The crew celebrating Derek's birthday |
After an overnight stop in Viana do Castelo they sailed on to Bayona
in northern Spain. They spent three days
here waiting out bad weather, but they did manage to fit in some good walks and an excellent
seafood dinner to celebrate Derek’s birthday.
Strong winds kept them in harbour at Bayona |
Derek and Richard waiting for the wind to change in Camerinas |
Eventually, on 27th August, the forecast looked
good and at 9am they motored out of Camerinas into the Bay of Biscay. At first the winds
were too light to sail, but by 7.30pm they had the engine off and the sails
reefed. Early in the morning of the 29th August the wind dropped again
and the engine went back on. With little wind they were forced to motor sail for
most of the next two days, and on the morning of the 30th August they
decided to divert to L’Aberwrach on the north coast of France to refuel. They finally sailed into Torquay harbour
at 12.15pm on Wednesday the 31st August.
Torquay harbour |
20th September Today we made our last trip on Sandpiper, taking her from
Torquay to the Retreat Boatyard, six miles up the River Exe. Mike Lucas had recommended the yard to us and offered to come along for the ride. A boat with our depth can only get up to the yard on a spring tide, and even then we needed to time our arrival for the top of the tide to be sure there would be enough water in the channel.
We left before sunrise and arrived at the mouth of the river at 8am. This was where things got interesting as not only was the river shallow, but there were some strong currents which sometimes made it difficult to keep within the narrow channel.
All went relatively smoothly as we managed to spot the buoys which mark the very windy channel up to Topsham. But
for the last half a mile between Topsham and the Retreat Yard there were no markers
whatsoever, so we were left zigzagging through the moorings, with me hyperventilating
each time the depth gauge hit zero and the
keel gently grazed the muddy river bed! We
gave a huge sigh of relief when the yard’s jetty finally came into view with
the staff ready to take our lines. Sandpiper is now on the hard, ready to be given a scrub and polish before she goes up for sale. It’s the end of a wonderful, four-and-half year adventure, but I’m sure there will be more adventures to come.