A dramatic anchorage - and the wind is to return!

 As backdrops to anchorages go, it doesn't get much better than this!

We spent a peaceful night beside St Michael's Mount near Penzance and awoke to gorgeous sunshine.

There's a strict 'no drones' exclusion zone over the island, castle and beach so we had to fly to the west of our anchorage to get these shots 

The island has been owned by the same family, St Aubyn, since the mid 1600's and was once a major trading port (though the little harbour dries at low water). In the English Civil War it was a Royalist stronghold for four years, allowing arms and supplies to be brought in from France. The St Aubyn family still lives in part of the castle but it was given over to the National Trust in 1954 so it's now a major tourist destination. At low water you can walk across to the island on a causeway and boats then ferry visitors across when the tide returns.

At last we have a forecast for some wind! We'll leave early this afternoon as a gentle breeze builds to take us round Land's End, with some useful tidal assistance.

Sunday evening forecast

As we head up the Irish Sea we'll have a period of fairly brisk winds behind us on Monday but they should calm down by the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Monday afternoon forecast

Our plan is to get up to the coast of Northern Ireland by Tuesday evening, though there are some tricky tidal gates to deal with at the North Channel (between Northern Ireland and SW Scotland). We'll report back in a couple of days!