We enjoyed a leg stretch this morning by walking down to Aberdovey from our hotel which was about 1 mile away from the harbour, then Si and I lowered the luggage by rope down onto a floating pontoon from the jetty whilst Anthony and Geoff made their way out in a borrowed dinghy to the RIBs which were on visitors' moorings. Aberdovey has been our first real taste of the logistics required when you can't keep your boat alongside overnight! Very kindly Aberdovey Harbour Master Alan donated our moorings for the night, which is hugely appreciated. We were leaving Aberdovey on a high tide so we were able to move out quite confidently over the bar and make our way across Cardigan Bay. Conditions looked good, nothing more than a Force 3 wind with very little sea. However, appearances proved deceptive and the going was very choppy in the bay, with a very short sea. On board "ConTTentment" we soon deployed the "two-man helm", which proved very effective, if a little like playing a high speed arcade game! Anthony kept good speed up on the throttle whilst I tried to pick a way amongst the waves, which were coming thick and fast as we travelled at a good 22-25 knots. It actually worked really well, ironing out some of the bumps but requiring a huge amount of focus. Once we had crossed the bay and turned towards the north east, passing between the mainland and Bardsey Island, the sea was behind us and much more comfortable. The coastline looked beautiful with the Welsh mountains looming in the background, until the rain came down and the coastline disappeared altogether! At precisely that moment for some reason our Garmin screen "froze", ie., no navigation, which was fine, as we had Si's boat in front of us, until about one minute later, Si's engine cut out!! Both problems were very quickly put to rights (fuel supply problem with Si, re-booting of Garmin by turning everything off for us), and we donned our helmets and continued towards the Menai Straits.
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| Carnarvon Castle |
The Menai Straits is the passage between Angelsea and the Welsh mainland, and we had been particularly looking forward to experiencing this section of the journey. We were treated to a magnificent view of Carnarvon Castle, and such flat water we were able to enjoy the "in flight" service - tea and flapjacks, along the way! The tidal flow in the straits is not something to worry about in a RIB with a 200hp engine, but it was fascinating seeing the rate of flow around the bridges and the eddies and whirlpools it created. A yacht shot past at fantastic speed with the tide, whilst I felt for a similar yacht going in the other direction and barely making any way. There was a lot to see along the route, and we spent a very happy 45 minutes, until we came to the end of straits, marked by Puffin Island, and covered in ....... cormorants!! A bit of a misnomer perhaps?
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| The Britannia Bridge, Menai Straits |
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| Coming up to low tide in Conwy estuary |
From here it was a straight and speedy run across to the entrance of Conwy, which was just as well as the heavens opened in earnest. Again, our Gekko helmets were fantastic, as without them not only is visibility extremely limited, heavy rain at 25 knots is also incredibly painful! We followed the buoys carefully into Conwy and made our way to the fuel barge at Conwy Marina, where they were incredibly helpful, providing numbers for accommodation options, and handing over Si's new Garmin radio. The microphone on his radio has not been behaving, and Garmin have wasted no time in getting a new radio delivered to Conwy in time for our arrival. Also meeting us at the Marina was Chris Caroe, an ex Miltonian who hadn't seen Si and Anthony since their school days, scarily over thirty years ago! Chris had heard about the Take Two Ribs trip and trained down from Chester especially to catch up.
Conwy is set very prettily on the estuary, presided over by Conwy Castle. Having arrived in pelting rain with terrible visibility, the sky cleared and we were treated to a beautiful evening.
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| Conwy Castle |
An early departure tomorrow as the estuary has very little water at low tide, so we must get away just before low tide in order to make it to Glasson in time for the opening of the sea lock, one hour before high water.
Distance travelled: 76 nautical miles
Time travelling: 4 hours 6 minutes
Average speed: 17.7 knots
Total trip: 585 nautical miles
Refuelling at Conwy: 240 litres at £1.45/litre
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