Moving on to Chichester 8th August 2019

When we woke up, we found another neighbour had arrived in the night, Queen Elizabeth. She had arrived very quietly.

Quite impressed by the size of this racing yacht, we think it was here for Cowes weeks.

The weather is still not our friend, the wind for the next few days is going to be gale force so we want to be tucked up somewhere safe. Chichester fits the bill, we did want to visit there and it had been on our rough plan but there will be no anchoring as we had hoped. So we set off for journey down Southampton water and across the Solent towards Chichester.

On the way down we heard Queen Elizabeth doing a radio check, not every day you hear that.

Sadly today was not going to be a sailing day as the wind was on the nose (again). It didn’t seem too long before we were approaching Chichester Harbour. This was another place I had treble checked the calculations as there was a bar to go over to enter. As we were going through the bar a small fishing boat was anchored bang in the channel. Very inconsiderate I thought.

It was very pretty in the harbour, for non sailing friends this is a natural harbour not one made of stone. We were keeping carefully to the channel. As well as making sure we were in the channel we had to contend with lots of dinghies as there were lots of races going on.

In order to get to the lock of the marina we had to go down a marked fairway, making sure we kept near to the green marker poles as it is tide dependent. There were lots of boats of all shapes and sizes waiting to go on. We contacted the lock keeper and waited to be called in. We were the first boat for the lock and a very big cruiser came in behind us. He filled the lock so there were just the two of us. In this lock the ropes are passed down to you, this is a first for us.

These pictures show the approach to the lock when the tide is out. Shows why you need to keep near the posts even when the tide is in.

Chichester Marina is huge and we were at the far end. A first for us we actually ran aground very near our pontoon, John quickly went into reverse and we were back in deeper water. We both were holding our breath as we went in again with John keeping as near to the berthed boats as possible. We got in successfully but the depth was very near our limit. Once in our berth we were in a depth of 2.6m.

This was a huge marina but they didn’t make it seem huge it was very well organised. There were several shower blocks of an excellent standard. En-suite showers with underfloor heating, plus real hair driers. There were also waste bins at the end of each pontoon. We were lucky as we were quite near the laundry room. Although £4 a wash and £2 a dry, the driers were incredibly efficient and you could choose the dry you wanted.also a lovely comfortable chair to sit in.

The grounds of the marina were also lovely with plenty of places for us to walk. There was also an on-site restaurant which we didn’t get to, but was obviously very popular. In addition there was also the Yacht Club.

Whilst in the lock the lock keeper directed us to a pub a couple of miles away. We did find that, John was impressed with not only the menu but the look of everyone’s food. Sadly as we had been walking I didn’t have enough money on me for food, just enough for a pint each.

We had a super day in Chichester, the bus stop is on the main road outside the marina. Be warned its quite a hike to leave the marina grounds. We wandered round Chichester and visited the free museum - Novium. It's a lovely little museum complete with Roman dig in the ground floor.

The cathedral was also free, which isn't always the case. We had a walk round there including the Bishop's Garden. They have a very nice coffee bar in the cloisters.

To finish we had a quick walk round the walls, made me smile as we are used to the walls at York or Berwick upon Tweed. But all in all Chichester is worth a visit.

Whilst at the Marina we took the opportunity to walk the harbour. You can hire bikes from the marina.

This boat was our neighbour, just loved the name of the boat.

Sailing Information
Southampton - Chichester Marina 28.9 nm 5 hours 40 minutes
Premier Marina - used our Premier Great Escapes nights
Excellent facilities (ensuite, underfloor heating). More than one shower block and we never had to queue.
Good laundry - can choose the heat and length of dry you want. £4 wash , £2 dry. Comfortable laundry room.
Friendly staff
Lovely grounds for a walk
No shops near by so make sure you have the basics
Restaurant on grounds and lovely pub in walking distance
Not accessible two hours either side of low tide.

Southampton 1st August 2019

What is a plan for if not for changing?

We had planned to spend a night or two mooring at Newton Creek, however we would have needed to use the dingy and outboard and John had been advised to avoid weights so we thought best not.

The revised plan was to go to Southampton. Town Quay is an ABP Marina therefore a sister marina to Ipswich, which means 7 nights free mooring. The tides might we could go early in the morning or later in the afternoon. We elected to go earlier but as it was only a short hop we didn't have to set the alarm too early - 05.30. For some reason we both woke up before five and as we were wide awake thought we might as well get up and going.

The first job was to refuel - at this excellent marina this can be done at anytime. We had to give the night watchman a call ten minutes before we wanted fuel. We were fully fuelled up and on our way by 05.53. The morning was incredibly still and I couldn't resist taking these photos of the reflections of the boats in the marina.

The channel out of Lymington is very well marked and I love the name of some of the markers.

There was no wind but the tide was with us and we were shooting down the Solent at  7 1/2 knots. It was a cold morning and our jackets soon went on.

 Before long we turned up for Southampton, it was a bit like going up the Thames as it is industrial in parts.

The Red Funnel Ferries and Fast Cats are definitely a feature and we were passed by three of each. Apart from that there was not a great deal of traffic until we nearly reached our destination when a large ship was backing out of it's berth. I had to mill about a bit till it had passed in front of us and I could safey pass behind. As we approached Town Quay I passed the wheel to John as it was a bit awkward going in. Things was made worse as we were about to go up our pontoon and another boat was leaving, so john had to do some quick reversing as there wasn't a lot of manovering space. At to the mix, because wed arrived early the boat in the berth we were allocated hadn't left. We were given another temporary berth but someone was in that so we grabbed the empty berth next to it. So were tied up by 09.20.

The marina was quite busy as boats were gathering for the fastnet race. It was not that long before we got into the berth where we would be for the next week. John was still in a lot of pain so we toddled of to Southampton Hospital. Here they feel it is definitely his rotary cuff, but there is little that can be done until we get home as he will need to be referred. They gave him some very strong painkillers. Rather than set off straight away we are going to take this week to give it a good rest.

It will give us time to explore Southampton as we normally see bits of it in a rush at the boat show. We also spent a night here before we went to New York on the Queen Mary and John remembered a pub where we had lovely fish and chips. We found it again, the fish and chips were as good as we remembered. However John was on diet coke as he wasn't allowed alcohol. I managed a pint!

Speaking of the Queen Mary, we saw she was coming in, once again we were awake early so we got up and went to see her docking. We were amazed how many people were there before 6 am to watch her and three other cruise ships arrive. She had come over from New York.

She is moored very close to us and absolutely dwarfs the boats in our marina. If you look closely you can see both Rascal and John.

We also went to watch her go that evening, again there are lots of people. I have discovered that there  are cruise ship watchers similar to train spotters. she had to reverse out and covered near the whole width of the river. she was on her way to the Fjords.

Although this is a nice marina it is incredibly bouncy at times. We have decided it is the fast cats, but some pilots make us bounce more than others and when I say bounce I mean bounce.

We are taking it easy exploring Southampton. I hadn't realised that Jane Austen lived here for a while. The walls are quite something they must have been very extensive when build. The information boards and plaques are good and are walks end up being quite slow as we are reading as we go.

As a couple of our knives have failed and had to be replaced we had a trip to IKEA. John feels that is a hour of his life he'll never get back. But we have some new cutlery at a reasonable price.  In the same area is a cinema so we were back the following day (Meerkat day) and went to see the new Spiderman film. I enjoyed it far more than I thought, quite humorous. It is a super cinema - very luxurious seats that lean back and has leg rests that come out.

We've generally taken it easy whilst we have been here, a train trip to Portsmouth so I could see the D Day museum had been on the cards but I felt that would wait for another year.

Sailing Information
Lymington to Southampton 18.3 nm approx. 3 1/2 hours
Not sure of price as we had 7 free nights
Friendly staff
Clean facilities - basic compared with other marinas.
Laundry room - cant remember the price as I didn't use it
Free gas bbq to use with bench and seats
Quite bouncy as there is a lot of wash
Coop, Lidil and Tesco Express in good walking distance
In the centre of town very quickly

Lymington 24th July 2019

Moving on to another new port of call, I think this is the 12th of the season. When we had been in Yarmouth we could virtually see Lymington. There is a ferry that goes regularly across between the two towns so we new when we arrived we would have a ferry to contend with.

Going towards the Isle of Wight is a journey we had undertaken a couple of years ago, so we roughly knew where we were going. The tides worked well and it meant we could go through the 0800 bridge and have the tide with us. This is important as at the other end was a tidal gate at the needles. The only other consideration was the firing range at Lulworth. Weymouth Harbour Guide kindly give you the best coordinates to avoid the range so we used these.


We made sure we got the main sail up pretty sharpish and tried to sail. initially the first sail only lasted 10 minutes, but by 10 am the wind had kicked in and we did sail for over an hour and for over 6 nm. Sadly once we changed course the wind was straight behind us. Normally we would have just sailed on the jenny but the sea was quite rough and John's shoulder was very painful (he thought he'd tweaked it in the shower), so we opted to motor sail rather than turn head to wind to drop the mainsail. The tide was with us an we  were moving quite quickly - averaging well over 6 knots with the engine at low revs.

There is definitely something about approaching the needles, last time we did this in this direction it was dark. So nice to do it in the daylight. As always there was lots of traffic in the Solent but we gradually made our way across towards Lymington and dropped the mainsail before going down the marked channel. There was of course a ferry for us to contend with, but our journey would be complete without one. We think they lay in wait in harbours ready for us to arrive.

The channel into Lymington was well marked so didn't pose much of a problem. I couldn't raise the marina on the radio so phoned them for our berth number. As we were heading between the pontoons I could hear the phone ringing but ignored it as we were bust. Our berth was nearly at the bottom but when we arrived someone was already in it! John had to reverse all the way back, I checked the phone and yes it was the marina to say they'd made an error with the berth allocation. Berth number two was empty.

Its a lovely marina but they were unsure if they could have us for more than one night, but told me to nag each day. It was also one of the most expensive marinas we'd been in. However they did have hair straighteners in the wash rooms!

Whilst there we had to pay a visit to Lymington Emergency Care as John's shoulder obviously wasn't just a tweak. The triage nurse asked if he'd had rotary cuff problems - no. But the practitioner thought he'd either trapped nerve or was rubbing a tendon. o a regime of pain killers were prescribed. We also had so cold pads on the nurse as it was hard for the nurse that we don't have a freezer compartment on the boat so no ice to ice the shoulder rest was recommended. We did manage to book into Lymington for 7 nights, which gives a 10% discount.

The marina was a bit out of town but we hadn't felt like mooring several boats deep on the town quay. I had read that we weren't near shops so had stocked up in Lymington. The main advantage was the marina was next to a nature reserve, which was superb.

Looking over to Yarmouth,

View to the Needles and Hurst Castle,

We did walk to Keyhaven, but didn't go as far as Hurst Castle as that would have been over a shingle bank and would have been a couple of hours too far. We will do it another time, we might even moor at Keyhaven in a year or so time. It was a lovely walk through the nature reserve and we did a little walk through the nature reserve every evening after our meal. We were thrilled not only to see a avocet but also her chicks. She was a very protective mother and would often 'see off' any birds -mainly gulls, that she saw as a threat.

Avocet

Avocet chick

Egret

Oyster Catchers

On the Monday our friend Julia came and paid us a visit. She came over by train and spent a night in a B&B. We had a super lunch on the boat and then Julia and I had a girly afternoon exploring Lymington, which is a lovely town. The plan was to all eat out together that night, although John came out to the pub with us he was too uncomfortable to sit and eat so went back to the boat. Julia and I had a nice meal but it had been difficult to find somewhere to eat. There wasn't a lot of choice for a nice, different eatery.

Tuesday the weather had deteriorated which was forecast it was gale force, so not a day for doing much. I managed to get all the washing done. It was they type of tumble drier where you can alter the heat and length of cycle, so I was a happy bunny. Plus there was an iron.We should have moved on on the Wednesday but the weather sit wasn't brilliant so we elected to stay an eighth night which was no great hardship. Although it was out of town it was a lovely marina, the only downside was dog dirt, there was rather a lot around. I don't know if this was marina dogs or from the public footpath that ran through. I know the fault is of the owners, but at our home marina a public footpath runs through and the marina staff keep it clean or the dog owners of Ipswich are better at picking up after their dogs. Sorry to moan it is one of my pet hates. when we had dogs I had poo bags in every coat/jacket I owned.

Sailing Information
Weymouth to Lymington 44.8 NM  - 9 hours 23 minutes
Expensive marina but excellent facilities clean well appointed showers.
Good laundrette - £3 a wash and £2 a dry.
Free Sunday papers
Good hike to the shop, but basics from the chandlers.