Three types of fatigue - back in the West Country

 As we feared, the trip south was notable for the lack of wind so the drone of the Yanmar diesel was a major part of our lives for nearly three days. Or it was until it slowed and stuttered on day two - a partially blocked fuel filter was diagnosed and the offending item was replaced, a job that's not much fun in a rolling sea.

As ever, it was a fatiguing trip for the crew and for the boat.

Fatigued crew - Fergus falling asleep as he sat in the pilothouse

 

Fatigued shackle - this was holding the mainsail clew (bottom rear corner) to the boom until it suddenly parted. To be fair it's probably a 1997 original.

Fatigued Walrus in St Mary's Harbour, Isles of Scilly

We'll come back to the walrus.

Overall the 350nm passage was dull but easy and we were glad to arrive in Scilly as the next wave of rain crossed us. After a day's recovery and a walk on Bryher we moved over to St Mary's (the biggest island) as the sunshine arrived.

St Mary's Pool moorings

It was here that we (almost literally) bumped into Wally the Walrus, a geographically-challenged mammal who has decided that this is the next port of call on his tour which has included Spain, France and Cornwall. We we silently motoring the dinghy (thanks to the electric outboard) back to Maunie and came past Wally's latest favourite boat - he's already sunk a couple of fishing boats!

The novelty of Wally is definitely wearing off for the locals who are increasingly worried about the damage to boats that his one-tonne bulk is wreaking, but there's a bit of humour to be had.

Our day of warm sunshine was to be followed by a change of wind direction and the arrival of yet another weather front. More rain to come but we had some great skies last night.

We left the islands this morning , with a 05.30 alarm call to take full advantage of the favourable tides. At last we had a superb sailing breeze though it rained pretty hard as we headed towards Newlyn, meeting the RMV Scillonian, which transports passengers and cargo each day to St Mary's.

The soggy day has very slowly dried out and tonight's excitement is, of course, the England Vs. Italy match. All the pubs are fully booked so we'll be streaming it onto the iPad as a safer (Covid-wise) alternative. C'mon England!