Salcombe to Brixham 25nm
Saturday 27 September & Sunday 28
There are very unfamiliar grey skies today as we leave Salcombe.
We had about 14 knots a of wind on the beam – a Southerly direction for a change.
Penny had a proper go on the helm.
We had dolphins meet us as we rounded the corner, no photos I’m afraid. And we got into pretty Brixham by about 13:00 – a three hour sail with some help from the tide.
We stayed at the marina – our first night on a dock after 5 nights on a mooring.
Penny had to leave us but we enjoyed all that Brixham had to offer.
We watched the women’s rugby World Cup final in the Bullers Arms. Congratulations to our amazing Red Roses. Hopefully the full 80,000 packed Twickenham, along with the quality of the playing will knock misogyny on the head once and for all…
Followed by dinner at the third Rockfish restaurant we have been to, this one is the original and where all the yummy fresh fish is landed. On our way back to the boat we found some great live music in the Crown and Anchor.
On Sunday we decided to stay put and walked to Berry Head for the views. It’s sunny again today.
Berry head is covered in huge forts from Napoleonic times when 1,500 men were stationed here.
and the light-house was put here in 1906.
In WWI two men were stationed hanging under a hydrogen balloon 1200 feet up to watch for German U-boats! This experiment only lasted for 6 months in 1918.
The ancient 400 million year old rocks here and at Hopes Nose on the other end of Torbay are the reason that this ancient geological period is called the Devonian. This area is a UNESCO Geopark site.
We saw tremendous folds in the cliffs which once upon a time were mountains.
This is also a protected wildlife area with kittiwakes and guillemots nesting on the cliffs in Spring and horseshoe bats inhabiting the caves. We saw a kestrel and a swallowtail butterfly.
This one will have come over from France as our only native population is in Norfolk.
This reminds me that in Salcombe I rescued this amazing caterpillar off the road. According to Google it’s most likely a Pale Tussock Moth caterpillar.
David went back to the boat and I wandered around the town.
Brixham is home to our second largest commercial fishing fleet and has been an important fishing town for hundreds of years.
The old trawlers were huge wooden gaff rigged boats, manned by four men and a boy. Brixham is the birthplace of trawling and spread it to other towns including Hull and Grimsby.
Their heyday was the end of the nineteenth century when there were nearly 300 boats here. Their size and large sail area gave them the strength to pull the nets and get the catch home to market.
The two wars and the diesel engine killed them off by 1939 and now only a couple survive here for sail training and adventures. Nowadays a crew of 18 do what the 4 men and a boy managed, and they also had to do the fishing.
There’s also a Golden Hind replica (there’s also one near us in Southwark!). This was Francis Drake’s ship that he circumnavigated the world in and Brixham was used in the 1960s as the location for a TV series about his exploits, so the Golden Hind has been here ever since. Apparently you can now pay to sleep on her!
In WW2 the Americans were stationed here and the wide South harbour embankment was put in so they could get their tanks shipped.
Brixham’s other claim to fame is that it was here that William III of Orange landed in 1688 to take over the crown from James II. He was welcomed by parliament, as to them even a Dutchman was better than a Catholic, but he had brought 14,000 troops with him just in case. Of course he was also married to Mary Stuart, James’ sister so they ruled as William and Mary. Only the Scots were sad.
Unfortunately the Church was closed but I got some lovely views.
One of our best marine artists, John Chancellor lived here.
Maybe he inspired the nautical street art
Everyone is very friendly here. We are looking forward to more fish tonight. Then we sail East again tomorrow.