Dartmouth 5th June

As we left Brixham, we were pleased to see a harbour seal. Still no dolphins.

We knew that it would only be a short journey to Dartmouth, which was a good job as the sea was decided lumpy with the wind on the nose.

As always it is good to see bits of the coast we have walked along. The coastline is quite spectacular and it was good to enjoy the views but far too rock and roll to get pictures.

The whole journey just took over two hours from leaving the fuel dock to mooring up on a pontoon as directed by the gents from Dart Nav.

Whilst we were there China Girl went past on her way to Dittisum. We seem to communicate by waving as we pass each other. This meant that there was definitely a place on town quay as they had just vacated it. As soon as the harbour boat came back I asked about us going on town quay. They said yes. However it was very difficult getting off the river pontoon as the tide was running hard, but the skipper managed it. The next bit was getting on the town pontoon, we’d been warned about it by friends. It was as bad as they told us. Basically you have to go in reverse up a narrow bit between the pontoon and the wall. Once again the skipper did sterling work and we were soon moored up. The advantages of being here is we can walk to shore and don’t have to get the dingy out. If we were on the outside of this pontoon you can only stay on from 5pm until 9 am when the ferries stop running. We initially booked in for two nights.

We are both very impressed with Dartmouth as it is a lovely little town. Plenty to see and do and nice evening walks.

The forecast for rain was fairly accurate and it was torrential for most of the night and until about 10. We got to the Yacht Club for showers, but the less said about them the better. Can’t even say they were wet as my token got stuck and would start the shower. I even followed all the instructions.

Like many of the towns on this coast Dartmouth was heavily involved with the D Day landings, there was a service held here so we went to that on 6th June. I always find these services quite moving. Dartmouth College is up the hill so some of the naval students were part of the parade. They also had an American  representative .

There is a castle here, which again doesn’t look much from the outside but was extremely interesting. Our English Heritage cards are getting lots of use.

I even tried on some helmets.

We had an exceedingly long walk up a very steep hill to get a new petrol container and fuel for the outboard.

The weather outlook is not good at all (force 8 and 9 gales), so obviously we are going nowhere and have booked in for a further two nights. This is not a problem as there is so much to do round here.


Whilst there was a break in the weather we got a ferry across the river, walked along footpath by the railway line into Kingswear and then got a different ferry back. We always like to have a walk when we can.

There is a steam railway that runs from Kingswear to Paignton, which seemed like a good idea. Super views on the way to Paignton, but I cant say we were overly impressed by Paignton itself. Things weren't helped by an absolute downpour not long after we arrived. Luckily we were near the front and a rather nice café/restaurant so we went in for lunch. As the rain continued we felt it only fair to have pudding as well. Once the rain had eased, we decided that we had seen most of what Paignton had to offer so decided to walk to Torquay. We enjoyed the walk and had a look from afar where we will be staying on the way back. Rather than walk back we caught a local bus to catch the train back to the boat.

Dartmouth was also the birth place of Thomas Newcomen, an important figure from the industrial revolution. I remember him from my A level history days. There is a working engine in Dartmouth, unfortunately we didn't see it working.

All in all an excellent stay at Dartmouth.

Sailors information
Brixham to Dartmouth  10 nm
Passage time - 2hours 10 minutes (including mooring)
Dart Nav are very efficient at finding mooring spaces.
Facilities - very basic. Clean public loos near by (Closed overnight) should cost 20p a go but there was a fault on the door so were free.
Showers - at the local yacht club - very basic and the token machine is very temperamental. After the first day I managed a shower. It cost a £1 a token for 4 1/2 minutes. A time element makes me panic, its so hard to judge time.
Shops galore. Coop and M&S food hall.
Loads of eating places - including another Rockfish. (We didn't indulge as we eat out so much at Brixham)