John R Smith
08-13-2002, 10:51 AM
Lulu Gets Away From It All (continued)
In our last instalment, we left Lulu and her intrepid crew settling down for the night in Lamouth creek. Sometime after midnight, the last of the tide gurgled away down-river and Lulu was embraced by the soft creek-bed mud. Being flat-bottomed, our shoal-draught cruiser sits upright when she dries out, and her bunks remained level. Level or not, somehow neither of us have as yet developed the knack of sleeping aboard our boat, and despite the lack of external drama we both spent a restless (and largely sleepless) night.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p49871ba3cf0a902c5ceff00069be2194/fd7e6a58.jpg
Sometime around 5.30am, I decided that as the sun was shining through the cabin door ventilators and I was wide awake, I might as well get up. In the cockpit, the day was already warm. Lulu sat in the centre of a level plain of mud, with Doris hard up by the transom. Out at the mouth of the creek there was a glint of silver, first token of the incoming tide. Curlews and black-headed gulls worked the water's edge, and I got down to the serious business of brewing the first pot of tea of the day.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p89a37ebd731b75855da88a9acd4fe931/fd7e6a5f.jpg
A little while later, Kate was frying bacon and I decided that it was time to hoist the Cornish flag from the starboard crosstrees (we fly the Red Ensign at the stern, of course). In fact, I have quite a reasonable selection of flags and burgees to raise and lower - the Cornish one, as seen here, also a Truro Boat Owners burgee (yellow and black) and (the killing blow) the Dauntless Association burgee (red and black). On special occasions we fly 'em all at once. I now have my greedy eyes on a full set of signal flags . . .
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p90637f055f2412deaf70bfea626164ed/fd7e6a60.jpg
By the time we had eaten breakfast, drunk yet more tea and tidied the cabin, the tide had floated our two craft free of the mud. The mud hereabouts is pretty flat, so once we have a couple of feet under us we can get away where we want. Time, then, for a trip ashore in Doris the faithful dinghy - wooden boat she sadly ain't, but useful she jolly well is.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/pd4f2d9caf8bdaf984e5c64b7610caa17/fd7e6a5a.jpg
We landed on a shingle beach and had a stroll along the foreshore. Here is Kate sitting beside the fallen oak tree we use as a transit when coming in to anchor (nobody had better move it!). Lamouth Creek is mostly owned by our National Trust, and just up behind Kate is a beautiful footpath through the woods.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/pa5650b621d57d28d9c468716eae82f12/fd7e6a62.jpg
By now we had about two hours left before we had to head back up-river to Sunny Corner. Leave it any later, and our mooring would be dry. So back to the mother ship we paddled, started engines, weighed anchor and off we went to - well, just around the corner actually, to Coombe Creek.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/pdf7f22b2357f6d44b4935ba12d116b72/fd7e6a5c.jpg
We nosed our way up the creek, past Coombe village and into shoal waters. Kate was kept busy with the lead line and eventually we let go in under four feet of water. Then it was back into Doris for quite a long paddle to the very head of the creek, here at Cowlands. I think you can see that Kate is well-pleased with our navigation through the shallows.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p2a6bec427cabb0c227d2a24ddf1090b8/fd7e6a57.jpg
Before we rejoined Lulu we had another visit to make. Here, we beached the dinghy on a narrow slip at the bottom of a stony lane. There are no cars, and indeed no access except on foot or by water. A short way up the hill are two cottages and a bric-a-brac stall. From this stall we have had loads of really useful things, including a bronze boat-hook, a sweet little garden fork, and our dinghy paddles. Today we got a hard-back copy of "Rebecca" for 30 pence.
Back at Doris the sun was hot, there was the scent of wild roses in the air and the liquid call of a curlew haunted the woods. Neither of us wanted to go home. But all good things must come to an end, especially when the tide has turned and it's four miles back to Sunny Corner ;)
John
[ 08-13-2002, 11:32 AM: Message edited by: John R Smith ]
In our last instalment, we left Lulu and her intrepid crew settling down for the night in Lamouth creek. Sometime after midnight, the last of the tide gurgled away down-river and Lulu was embraced by the soft creek-bed mud. Being flat-bottomed, our shoal-draught cruiser sits upright when she dries out, and her bunks remained level. Level or not, somehow neither of us have as yet developed the knack of sleeping aboard our boat, and despite the lack of external drama we both spent a restless (and largely sleepless) night.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p49871ba3cf0a902c5ceff00069be2194/fd7e6a58.jpg
Sometime around 5.30am, I decided that as the sun was shining through the cabin door ventilators and I was wide awake, I might as well get up. In the cockpit, the day was already warm. Lulu sat in the centre of a level plain of mud, with Doris hard up by the transom. Out at the mouth of the creek there was a glint of silver, first token of the incoming tide. Curlews and black-headed gulls worked the water's edge, and I got down to the serious business of brewing the first pot of tea of the day.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p89a37ebd731b75855da88a9acd4fe931/fd7e6a5f.jpg
A little while later, Kate was frying bacon and I decided that it was time to hoist the Cornish flag from the starboard crosstrees (we fly the Red Ensign at the stern, of course). In fact, I have quite a reasonable selection of flags and burgees to raise and lower - the Cornish one, as seen here, also a Truro Boat Owners burgee (yellow and black) and (the killing blow) the Dauntless Association burgee (red and black). On special occasions we fly 'em all at once. I now have my greedy eyes on a full set of signal flags . . .
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p90637f055f2412deaf70bfea626164ed/fd7e6a60.jpg
By the time we had eaten breakfast, drunk yet more tea and tidied the cabin, the tide had floated our two craft free of the mud. The mud hereabouts is pretty flat, so once we have a couple of feet under us we can get away where we want. Time, then, for a trip ashore in Doris the faithful dinghy - wooden boat she sadly ain't, but useful she jolly well is.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/pd4f2d9caf8bdaf984e5c64b7610caa17/fd7e6a5a.jpg
We landed on a shingle beach and had a stroll along the foreshore. Here is Kate sitting beside the fallen oak tree we use as a transit when coming in to anchor (nobody had better move it!). Lamouth Creek is mostly owned by our National Trust, and just up behind Kate is a beautiful footpath through the woods.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/pa5650b621d57d28d9c468716eae82f12/fd7e6a62.jpg
By now we had about two hours left before we had to head back up-river to Sunny Corner. Leave it any later, and our mooring would be dry. So back to the mother ship we paddled, started engines, weighed anchor and off we went to - well, just around the corner actually, to Coombe Creek.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/pdf7f22b2357f6d44b4935ba12d116b72/fd7e6a5c.jpg
We nosed our way up the creek, past Coombe village and into shoal waters. Kate was kept busy with the lead line and eventually we let go in under four feet of water. Then it was back into Doris for quite a long paddle to the very head of the creek, here at Cowlands. I think you can see that Kate is well-pleased with our navigation through the shallows.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p2a6bec427cabb0c227d2a24ddf1090b8/fd7e6a57.jpg
Before we rejoined Lulu we had another visit to make. Here, we beached the dinghy on a narrow slip at the bottom of a stony lane. There are no cars, and indeed no access except on foot or by water. A short way up the hill are two cottages and a bric-a-brac stall. From this stall we have had loads of really useful things, including a bronze boat-hook, a sweet little garden fork, and our dinghy paddles. Today we got a hard-back copy of "Rebecca" for 30 pence.
Back at Doris the sun was hot, there was the scent of wild roses in the air and the liquid call of a curlew haunted the woods. Neither of us wanted to go home. But all good things must come to an end, especially when the tide has turned and it's four miles back to Sunny Corner ;)
John
[ 08-13-2002, 11:32 AM: Message edited by: John R Smith ]