almost ready for this season

 It has been a long time since I have been sailing and I am looking forward to getting out on the water soon. My last post has a short video - refitting Arwen after her long hibernation. 

A night up at Treluggan Boatyard on the upper Lynher river 

Today, I have sorted out the galley boxes and cleaned them up and brought some ready to cook in the bag camping meals. 

• steak and veg
• pasta bolognaise
• pasta carbonara
• meatballs and pasta
• sticky toffee pudding
• noodles and bacon

I'm a simple man with simple culinary tastes 😆. Obviously I'll add in fresh veg - carrots, broccoli and sweetcorn along with various coloured peppers. The shopping list also includes fresh fruit (apples and oranges), fruit pots and custard pots, trail mix, granola bars of various types. Bacon and eggs for breakfast one morning I'm sure. I'll make a fruit cake and take some of that too. 

One galley box containing trangia stove and cooking utensils etc 

One food supplies box

If you search 'galley box' on the side bar of this blog you can get all the building blogs including measurements 

Since June last year (and its now June 2023) I have only sailed around four times. There are reasons for this 😞😄

• we have been travelling on and off for a total of five and a half months out of the last twelve - Iceland, France, Spain and SW USA
• I have caught Covid several times and have probably lost another month to this and subsequent recuperations
• the weather, has, at times, frankly, been as my teenage friends would say 'PANTS'!! 😖

So, we are nearly there but one more hurdle to overcome. I'm ill again. Some form of bacterial and/or viral infection which has been with me on and off since February and which, thus far, is defying treatment. The list of symptoms and effects is too long and frankly boring to list here but according to the Doctors I'm doing rather well given the slight onslaught I periodically face. 

So, sailing will have to take place on the good days - no arthritic pain in my hands, no conjunctivitis in my eyes, no tiredness - aches or pains. And there are plenty of good days - they far, far, far outweigh the odd 'knackered' day. I'm always cheerfully optimistic. Trained by thousands of teenagers over thirty five years 😁

My bet is something bit me!  Damn mosquitoes! 😂

So, on the calendar are marked all the spring tides between now and end of October; the DCA rallies as well. Tentative plans are for voyages and overnight trips to: 

• Frogmore Creek and Kingsbridge over Salcombe way
• a pootle up the river Dart to Totnes
• towing Arwen down to Falmouth and doing a few days on the various rivers around the Fal ria
• a coastal sail across to the Helford river and a tootle up some of its tributaries
• a coastal sail from Salcombe over to Bigbury on Sea and if condition are right - crossing the dangerous bar and sailing up the river Avon to Aveton Gifford. 
• a few sails up the Tamar - up to a quay in Kingsmill Lake; up the Tavy as far as I can get on a tide; a revisit to redshank beach on the Lynher - one of my favourites and long overdue; a potter up past St German's and up the river Tiddy as far as I can safely go and, finally, up past Calstock on the Tamar to Morwellham Quay. 

A photo from a long time ago - Arwen moored off Redshank Beach up the Lynher just beyond Dandy Hole and about a mile downriver from St German's

I am also hoping to be there for the launch of Steven Yate's lovely new Pathfinder. He has his own YouTube channel and post a lovely weekly blog - very knowledgeable and considered. A sailor's sailor - not an amateur like me. Look up 'dirtywetdog' all one word on YouTube, google internet and Facebook!   You won't regret it. Brilliant reads and musings! 

From a few years ago - drifting back down river very early one morning after an overnight stop at Southpool creek. the town of Salcombe is ahead.