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.