Trawler Travels: The End of the Adventure

After the madness of the boat festivals, we felt the need for some respite in nature, and headed for the island of Ushant, right off the northwest tip of France. After a brief buffeting in the overfalls around the island, we entered the harbour and lay peacefully at anchor near our friends on the ex-lifeboat ‘Oniros’.

Anchored by 'Oniros'

Goats on Ushant

The following day, we all went ashore to explore and were amazed at how busy the village was. Ferry boats ply constantly to-and-from the mainland bringing visitors – many of the old stone houses have been turned into ‘gites’ (holiday lets), and the cycle hire business seemed to be thriving. We wandered out to the lighthouse on the biggest headland, and admired the craggy coastline while the children scrambled on the rocks.

Lighthouse on Ushant

'King' Arthur & Julia in Ushant

Stone cottages on Ushant

We visited a fantastic lighthouse museum, which showed the advances made in building lighthouses over the years, and had incredible footage of lighthouse-keepers being winched on and off from boats – a nerve-racking ride on a good day and downright dangerous in bad weather!

This whole area is prone to strong tidal streams, which rush in and out of the English Channel, and, coupled with frequent fog, made Ushant a treacherous place for boats. Unsurprisingly, there are numerous wrecks lying around the shores, some dating back several centuries.

Inside the lighthouse museum

enormous light housings

Although the islanders claimed anything that washed ashore from shipwrecks, the process of ‘luring’ ships onto the rocks by lighting fires was severely punished here, and there are numerous accounts of islanders helping those in trouble at sea. One local lady even got a medal from Queen Victoria for rowing out to guide a British boat in safely.

The French government made a big push to build some 60 lighthouses all along the Atlantic coast during the 1800’s, making their coastline one of the best-illuminated in the world at that time. As this map shows, nearly half of those lighthouses were built around this notorious ‘top corner’ of France.

Lighthouses of Northern France

'Jupiter' with Katie & Reuben

After our brief wander ashore, we stowed the boat for sea and headed back across the Channel. We did a night crossing, sailing most of the way at a respectable 5-6 knots while the children were asleep. They awoke as we closed in to Lizard Point and I would say they were excited to see the shores of England but visibility was down to half a mile in the grey, drizzly mist!

Fishing boat passing anchored ship off Lizard

The grey/green shores of St Mawes

Despite the weather (welcome back to the UK!), we enjoyed several days in Falmouth, joined on board by Claire, Arthur & Jacob. We rediscovered fish ‘n’ chips, Cornish pasties and Trago Mills (!), and had a lovely couple of walks along the water.

Claire & Jacob in Falmouth...

...not forgetting Arthur!

We then moved on to Mevagissey, where the Whittons came down to visit. The children enjoyed paddling around the harbour, and we dined on deck on local takeaways while they clambered up the rigging. Ed and Archie left for business but Maria stayed for a 5-hour sail the next day - around St Austell Bay and all the way to Plymouth. She wasn’t even seasick – the harbourmaster’s tip of electrical tape on the earlobe strangely seemed to work!

Paddling around at Mevagissey

Lovely sail around St Austell Bay

We had a glorious evening anchored off Barn Pool. The children paddled on the beach, John and Fiona Waldon popped by for a wonderful mackerel meal (cooked by Katie!) and frozen beer (thanks to Dave!)

John & Fiona on board

Proud chefs

We sat out three wet, windy days in Millbrook, where we caught up with the ex-Spirit of Mystery crew, and visited the large boat-based community, ranging from liveaboards to world-cruisers, and a whole variety of boat projects in between. A fascinating place.

Dried out in Millbrook

Meeting friends at Millbrook

Millbrook at low tide

We spent one more night up the Tamar, then decided it was about time to get back to Topsham and let the children see their friends again. We had a lovely last sail back to the Exe, catching the tide around Start Point (8.4 knots) and stopping briefly at Babbacombe beach.