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 antenna on top that is (you think) a metre and a bit and you can get understandably nervous.
Here is the Cleddau Bridge. The height is clearly marked at 36 metres. There is lots of room for us.
A little further up is a submarine cable (not a cable FOR submarines, but one that is under the water, along the bottom, that we will safely float over). But what is that other dotted red line?
A click and a request for details reveals it is an OVERHEAD power line with an air draft of 23 metres. We are fairly sure that we are no more than 21 metres. However, there are two problems.
Problem #1 - 23 metres of clearance from where? This diagram details the differences in water height. We have researched and found out marked heights on Navionics charts measures heights from Mean High Water Springs. Whew!
Problem #2 - Kate and Sean both calculate in safety margins.
Of course we cleared the bridge and the power line, although parallax made all of us think we were going to be electrocuted.
We anchored in the convergence and went ashore to explore. Hooray!
Lawrenny Church and snowbells
Chinook at anchor through the trees
Pronounce that in Welsh!
We returned from our hike to find the pub closed! Fortunately, the cafe was open so we enjoyed our Welsh Cawl there. As we headed back to the pontoon, the pub was open, so naturally, we had to have a drink. We ended up staying for a couple - we were the only customers and the single pub employee was keen for a chat.
A cook up
We headed back into Milford Marina on the lock freeflow and bid farewell to Suz. Thanks for the visit, the wonderful dinners and all the loot you brought. We had a great time and are looking forward to your next visit.
...and just maybe, just maybe, we will have fish for dinner!
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