Porth Dinllaen

Porth Dinllaen was always one of my favourite places when visiting the Abersoch area. There is a pub on the beach ( The Ty Coch ) which can only be reached via the golf course or by walking along the beach from Morfa Nefyn. We had a holiday in Morfa Nefyn a few years ago where we took a selection of sailing dinghys, and left the 'fleet' on the beach; it was great to return from seaward.

After a more pleasant night at anchor ( but still slightly rolly ) the sun was shining and all was well with the world. The atmosphere was much clearer now, providing lots of photo opportunities.

We had a gentle get together, then headed off towards Angelsey, and Pilots Cove near the south end of the Menai Straits.

Aberdaron

We had a pleasant sail from Pwllheli to Aberdaron, but had to motor sail the last hour or so as we were headed with a fading wind. Good views of St. Tudwal's islands and Porth Ceriad were had on the way.

Aberdaron is a pleasant little village almost on the tip of the Lynn Peninsular, and is a good stopover point to wait for the tide through Bardsey sound.

The night did get a bit 'Rock & Roll' with a swell getting into the bay, so as soon as the tide was right the next day, we set out bound for Porth Dinllaen.

We has a fairly smooth and rapid passage of Bardsey sound, and were approaching Porth Dinllaen by 13-30.

Pwllheli

We decided to have a couple of nights at Pwllheli, to give us a day to clean the boat, and do laundry. The town was about a mile from the marina, and we had a quick trip in with rucksacks to get some supplies. Between Pwllheli and Abersoch, there had been a music festival ( Wakestock ) which has been a complete washout, the festival goers were just leaving, and the bus station was covered in a fine layer of mud from the swamp which had been the venue! Following Pwllheli, we had to decide whether to go right round the tip of the Lynn peninsular in the day ( through Bardsey Sound ), or have another short day, and anchor off Aberdaron; fancying a short day we opted for the latter.

We had a nice little sail up to Abersoch, and through St. Tudwal's roads, followed by a fine view of Portth Ceriad bay, then headed out across Hells Mouth bay. Bardsey Island was now in sight, and Aberdaron is situated just before the sound. Timing is important through Bardsey Sound as the tide flows at up to 6Kts !

Aberdovey

Just a short hop up the coast today, 8.6M to Aberdovey. We rang the harbour master from a few miles out, and were told that they would meet us on the water, and shown to our mooring - service !

Aberdovey is a fairly large estuary, with large expanses of sand at low water. The town itself is very attractive, with lots of nice shops and cafes. We went ashore using the dinghy, and had a walk along the beach barefoot.

In the evening, we were treated to another spectacular sunset. After a quiet night on the mooring we prepared to go to sea, and left just before 09-30, bound for Pwllheli.

Aberystwyth

We had arranged to meet up with my Mother & Brother whilst in Aberystwyth, and booked in to the marina for four nights. The berth allocated turned out to be fine, and with very few people about, was very quiet. At the north end of the town there is a cable tram up to the top of the hill ( The Cliff Railway ), this afforded super views of the town and the scenery up the coast towards Aberdovey, and ( in the far distance ) the Llyn peninsular

The sea front is an attractive mixture of Victorian buildings, Pier, and a modern Promenade. The town has a resident population of about 12,000, but this more than doubles in term time due to the University.

The beaches are rather grey and pebbley, and after the recent heavy rain fall, were covered in debris washed down the rivers, and deposited on the beach at high tide.

Access to the marina with anything other than a flat bottomed barge is about HW +- 2 Hrs, and looking at the entrance at low water, it was hard to believe that we had come through here in a yacht.

Another after effect of the recent floods was the deposition of huge amounts of gravel in the river end of the marina - in the photo below, the boats clearly standing on gravel should have been floating !! The marina management seemed to have to spend a great deal of time and effort with a digger and dump truck moving gravel upstream of the weir in an attempt to reinforce the weir itself, and wash the fines out of the dredged material out to sea. With the weather we are having this year, this seems like a Forth bridge job !

This is the view from the weir, looking towards the sea wall, with 'NJ' in the centre of the photo.

After another thorough soaking on Friday 6th ( when we met mum & Pete ), we intend to move north again on Saturday, possibly to Aberdovey or on to Pwllheli.

Fishguard

The passage from Milford Haven to Fishguard took us around Skokholm, and Skomer Islands, then North towards Ramsey Island ( where 'The Bitches' tide race runs between the island and mainland ). We passed outside the 'Bishops & Clerks' rocks, outside South Bishop Lighthouse. We had a very efficient passage with up to 4 knots of fovourable tide !

In a southerly the wind was reputed to funnel through the anchorage in Fishguard Lower Town, and this proved to be the case, however, the boat lay to the wind, and we had two very comfortable nights at anchor. We took the dinghy ashore, and had a walk up in to Fishguard centre to pick up some milk, and a few other provisions ( Welsh Cakes !! ).

As for the passage from Milford Haven, the tides were such that we needed to sail over the afternoon up to Aberystwyth. We rang the marina in the morning to secure a berth, and were provided with pilotage instructions for entrance. After motor sailing for most of the afternoon we were tied up in our berth by 19-40.

Milford Haven

We moored up to the visitors pontoon in Dale Bay at just before 22-00 having covered 68M from Padstow. In the morning, the sun was out, and there were lots of dinghys out in the bay, including this one with brightly coloured sails.

A little later we decided to move to one of the marinas further up Milford Haven Sound, this involved navigating through all the oil and gas piers, not to mention a variety of large vessels coming and going. One thing we did notice was that when any large ship passed moored oil or gas tankers, a large tug was always in place between the fairway and the tanker - presumably to push any ship away from the tanker in an emergency ! This can be seen in the photo below, with the tug between the tanker and the Irish Ferries ship.

We decided to go into Milford Haven Marina, and after quite a long wait for the gate to open, we entered the most enormous lock. We were requested to move to the far end of the floating pontoon, and were subsequently joined by a beautiful square rigged  traing ship. We had to wait an hour for the lock to be opened into the marina, so time for a cup of coffee.

We spent two nights in the marina, then, after re-fueling, left while the lock was open on 'free-flow', just before a tanker was due through the lock, and then to the dry dock which ran parallel to the lock basin. We returned to Dale for the night to be close to the entrance.

The tides are very strong off St. David's Head, and we needed to wait until 13-00 before setting off. After motoring out for an hour and a half, we turned to about 340degrees, and sailed for the rest of the afternoon with a monumental tide under us - we logged a maximum speed over ground of 10.4Knots !! We arrived in Fishguard and were anchored off Lower Town at 19-50.