Down the West Coast & Irish Sea

jimi

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I'm thinking about a summer cruise of going up to Inverness, though the canal to Ft William and then down to Falmouth and back along the English Channel. My wife and two springer spaniels will be my crew on the shorter hops and I'll either singlehand or have mates accompany me on longer legs so obviously wish to maximise number of short hops and minimise long ones. My wife wishes to visit our ancestral locations (Ireland us both, Isle of Man me, N and S Wales her) So I'd thought a gentle trot down west coast from Ft William to Bangor, down East Irish Coast with deviation across to IoM, then across to Wales and end up in Milford Haven where I'd do the long hop around to Falmouth where she and the dogs could rejoin me. Looking for expert help/local knowledge on best places to stop. This would be a leisurely cruise!! Boat is Moody S38 and draws 2metres
 

Birdseye

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I'm thinking about a summer cruise of going up to Inverness, though the canal to Ft William and then down to Falmouth and back along the English Channel. My wife and two springer spaniels will be my crew on the shorter hops and I'll either singlehand or have mates accompany me on longer legs so obviously wish to maximise number of short hops and minimise long ones. My wife wishes to visit our ancestral locations (Ireland us both, Isle of Man me, N and S Wales her) So I'd thought a gentle trot down west coast from Ft William to Bangor, down East Irish Coast with deviation across to IoM, then across to Wales and end up in Milford Haven where I'd do the long hop around to Falmouth where she and the dogs could rejoin me. Looking for expert help/local knowledge on best places to stop. This would be a leisurely cruise!! Boat is Moody S38 and draws 2metres
Milford to Falmouth is a long hop, maybe 24 hours so not ideal for single handing. A better choice would be Milford to Padstow and Padstow to Falmouth You have two tidal gates on this trip ( Lizard and Longships) and both are between Padstow and Falmouth, and both are of the more important type. Sure it can be done and indeed I have done the full trip many times. But always with crew.

As a matter of interest, how do you manage sailing with the two dogs? We have just one springer cross and the last time we sailed with him, he was sea sick on my bunk. OK it was a bit rolly which is why he was below.
 

Birdseye

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This looks like a leg where he would get a mate to help him..... although getting to Milford from anywhere is not going to be easy.
Its OK coming down the Welsh coast - dont know about the Irish one but I have done the IoM run. And Milford is a wonderfully protected natural harbour.

But I would add to my previous comments that the north cornish coast is not one to motor down in the dark. There are large numbers of unmarked pots well off shore. Padstow entrance can be bad in that respect at neap tides
 

nigel1

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Have you checked on the requirements to visit Ireland with pets? , since Brexit it looks a complete nightmare, although I believe that no checks will be made in Northern Ireland at the moment, but for Eire, you should enter through a Travellers Point of Entry, which I think will limit you to Cork, Rosslaire or Dublin.
 

jimi

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Have you checked on the requirements to visit Ireland with pets? , since Brexit it looks a complete nightmare, although I believe that no checks will be made in Northern Ireland at the moment, but for Eire, you should enter through a Travellers Point of Entry, which I think will limit you to Cork, Rosslaire or Dublin.
My understanding is that if I go to NI first then I'll be OK going to Eire.

I've went round the otherway before but as I was working at the time had to hurry ;-) So I did Falmouth to Dun Laighoire, Ardglas, Belfast, Troon then family holiday via Crinan Canal & Caledonian Canals. Hope to be more leisurely this time!!

Re sailing with dogs, I prefer short legs with them ...stand by for dachshund jokes ;-) as they much prefer to get off the boat to do their business. Apart from that they are fine, they have a nice secure "nest" between the saloon table and u-shaped sofa when it gets a bit rough otherwise they are up in the cockpit firmly attached with secure harnesses / lifejackets.
 

TSB240

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Our cruise last year was to IOS from Menai Strait. ( easy access Northern end from IOM or Ardglass.)

Y Felinheli to Porth Dinllaen (TyCoch pub voted 2nd best beach bar in world)

Porth Dinllaen to Fishguard or direct
to Dale. (Timing Ramsey and Jack Sound is crucial)

Dale to Padstow possibly with a day visit to Lundy Island.

Padstow to St Ives.

We stayed in Scillies for 4 weeks but no reason why you couldn't manage
St ives to Newlyn ,Penzance or direct to Helford.
Sall legs could make for reasonable day sailing and doggy comfort.

Longest passage for us was Dale to Padstow. Others worked an overnight passage from Caernarfon to Dale but had familiarity with Ramsey and Jack sound.

If a Northerly wind then Llanddwyn Island or Aberdaron are more suitable jumping off points from North Wales as Porth Dinllaen is open to the North and gets very uncomfortable.
 

AngusMcDoon

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Re sailing with dogs, I prefer short legs with them ...stand by for dachshund jokes ;-) as they much prefer to get off the boat to do their business. Apart from that they are fine, they have a nice secure "nest" between the saloon table and u-shaped sofa when it gets a bit rough otherwise they are up in the cockpit firmly attached with secure harnesses / lifejackets.

If you want to do shorter legs then the Irish coast is probably better while trying to minimize the leg across the Irish sea that you will have to do at some point if you go that way. Here's a possible itinerary for that route...

Port Ellen-Rathlin-Glenarm-Bangor-Ardglass-Carlingford-Howth-Holyhead

Things then get a bit trickier for short hops. It will be anchoring to keep the length of the legs down.

Holyhead-Porth Dinllaen

Then it's round the end of LLeyn peninsular and follow the coast round Cardigan Bay

Pwllheli-Barmouth-Aberystwyth-Fishguard-Milford Haven

or longer legs

Holyhead-Pwllheli-Fishguard-Milford Haven.

From Holyhead onwards it's weather and tide dependent so it depends on the conditions at the time which route you go. If the weather is benevolent you will have many more options for short legs.
 

Quiddle

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Can only comment on route twixt Mull of Galloway to Solent. For me I would not want to miss: warm welcome at Carrickfergus with train to Belfast, Peel (IoM) for great shelter and easy access to Douglas, Porth Dinllaen for beachside pub and views of Snowdonia, Arklow for unadulterated taste of Ireland, Skomer for fantastic wildlife, Padstow - my favourite UK harbour, Newlyn -runner up to Padstow, Cawsand Bay because you need to stop somewhere without feeling that you've been taken for a wealthy fool- likewise Portland Harbour, Keyhaven, then anchorage off Bembridge. All points east until Wells-Next-The-Sea, IMO are visited through necessity rather than desire
 

steve yates

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There is an abundance of options heading south from the fort , Oban is certainly worth a stop. You can anchor off gigha for rounding the mull of kintyre, or there is a great wee anchorage tucked into the ardbeg islands off Islay. Going round the mull you can head for an anchorage in loch ryan, then Portpatrick is a great wee port and a good place to leave for rounding the mull of galloway. Leave Portpatrick 2 hours before slack and hug the shore within spitting distance to get the eddy towards the mull, once round you can head for Douglas on the Iom if your from that side, or just head directly towards Peel on the IOm if you hail from that side. Or you can avoid both mulls entirely and head across to northern ireland to Glenarm, down to donaghadee and thence to peel or round bottom of iom to st mary's.
From iom you can head to port dinallen as mention by someone else. I like fishguard, which is a good hop from port dinallen.Then onto the anchorages of skomer or to dale or into milford haven if wanting supllies. From here its a 24 hr crossing if you go straight to penzance, though padstow looks a great stop if it works.

I wouldnt tarry through the cally, I would idele my way down the west coast from Corpach though.
 

fifer

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On that sort of trip it would be a shame if you missed the Menai straits and the surrounding area. Beaumaris is a charming seaside town, Caernarfon and Conwy have bucketloads of ancient welsh history. You have to plan your passage through the Swellies and out of Caernarfon but its not that tough at all.
 

mattonthesea

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Milford to Falmouth is a long hop, maybe 24 hours so not ideal for single handing. A better choice would be Milford to Padstow and Padstow to Falmouth You have two tidal gates on this trip ( Lizard and Longships) and both are between Padstow and Falmouth, and both are of the more important type. Sure it can be done and indeed I have done the full trip many times. But always with crew.
And you can detour via Lundy to shorten the first leg and stop over in St Ives and Newly/Mousehole etc to get your tidal gates.
Downside is it's longer on the first leg and adds time to the second.
 

dansaskip

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From Fishguard it can be tricky to catch the tide for Ramsey Sound as you are against the tide to get there . There is a nice anchorage tucked in the corner of Whitesand bay which is very convenient. Instead of Milford to Falmouth don't forget Newlyn better going there first, best fish & chips in England and better for timing of tides around the Lizard.
 

claymore

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I don't know why people are bothering to offer this advice.
For a start off - he's already done the trip the other way round and secondly he won't heed your advice
Finally - Wee Jamesie is clearly bored to bits and thought he'd dig up this rather ancient plan - 10/- says he'll post something similar next year when he still hasn't got round to doing it.
 
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