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Across the Irish Sea - 51°57' 52 "N 06° 07' 07 "W

By Kate and Sean -
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The locals popping by to say goodbye! Our last day in Wales was glorious, it was actually warm.  We pottered around doing last minute jobs while we waited for the afternoon tide.  This would get us out of the marina on free flow and have a favourable current around St Anne's Head and to push us off shallows of The Smalls and out of the Traffic Separation Scheme. Our planned route towards Ireland We had one of the best sails we have had aboard Chinook.  We timed the current perfectly, the wind was on the beam and we zipped across St George's Channel several knots faster than we planned. Our speedy progress had us at approaching the Irish coast in the early hours of the morning - in the dark.  Rather than negotiate a tight, foreign harbour, we opted to anchor and catch some sleep. We are very excited to be back in Ireland! And please remember that Blogger posts your comment as anonymous if you don't have an account, so please sign off with y...
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Lawrenny - 51° 43' 13 "N 4° 53' 20"W

By Kate and Sean -
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Our glorious weather came to an end so we headed 10nm up Milford Haven to Lawrenny.  Here, we were told was some lovely hiking and a great pub!   Goodbye to the glorious, sparkling weather. Going to Lawrenny brought a new navigating dimension - height.  We are quite proud of Chinook's ability to clear shallow waters.  She can float over a bottom that has just 1.2 meters of water covering it.  Width-wise, she can squeeze through a 4.5 metre gap.  Height is something we don't normally have to worry about.  Going to Lawrenny meant that we would be passing under two height-restricting structures - a bridge and a power line. The Cleddau Bridge There are a few things to consider when you are ducking under a big structure like this.  Sea level is not a constant.  The tide brings water level up and down ... by as much as 8 metres in this part of Wales.  That is substantial when you have a 19.88-metre-tall yacht!  Add a VHF ...
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Pembrokeshire Coast Path - 51°42' 28" N 05° 09' 22" W

By Kate and Sean -
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... and we have a visitor!  Susan arrived bearing all sorts of wonderful treats from the depths of her luggage.  Gin, Bundy rum, bullets (the Australian lolly, rather than the "bang, bang" kind!), powdered milk, popcorn kernels (surprizingly hard to get here in the UK) - at least half her luggage was for us.  Thanks Suz! The Pembrokeshire Coast Path - all 299km (185m) of it! The Pembrokeshire Coast Path is a 299km long trail that runs from St Dogmael's in the north to Amroth in the south following the Pembrokeshire coast. We have hiked small sections of the path around Milford Haven and Porthgain with Tim and Carol .  We have been keen to do more, so with the weather forecast to be gorgeous for the first few days of Susan's visit, we sailed down to Dale at the entrance of Milford Haven.  We came alongside the deep water pontoon and headed ashore for a hike. Our first endeavour - the 11km loop from Dale out to St Annes Head  Family togetherness, blu...
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Survival at Sea - 51°42' 36" N 04° 57' 37" W

By Kate and Sean -
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This diagram is part of the safety briefing we do for everyone coming aboard. We are serious about keeping everyone safe. SPOILER ALERT: We survived! We have wanted to do a Sea Survival course for some time but had challenges with us being a moving target and committing to a course several months away.  Once we knew we would be wintering in Wales, we were very organised and booked the course at the marina just down the road.   Kitted out in our 'one size fits all' survival suits (for training purposes only...)  It must be noted that the suits were still too long for our 6ft 5' course mate! The course covered: 1. Preparation for sea survival  Survival difficulties  Survival requirements  Equipment available Actions prior to abandonment  2. Lifejackets and Life rafts  Lifejacket design and construction, correct donning procedure, purpose and use of lifejackets  Safety harnesses - purpose and use  Life rafts - stowage...
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A tour to the mountains of Northern Pembrokeshire - 51° 57' 12" N, 04° 49' 50" W

By Kate and Sean -
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We have seen many parts of Pembrokeshire but one place we have not see are the mountains.  Yes, the mountains!  The Preseli Mountains to be precise.  This great range runs 21km east-west reaching elevations of 563m.  And the intrepid Darrel and Eve offered to take us there and climb us to its highest peaks.  But we had a few stops along the way... We called into the pretty town of Solva.  Another good location for drying out the boat.  If the weather is behaving itself when Susan is here, it may just be a fun thing to do.  Solva at low tide - the building up river (in the distance, middle of photo) is the recommended pub It was then off to the Melin Tregwnt Mill to look at their traditional weaving and partake in a traditional Welsh lunch - Lamb Cawl. This is hearty stew traditionally made with whatever vegetables were on hand and paired with bread and a huge chunk of Welsh Cheddar.  Just the sort of fortifying meal we needed prior to our sum...
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