Thursday, June 23, 2005

Thursday, 23rd June

The ‘Amerigo Vespucci’ is still at Dartmouth, and by implication, so is ‘Bumper’. High pressure is the dominant theme, which means little wind. As I’ve needed to replenish stores for the next leg of the cruise, I’ve made this a day for doing those things that need attention, but at the same time, I’ve treated my stopover as a time for relaxation.

Having obtained diesel and Gaz, and having bought my groceries, I rowed around the harbour taking photos of the visiting Italian ship and a rather insignificant ‘British Steel’, which was looking a little bit neglected.

When lunch was over I wandered around Dartmouth in search of a cheap flame gas lighter – an impossible mission at this holiday town, but I found one for a little more than I wanted to pay, at a candle and soap shop.

Dartmouth is absolutely packed with summer visitors, most of whom are keen on window shopping; a good many of them have been enjoying boat trips and the steam railway, on the Kingswear side of the River Dart.

As I compare ‘Bumper’ with yachts in general, she is smaller than most, yet I consider her as being quite large. I suppose her internal usable living space is similar to that found on bigger yachts, but her waterline length can’t be much more than twenty feet. The reason I mention this is that when I arrive at a new port, much larger yachts that I’ve seen before turn up again. We’re doing the same thing, i.e., cruising along the coast; maybe the bigger yacht arrives at a destination before ‘Bumper’, but ultimately we end up doing the same thing.

This evening I may take a stroll around Kingswear and perhaps to the Dartmouth Day Mark, north of Inner Foreland Point, overlooking the Mew Stone.

The forecast for tomorrow has predicted thunder showers – typical of the time when strawberries and cream are being served and eaten at Wimbledon; therefore a decision about moving on up Channel cannot be made until early tomorrow morning.

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