Treguier. Treguier Marina has a fearsome reputation for cross tides causing havoc but as it was quite neapy we all moored up safely in the marina.
The pilot books make the approaches to Treguier sound very complicated but the "Grande Passe" route in was very straightforward - we'll leave the Basse De La Gainer route for another time!
Simon T's cat was attacked by dolphins just inside the fairway - I'm sure there's a Sun headline in there somewhere...
Tags:
CI & France 2016
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| In Treguier - avoiding the winds | 2016-05-30 | In Treguier marina avoiding the forecast force 6 winds. Wandered around the rather lovely town of Treguier and bitched about the rather small marina showers!
Lovely crepes and galletes at, I think, Creperie Des Halles. First taste of the splendid Kir Breton
Tags:
CI & France 2016
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| Treguier - day two | 2016-06-01 | Second day in Treguier - preparing for the sail back to St Peter Port.
Moved the boat to a different pontoon to ensure an easier exit early the next morning - which wouldn't be at the recommended slack tide and now we were getting closer to Springs.
Provisioned at the local Wednesday market and even prepared a lunch on the boat (see the photos for proof). Still bitching about the size of the marina showers! I guess that means there really wasn't much to complain about in Treguier!
Top dinner - set menu - at the Auberge Du Tregor - recommend. As is their Kir Breton.
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CI & France 2016
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| Treguier to St Peter Port | 2016-06-02 | A long, hard "slog" back from Treguier to St Peter Port. The trip started with some wind against tide coming back down the river/estuary from Treguier to the sea. After this, the progress past Ile de Brehat was, as expected, very slow as we fought the now Spring tides (needs must to make the Guernsey tidal gates). The plan had been to again go between the Plateau des Roches-Dovres and the the Plateau de Barnouic. However, as we got close another look at the tidal atlases led to a re-plan and we eased off to go north of them and, as the wind picked up, we flew along with the stanchions and toe rails under water. With the wind just off the nose we didn't want to reef the genoa so we bounced along happily making progress towards Les Hanois. Getting close to Guernsey we changed to motor sailing to "make" St Martins Point and then up the Little Russel to St Peter Port. A long day's sailing!
Met up with Jonathan G (back from Gorey and St Helier) for a second night at La Scala. SYC yotties will be shocked to hear that the owner is selling up!
Tags:
CI & France 2016
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| In St Peter Port | 2016-06-03 | After the previous day's exertions, this was a "rest day" in St Peter Port ahead of the next day's early set off back to the UK.
Did the one-pound-round-the-island bus trip and got off at the south west corner to have another look at the fearsome rocks near Les Hanois light house.
Dinner at The Boathouse - top fish soup.
Tags:
CI & France 2016
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| St Peter Port to SYC | 2016-06-04 | Up at the hideously early hour of 03:00 to catch the first of the tidal flow up the Little Russel at 04:00. A lovely clear night at 4am with all the navigation lights clearly visible. After Platte Fougere we "turned left a bit" to allow for the strong Spring tides. For much of the time the weather forecast was correct and what little wind there was was on the nose. However, the visibility was good making crossing the shipping lanes a lot easier than on the way out.
The photos of the Channel Light Vessel show an absolutely flat sea. The wind did pick up for a bit after this which made for a lovely sail with flat seas. A while north of the shipping lanes we were joined by about 6 to 8 dolphins for about 20 minutes. An hour or so later a much smaller porpoise made an appearance.
Amelie's engine held up well and we were back on the mooring at SYC by about 19:30.
Tags:
CI & France 2016
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| Rhossilli and Llangennith beach | 2016-09-16 | In a holiday of stunning beaches, this was probably the best. Or was that Llanddwyn Bay? I don't know but this was a sure fire entry into Scooby's all time top five set of beaches. Or probably even higher.
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Summer holiday 2016
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| Cheswick Beach | 2016-09-09 | On the advice of Scott C from work, we took the back roads to find Cheswick Beach.
Another top Northumbrian beach according to Scooby hound.
The beach was pretty much deserted.
May be that was due to the warning signs about unexploded ordnance and areas of quicksand?
We took the view that that was just the locals trying to keep the grockles from their favourite beach (is grockle the correct term up north?).
Anyway - we didn't explode or sink but maybe we turned round slightly earlier than we would normally have!
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Summer holiday 2016
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| Kennexstone Camping | 2016-09-15 | Down from Anglesey to the Gower Peninsula in south Wales.
Kennexstone Camping was a lovely spot on the south west side of the Gower.
The camp site and the Gower were so nice we slowed down a bit a stayed for three days,
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Summer holiday 2016
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| Up and down the Exe Estuary | 2012-04-01 | Down towards Starcross a couple of times and up to the Turf on a gloriously sunny April afternoon. Lovely F3 to F4 wind. An average speed of 4.5 knots in a 30 year old Wayfarer is none too shoddy
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Exe Estuary
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| Sail with Liz and Julian | 2012-04-14 | No wind but some thunderstorms. Not the ideal sail on the estuary for Lizs brother.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe Estuary paddle | 2022-07-06 | Across to Exmouth for a paddle up the east side of the estuary.
Just past Lympstone the wind picked up to a F4 and paddling became hard work. Pleased and surprised to see I was still doing about 2mph against a F4.
Stopped at SYC on the way back for lunch.
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Exe Estuary
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-05-02 | Cycle ride to work and back. Not that windy but the wind was against on the way to work and against on the way home!
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2016-12-29 | Into Exeter and back. Moving average a little disappointing given how hard I pedaled!
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Mill On The Exe
Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2017-01-21 | Cold days cycle ride into Exeter and back. Just above freezing. Very gentle ride with Liz - reflected in the somewhat slower than usual average speed.
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Exe Estuary
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| A sunny Monday evening sail | 2012-07-23 | A great Monday evening sail. The tail end of a F3 sea breeze and a strong incoming Spring tide. The average speed over the ground may not win any prizes but a cracking sail down past the floating cafe and through the moorings
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Exe Estuary
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| A very gusty sail | 2012-07-29 | A very short sail as Liz wasnt too keen on the gusty conditions. It was windy as the top speed of 8.2 knots was actually against the tide. It felt fast for an old Wayfarer with a lot of the front of the boat out of the water as we planed down wind.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe Estuary and the Clyst | 2020-09-12 | No wind so we decided on a paddle. We wanted to go up the Clyst but high water at neaps doesn't give enough water for even our canoe to make much progress.
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Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2017-05-08 | Cycle ride into Exeter and back with a stop at SYC on the way back.
Not a bad average for me as I was on the Marin hybrid loaded up with a pannier, locks and a book.
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Mill On The Exe
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| Into Exeter and back | 2017-08-05 | Too windy for sailing so we went cycling. Quite a big bit windy said Liz after her first time on the bike for quite a while.
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Mill On The Exe
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| Exe to Salcombe | 2024-07-14 | A lovely sail down from the Exe to Salcombe on David K's trimaran Triskelle ahead of sailing across to Roscoff in Brittany.
Spent the next day on a mooring buoy off Salcombe Yacht Club making a few preparations ahead of the cross channel sail (mainly around setting up the AIS aerial and receiver).
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Exe
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| More rowing than sailing | 2012-10-20 | The last SYC dinghy cruise of the year. Varied between next to no wind and no wind at all. Rowed about two thirds of the way. Lovely morning to be on the estuary though.
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Exe estuary
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| Safety boat at SYC | 2013-02-17 | Too windy for us to go out sailing as we havent been out for a couple of months. So ended up doing safety boat. Good fun - a little bouncy. Suspect the occasional max speed peaks are GPS data anomalies.
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Exe Estuary
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| Thalmia to her winter quarters | 2022-10-12 | Up to Trouts at Topsham ready for Thalmia to be craned out tomorrow.
Watched Roy S nervously watching his Sadler 26 being lifted out.
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Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2017-04-17 | In to Exeter on the Marin bike. Stopped at SYC on the way back to watch Liz and Nigel on the safety boat.
About the same strength and direction wind as yesterday so it seems that the posh bike makes me about 1.5 mph faster.
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Mill On The Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2016-12-18 | Foggy ride into Exeter and back
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Exe Estuary
Mill On The Exe
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| Hundred miles this week | 2016-10-22 | The fifth 20 miler of the week. I'd expected this to be a gentle cycle ride with Liz but she was all gung ho! Way faster than I was expecting and I wasn't allowed my usual stopping places to have a breather.
This was the fifth day out in a row doing 20 miles meaning that the target of doing 100 miles in a week was reached with 2 days to spare.Day off tomorrow!
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Exe Estuary
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| Super summer sail | 2013-05-18 | A lovely sail up to the Goat Walk at Topsham. We had planned to go as far as the motorway bridge but the wind didnt have the west in it that the forecast said it would. Met Malcolm and Graham at the Goat Walk. The max speed of 6.9 knots isnt bad given that there was no tide to speak of.
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Exe Estuary
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| First beach cafe sail of the year | 2013-05-25 | From SYC down to the beach cafe and back. The forecast said next to no wind but a lovely sea breeze kicked in.
Top sail.
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Exe Estuary
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| Brixham to the Exe | 2019-07-21 | Back from Brixham after the Drew Trophy.
Another day of ideal winds and we decided to scoot back to the Exe to get in on the falling tide. Some lovely downwind sailing with the cruising chute up much of the way after the Ore Stone.
As it was heading towards Springs, there was the usual Exe estuary tides against us on the way in.
Back on the mooring with time to spare - time used figuring out how to release the tender from the mooring chain - after it had managed to solidly wrap itself around the chain.
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Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2017-04-16 | Into Exeter and back. A fair old head wind on the way out but speedy on the way back. Not a bad average for me given that I'm still not fully over the lurgie I've had for the last couple of weeks.
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Exe Estuary
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| And another twenty miles | 2016-10-21 | To the Mill On The Exe and back again.
This one was very slightly easier than yesterday but that's probably because it was such a still day.
Average of 12mph!!! I don't think I've ever averaged that before.
Cheating slightly by stopping to read a chapter of a book at the Exe Quay (safe water mark) and at the Turf Locks - as it was such a nice day.
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Exe Estuary
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| Scooby's first canoe trip of 2013 | 2013-07-07 | Up river to the new wreck just north of Starcross and then back down to the Bull Sands where Scoobie ran non stop (when he wasnt digging). Luckily we were too early for the Olly Murs sound check!
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Exe Estuary
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| Canoe trip from SYC to Turf Pub | 2013-07-08 | A canoe trip from SYC to the Turf Pub on the Exe Estuary. Set out near low tide. Journey follows the just greater than paddle depth contour on the way out and later, with the higher tide, on the way back.
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Exe Estuary
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-06-16 | Into work and back
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Exe Estuary
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| Weymouth to Topsham | 2016-11-14 | From Weymouth round Portland Bill to Topsham at the top of the Exe.
Stage three in bringing Derek H's new Fulmar back to the Exe.
With very big Spring tides, we took the offshore route around the East Shambles buoy and a few miles off Portland Bill.
With the wind pretty much on the nose after we turned west, we motored most of the way back from Portland Bill.
With the wind varying between 12 and 20 knots against us and 1 or 2 knots of tide with us, the first half of the journey back to the Exe (after Portland Bill) was a little bouncy at times.
We reached the Exe just as it got dark - the trip back up the Exe in the dark and with big tides was interesting! With the Exe's mix of lit and unlit buoys and moorings encroaching on the channel, I really wouldn't recommend going up the Exe at night without local knowledge!
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Exe
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| Brixham to the Exe | 2013-07-28 | A windy sail back from Brixham to the Exe after the Drew Trophy. Winds didnt quite reach the forecast 24 knots but were mostly between 10 and 20 knots. Lovely sail back under full head sail only.
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Exe
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| Bike ride to Exmouth and back | 2013-08-11 | Bike ride round the Exe Estuary from Cockwood to Exmouth and back.
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Exe Estuary
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| Up river paddle | 2023-05-11 | Lunch on the beach at Hannaford's Quay
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Exe Estuary
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| First Fulmar Outing | 2017-04-01 | Some fettling on Derek H's boat (re-attaching reefing lines etc) and then a quick outing along the Topsham part of the River Exe. Upwind under main and downwind under genoa. Lovely boat.
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Exe
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| Beach cafe paddle | 2024-11-01 | Too little wind to go sailing so Malcolm B and I headed down river in the Sea Eagle kayak
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Exe Estuary
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-01-22 | Round to Lympstone on a lovely winters afternoon. Enough wind for the sailors at Starcross Yacht Club but not so much as to make the cycling unpleasant.
Photos are from Lympstone looking at SYC and from SYC looking at Lymptstone.
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Exe Estuary
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| Basic bike ride | 2014-01-27 | Along the estuary to the A379 and back
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Exe Estuary
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| Lizzie bike ride | 2014-03-07 | First time back on the bike after a couple of very wet months. To the Swing Bridges and back again.
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Exe Estuary
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| Ice cream at Lympstone | 2018-08-18 | As the wind was so light to start with, we sailed across to Lympstone for a chocolate and orange ice cream - but they were out of stock! A creamy strawberry was almost as nice.
Then a few bits of decent wind as we sailed back and forth across the estuary in the Wayfarer.
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Exe
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-03-12 | Round to Lympstone with Liz. Watched the channel to Lympstone being deepened. The port hand channel mark at the Turf shouldn't be relied upon by mariners - given that it sits on a mud back - see the photos.
Windy from the north.
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Exe Extuary
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| Exeter and back | 2016-12-03 | A windy ride into Exeter and back, Liz still in post lurgie mode.
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Mill On The Exe
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| Exeter cycle ride | 2017-10-22 | Into Exeter with Liz. Strong headwinds on the way out - faster on the way back.
Saw a Bentley with a bike rack on the back at the Swan's Next park.
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Mill On The Exe
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| Squires Cup safety boat | 2014-06-08 | Safety boat duty on a rather damp and drizzly Sunday in June. Free tea though!
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Exe estuary
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| Evening up river dinghy cruise | 2014-06-12 | A lovely evening's sail up to the Goat Walk at Topsham. Sun and a decent wind (which only died as the last couple of boats arrived back). We had a brief detour a little way down the Clyst taking advantage of the high tide.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe paddling | 2023-07-25 | Up to Topsham Sailing Club and back via Hannaford's Quay.
Out into a weak breeze and then back into a strong breeze!
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Exe Estuary
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| June sea breezes | 2017-06-17 | A splendid sail in the Wayfarer on the Exe Estuary. Drifted about for half an hour waiting for the sea breeze to kick in. When it did it was a splendid steady F4 to F4. Combined with neap tides, it made for a splendid sail. Liz helmed and we went to rescue a pair on a Topper that capsized and seemed to be filling with water. Luckily a passing rib helped as after we had a couple of goes we still hadn't found a spot on the Bull Sands where Liz could stand up in the water!
Then went and had a look at the B14 event and got slightly in the way of one of the crews (oops - apologized later!).
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2016-11-28 | A windy ride into Exeter and back. Luckily the wind (F5 to F7 on Met Office forecast) was mostly on the side,
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Exe Estuary
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| First cycle ride in months | 2016-10-10 | First bike ride in a very long time. Only as far as the Countess Wear swing bridges over the Exeter Canal.
Work is about half way through the 14 month schedule of work on the swing bridge / roads.
As per the pictures, one of the bridges was open because of the work.
The swing bridges are being retained but re-aligned during the work.
The bridges have history - there's a plaque on them that reads "In May 1944, these bridges played an important part in the preparations for D-Day. They were used over a period of three days and nights, for rehearsals of the famous and crucial glider borne attack on the bridge over the Canal de Caen (Pegasus Bridge) and the River Orne (Horsa Bridge), by the Second Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, on the night 5/6 June 1944"
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Exe Estuary
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| A tale of two ferries | 2016-08-14 | Up to buoy 45 at Topsham (off the Goat Walk) passing the Topsham to Turf ferry and then down to Starcross (to the Starcross to Exmouth ferry pier). Then round the floating cafe and back to SYC.
A gorgeous day's sailing. A strong F3 up near Topsham and one of those rare days that it was warm enough to sail without a spray top. Marvelous.
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Exe Estuary
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| October beach cafe sail | 2014-10-11 | Good winds and big tides for a late season sail from SYC down to the beach cafe. Some excellent winds round the Warren and the Docks. Died away a little bit for the last mile back to SYC.
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Exe Estuary
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| Starcross Steamer 2015 | 2015-03-15 | First cycle ride in ages. To SYC and back again for a brief watch of the Starcross Steamer pursuit dinghy race.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe to Salcombe | 2018-04-21 | A great sail from the Exe down to Salcombe.
Sailed past Simon T and Andy B on Nelly Nui as they prepared for their Round Britain sail.
Met up with them again off Dartmouth and we sailed on together towards Start Point.
We took the inside passage around Start Point and encountered a really heavy rain shower including some very loud and rather too close for comfort thunder and lightening.
After that it was a beautiful evening sailing across Salcombe Bar and onto a mooring followed by a fine dinner ashore.
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Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2017-02-27 | A gentle ride into Exeter and back. A mixture of sunshine and showers but at least the wind was from the side.
Most impressively, Liz managed to come off her bike but still remain standing at the end of the manoeuvre!
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Mill On The Exe
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| Work cycle ride | 2017-07-25 | Work and back
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Exe Estuary
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| Topper Open At SYC | 2016-10-09 | Junior Topper Open event at Starcross Yacht Club.
Safety boat crew for the 4 back-to-back races for the 23 boats at this open sailing event.
Decent winds all day between F2 and F4 from the north east.
GPS battery ran out after only a couple of hours so most of the track is missing.
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Exe Estuary
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| Free Sailing Safety Boat | 2016-08-13 | Doing safety boat for a Free Sailing at SYC on a lovely summer's afternoon. A pleasant F3 with the occasional gust made for almost ideal sailing conditions with just a few things to keep us slightly busy. A surprising overall distance as we spent the first 15 minutes at anchor (and expected to remain there for much of the afternoon!)
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Exe Estuary
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| Pole Sands picnic | 2015-08-15 | Sail down from SYC to the Pole Sands. A bit of everything wind wise. From nothing to about a F4 and quite a lot of gusts in between, Put first reef in for the trip back which made things easier
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Exe Estuary
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| Paddle to the Pole Sands | 2015-08-17 | A paddle from Starcross to the Pole Sands making the most of the sunny almost windless weather. Scooby ran miles on the sands.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exe to Stoke Gabriel | 2023-09-22 | On David K's trimaran Triskelle. From SYC on the Exe up to Stoke Gabriel up the Dart. Interesting nosing up the Dart past Dittisham at low water.
The sail down was fun - F4 gusting F6 as forecast with maybe only one squall being a bit higher than that.
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Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2017-02-21 | Another "fast for me" ride into Exeter and back. Fast - as in more than 14mph average. There was a sod of a headwind on the way out so made up time on the way back (although I could swear that the wind changed direction just as a I started back from Exeter).
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Mill On The Exe
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-08-27 | Round to Lympstone and back with Liz. Lovely hot summer's day.
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Exe Estuary
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| April Free Sailing | 2016-04-16 | A pleasant sail back and forth across the estuary. Started about F4 gusting F5 so we went out with one reef. Wind eased so we shook out the reef. The offshore lifeboat came up the river.
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Exe Estuary
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| First beach cafe sail of 2016 | 2016-04-23 | First SYC sail to the Exmouth beach cafe in 2016.
The forecast was north easterly F4 to F5. However, on the way back from the beach cafe it was really quite gusty and I'd guess that the gusts might just have been F6. Combined with a fairly large tide and the NE wind being against the tide, it made for an interesting sail back.
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Exe Estuary
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| Exeter and back | 2018-01-20 | Into Exeter and back with Liz. Picked up some free tide timetables from the very nice people at Bridger Marine on the Quay.
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Mill On The Exe
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| Exeter and back | 2016-11-19 | Another 20 mile ride into Exeter and back.
First ever average of 13 mph on a twenty mile ride.
Storm Angus had left the flood prevention overflows in full spate in Exeter.
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Exe Estuary
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| SYC Mystery Dinghy Cruise | 2016-07-13 | "Officer Of The Day" for the SYC "mystery dinghy cruise". What the mystery was to be was, er, a mystery to us.
So we decided that it would be cricket and drinkies on the Bull Sands in the middle of the Exe Estuary at low water.
F4 gusting F5 a fair bit of the time but it seems a good time was had by all.
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Exe Estuary
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| Up river safety boat | 2024-05-04 | A lovely sunny May day with a F3 wind and little tide. Up to about the Goat Walk.
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Exe Estuary
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