A settled weather window gave Luke and Sara Griffith the perfect opportunity to explore the wonderful landscape, anchorages and restaurants of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
Bad weather at the end of an early season cruise to Falmouth meant we had to leave our Duchy 35 Laila in the marina there rather than heading back to our home port of Noss on Dart, so when we returned in mid July for a 10-day summer break it meant we could set off from there instead. With no fixed plans of where to go, the world, or at least the South West, was our oyster!
Tuesday 22 July
We’d arrived a couple of days previously but with the wind still howling through the marina we used the time to stock up on stores and start making plans. Now the weather was looking much brighter, although there was still a stiff breeze from the east.
Confident in Laila’s seakeeping, we departed Fal marina mid-morning and headed up to Malpas. We called the Truro Harbour Authority and a helpful chap confirmed that the pontoon at Malpas was both quiet and deep enough for our 1.2m draft. By the time we arrived, the wind had dropped, the water was like sheet glass and the only sound was birdsong from the trees lining the banks.
Berthed on the pontoon at Malpas
Sara rustled up a quiche for lunch and I cracked open a nice bottle of rosé to kick-start the holiday! A lazy afternoon rolled into the evening, when the lure of the Heron Inn pub a stone’s throw away across the estuary proved too tempting to resist. We both opted for the paella, bursting with freshly caught local seafood – delicious!
Wednesday 23 July
Woke up to a fantastic view down the estuary. After fresh coffee and toast aboard, we headed ashore for a walk along the Tresillian estuary. Before long we came across the hamlet of St Clement with its beautiful Grade 1 listed church and a handful of picture perfect cottages. Phoning ahead to Mary’s Pasty Shop on a tip from the harbourmaster, Sara put in an order for “two Cornish pasties”, adding that we were “on our way from Malpas”. Mary’s reply was priceless: “You mean two pasties, my love, we’re in Cornwall, and it’s pronounced Molpos.”
I decided not to mention that we were from Devon when we arrived to collect our pasties but they were every bit as delicious as promised. Weighed down with pasty, we opted to catch the bus into Truro. The sun was shining and it was market day so all the stalls were doing a roaring trade.
Glassy conditions made for a perfect stay. Photo: Getty
We loaded up with fresh cheese, local honey and other local produce, popped into Fodders for a restorative cup of tea, then walked back along the east side of the estuary to Malpas. With stunning views in all directions and a well-trodden riverside path adorned with gnarled trees and abandoned craft, it was the ideal way to walk off our hearty lunch. We arrived back in Malpas at 1700 just in time for an ice-cold Cornish Orchards cider in the garden of the Heron Inn pub.
Thursday 24 July
We headed downstream and landed at the lower visitor pontoon on the Fal before taking the tender up to the pontoon at nearby Trelissick House. As National Trust members, entry was free and we spent a very happy few hours wandering through the sun-dappled forest, taking our dog Marmalade for a swim from the beach, and admiring the beautiful house and gardens. The weather was so nice, we decided to head back to Laila to feast on all the lovely goodies we’d picked up in Truro the day before.
Sara gets the holiday off to a good start with a picnic onboard
Lunch done, we departed for Helford. Light winds and flat seas made for an easy hop round and we arrived in the Helford at 1630 in the hopes of picking up a mooring. We couldn’t see the mooring officer or reach him on the landline (01326 250749), so we were all set to anchor for the night in Robin Cove or Polwidden Bay when we spotted a day boat leaving a mooring buoy. We grabbed the buoy, scanned the barcode printed on it and paid our mooring fees for three nights, giving us time to explore the whole estuary.
Once settled in, Marmalade and I hopped in the tender for our usual evening walk while Sara rustled up her legendary spaghetti Bolognese. We landed at the Helford Sailing Club’s pontoon, put a few quid in the honesty box and headed into the village over a small footbridge surrounded by picture perfect cottages draped with colourful flower boxes.
Stumbling across The Shipwright Arms, Marmalade insisted we pop in for some liquid refreshment. Chatting to one of the locals over a swift pint, I learnt that the pub’s owner is the son of Roger Taylor, drummer for the legendary rock band Queen.
Their Duchy 35 Laila is ideally suited to cruising these waters
Friday 25 July
Over a late brekky, we studied the weather apps and realised we were in for a settled North Westerly for the following week. We both had a light bulb moment – the Scilly Isles! They’ve been on our cruising radar ever since buying Laila but we’ve never yet had the time or weather to make it there. This was our chance.
I messaged Dave Cockwell, who built our wonderful Duchy 35, for advice. Dave and his family have been going there for over 20 years in his 1936 converted ring netter Marie. As luck would have it he was heading there himself on Monday. His advice was typically forthright: “If you’re going to go, go now!”
This was exactly the confidence boost I needed. I’d been to the Scillies plenty of times before to row in the Pilot Gig championships but I’d never cruised there in my own boat. After a quick conflab, we decided to go for it. While Sara took Marmalade ashore for a quick walk, I conducted a passage plan, checked the fuel and strainers, assessed the winds and tides. F2 to 4 WSW with an easterly tide – not ideal but should be OK! After all, we were in a sturdy semi-displacement vessel with two 380hp V8 Yanmars and a Seakeeper stabiliser.
I called up the Helford moorings officer to let him know of our change of plan. He was kind enough to bank our two extra days for our return trip to the Helford. We let go of the mooring at 1130 with a 60nm passage ahead of us.
We headed south east towards the East Manacle cardinal, refining our passage plan as we went. By the time we reached the Manacle buoy, we had a Plan A and a Plan B, with Sara noting our positions and times in our logbook. We could now relax into the passage, enjoying the moment we passed 2nm south of the Lizard and changed direction due west out into the Atlantic – Scilly Isles here we come!
Keeping a sharp look out for ships as we entered the Traffic Separation Scheme, we switched the radar on as visibility was closing in a bit. Maintaining our speed at 24 knots we romped through the swell with ease, marvelling at Laila’s comfortable ride. In the distance a cruise liner was not moving from our guardrail stanchion so I put the radar’s variable line marker on it to check its ‘closest point of approach’ (CPA) and took a hand bearing to double check.
It was bearing down on us from 6nm so I called L’Austral on the VHF to inform the crew I was reducing speed to pass by its stern. The friendly French captain acknowledged the message and confirmed my intentions.
Our plan was to arrive in St Agnes, stay a couple of nights and work our way around the rest of the Scilly Isles over the coming days. All being well we would anchor to the south east in the cove between St Agnes and Gugh.
Visitors’ buoys are always in hot demand on the Helford River. Photo Getty Images
We arrived at 1415 in perfect conditions. It was busy though, I counted 24 masts and not a single motorboat. Given that we would swing differently to most yachts, we tried to find a spot on the north east side of the cove. We set anchor perfectly but were asked to move by a nearby yacht who seemed to think we were crowding their space.
Minutes later their friends arrived in another yacht and took the exact same spot – they had clearly been keeping it for them. They did look pretty sheepish when we ended up sitting on the next door table to them at the Turks Head pub later that afternoon!
Once we found a new spot and set the anchor for the second time with our new snubber bridle attached, we could finally relax and cracked open a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate our arrival. I hoisted my Isles of Scilly courtesy flag, inflated the tender and we all went ashore for a little explore, through St Agnes across to Troytown Farm for a local ice cream and onto Carnew Point to the best glamping site I have ever seen – the view across to the uninhabited island of Annet with Bishop Rock lighthouse in the distance was spectacular.
Helford village is home to the Shipwright Arms
Saturday 26th July
After a good night’s kip, we woke up early and headed out across St Agnes on a circular walk to see more of the island’s magnificent views and wildlife. We passed through Wingletang Down, pausing to admire the Giant’s Punch Bowl, a naturally balancing stone, Beady Pool and Nags Head, a rock resembling a horse’s head. Later in the day, we went for a refreshing dip at Bar Beach, the narrow sand bar that links St Agnes and Gugh at low water.
Once dressed and warm again, we popped into the Turks Head for a gin and tonic. It was such a lovely evening we decided to head across to Gugh. You have to be very careful not to disturb the nesting petrels, great black gulls and ringed plovers, as we found out when we took the wrong path and the ground erupted with screeching seabirds!
The Isles of Scilly are famous for their pristine white beaches and turquoise waters. Photo: Shutterstock
We beat a hasty retreat back onto the correct path and continued up over Kitten Hill to the ‘Old Man of Gugh’, a leaning stone that was once a Bronze Age ritual monument, before heading back to the boat for a simple supper of jacket spuds, coleslaw and another bottle of Prosecco!
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