From sunny Cornwall to HOME After two amazing days in Cornwall, it is now time for our last leg in the circumnavigation. Only a few more days and we will be back home, back in the Netherlands. After setting sail for the Isles of Scilly from Ireland, we arrived there on the 11th in the morning. The day was spend walking on the island and a visit to the pub. On board we prepared ourselves to set sail that night; the deck was washed and a short afternoon nap was part off the program. We left our anchorage at 02:30 and as there was no wind at all, we did the 60 miles to Helfortriver under engine. It turned out to be a beautiful day, warm on deck, but not a breeze to be felt.
We arrived at Helfort just after lunch and tried to find a mooring near town, but had to anchor out in one of the other bays, as it was totally packed with small yachts. What a beautiful sight! Helfort is one of those places where everything seems perfect, we had a beautiful walk over the hillside along the river to get to a small village to do some tourist sight seeing. We left the next morning after a late breakfast and again there was no wind, so under engine we did the last 5 miles to Falmouth. In Falmouth we had the pleasure of dropping right in the middle of two festivals, a traditional boat festival and a seachanty festival. Everywhere you looked there was something happening, small boats all out on the water, with a few pearls of the Cornish coast, pilot cutters, luggers and all sorts of dinghy’s were out on the water. Ofcourse we went out on the town, taking the water taxi from our mooring to the shore, not for the boats, not for the chanties… BUT FOR THE FOOTBAL!!!
What a night, the pub soon found out we were Dutch and so everybody was cheering with us as the fist match of the Netherlands in the World Cup ended 5-1 for the Dutch!! Next morning, we had to say goodbye to some of our voyage crew, they were getting off and we were getting ready to set sail straight away. We got a beautiful show and sail-by from the pilot cutter Agnes, who tacked her way around us and our mooring with such grace! We got our water tank full, and then left our berth under sail to join the classic boats all ready on the water. The Agnes came to play around with us, but in those light winds, we could hardly keep up! And then we went out between the lighthouse and the headland and there was open water, we set course for the Channel and here we are, already 110 miles from Falmouth, now fighting the current at the Bill of Portland (03:24 UTC) doing 2,2 knots under engine. Although we had a nice sail out and into the afternoon, the wind dropped soon after the Bellows. Hopefully today we will get a sail-able wind. Home here we come.
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