Salcombe

We loved Salcombe. Went there for 2 nights and stayed 3 as the weather was so nice. I found the charges reasonable for a 37' and it was nice to raft next to nice neighbours. Salcombe also has lifejacket lockers by the harbour masters office so no need to walk around carrying them - £1 returnable locker key deposit :-)
 
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That looks unpleasant, presume a strong SW. Is there any reason you didn't venture a few hundred meters around the corner into the Bag, should have been much more sheltered there.
 
anoccasionalyachtsman said:
To give some recent prices (last fortnight) for a 37' boat.

Dartmouth river pontoon £19.58
Dittisham visitor's buoy. £19.58
Salcombe visitor's buoy outside the yacht club £22.20
Plymouth Mayflower marina £36.16
Fowey visitor's buoy - couldn't find anyone to pay.
Falmouth town visitor's marina £33.28
Mylor marina £39.94
St Mawes visitor's lunch stop £5.00
Plymouth Yacht Haven (Mountbatten) £38.42
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I would happily pay those charges if I thought it was going to locals...?
 
jac said:
SWMBO is averse to leaving her LJ in the dinghy due to risk of theft so wants to take it with us. That means wearing it or carrying it.
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There's RNLI lockers available by the showers.

Seajet said:
Dunedin,

it depends where the pontoon is, and what the weather's like; off the town is in perfectly feasible range, rowing an inflatable; further down or around in ' The Bag ' is a lot further than most would row, OK with a small outboard in good weather.
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It also depends on state of tide. I like to row and though I wasn't far off the town I got caught out at Springs and ended up having to use the outboard to get back upstream.
 
Seajet said:
' Just £3.00 for the water taxi ' - I take it that's per person each way - in which case as suspected West Country prices have overtaken those on the Solent.

:
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I think this is reasonable, the price I quoted was from the anchorage at the top of the moorings, about a mile from the town.
Closer journeys are £1 or £2
 
BlueChip said:
I think this is reasonable, the price I quoted was from the anchorage at the top of the moorings, about a mile from the town.
Closer journeys are £1 or £2
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It becomes reasonable when it gets rough, you've had a few beers etc.
Most of the time I'd rather not wait around for the taxi.
 
"Salcombe also has lifejacket lockers by the harbour masters office so no need to walk around carrying them - £1 returnable locker key deposit :-)"

Oh that's good to know , thanks
 
longjohnsilver said:
That looks unpleasant, presume a strong SW. Is there any reason you didn't venture a few hundred meters around the corner into the Bag, should have been much more sheltered there.
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Hello Longjohnsilver,

if referring to my pic I certainly considered it - a lot - but that was about 1988 so AFAIR there may have been one pontoon - guaranteed full already - in the bag but don't remember a water taxi.

I and crew already knew Salcombe well - but didn't get a forecast ( or have the brains, see the signs ) in time to act on it.

Main reason though was that boat ( Carter 30 ) had a 13hp engine & dodgy danforth anchor on all rope, she'd been raced a lot before I got her - so I didn't fancy that engine or anchor in those conditions, which lasted a week.

Think the HM gave us the odd lift ashore so as to buy stuff, of course mainly beer...
 
For reasons I won't bore you with, it looks as if my summer cruise will be to the West Country again this year but I'm thinking of taking two weeks this time.

What is in Salcombe that keeps folk there for two or three days? What shoreside activities are there to keep SWMBO interested, entertained and out of the boutiques?
 
It is indeed a lovely place.

I thoroughly recommend Bill Bryson's ' The Road To Little Dribbling ', a celebration of Britain and the British, 20 years after he wrote ' Notes From a Small Island '.

In the later book - 2015 - he gives Salcombe an appreciative if witty write up, well worth a look - the rest of the book is brilliant too.
 
Judders said:
For reasons I won't bore you with, it looks as if my summer cruise will be to the West Country again this year but I'm thinking of taking two weeks this time.

What is in Salcombe that keeps folk there for two or three days? What shoreside activities are there to keep SWMBO interested, entertained and out of the boutiques?
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Salcombe was rightly caned for it's charges and general attitude but the new management are well aware of past problems and things are now good.

Walking is fabulous in all directions.

The sands on the Portlemouth side are some of the best you will find, more like sieved powder, good for people that don't like beaches.

You could walk to the NT gardens at Overbecks or take the ferry to South Sands and walk from there. Tennyson is said to have written Crossing the Bar at South Sands but maybe not. In any case you get a good view of the bar from up there and can continue to Bolt Head, past the last resting place of
the windjammer Herzogin Cecilie at Starehole Bay, if energetic.
There are places for lunch.

For a good day out, take the tender up to Kingsbridge on the tide where there are shops, cafes, etc ; loads of space on the quay.
You can do a similar sort of thing up Southpool or Frogmore Creek creeks where you will find pubs at the head. It is probably a wellie job and take care not to get left by the tide.
 
Avoid Merlin Rocket Week, 2-7July 17.
Sunny Cove...
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Some excellent and useful responses thank you.

I think we're looking for a combination of walking, beaches and NT type half days out so it sounds ideal.

Sadly, the new SWMBO is a teacher so we're tied to the holidays. My current thinking is to do the JOG Cowes Weymouth Race on 22 July and then swap the racing crew over there and pop 'round the Bill.
 
The week-long town and yacht club regattas are during the school holidays. Check out the start times, especially for the 3 or maybe 4 separate Salcombe Yawl fleets and the Solo starts. For a spectacle, watch from Cliff House gardens or the yacht club terrace in Cliff House on the Salcombe side. For a spectacle and full sound effects, watch from the beach on the E Portlemouth side opposite, just by the start line.

Merlin week is something else again!
 
Judders said:
For reasons I won't bore you with, it looks as if my summer cruise will be to the West Country again this year but I'm thinking of taking two weeks this time.

What is in Salcombe that keeps folk there for two or three days? What shoreside activities are there to keep SWMBO interested, entertained and out of the boutiques?
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? Kingsbridge
 
As I recall the little museum is thought provoking; lots of losses of one family name lifeboat crew involved as I recall, in the wrong weather the bar shows no mercy.

Just around the north end of the town there used to be a haven of small boatbuilders and associated firms - could well be collection points for FatFace, Musto, Surfshack or depots for Costa Coffee etc by now...

There used to be until recently a true boat porn site by a local boatbuilder showing new Salcombe Yawls, I seem to remember quite a few years ago the going rate was ' £40K and a 14 month waiting list if you ask nicely ' - going by the photo's it was worth every penny and every minute's wait !

I do hope they are still going, there's certainly enough money around ' Chelsea On Sea ' if the summer inhabitants appreciate quality, enjoyment and history.
 
Pete7 said:
So this mornings preamble around town was interesting. What is this fashion of walking around Salcombe with a life jacket on all about? is it a status symbol saying I am not a tourist staying in a B&B, self catering or Yurt, but instead someone who has a boat and arrived by sea? They were even sat in the cafes wearing them. Quite odd.

Found a laundrette, traditional butcher and bakers all within 20 yards of each other. Topped up the Gin supply from the well stocked Off Licence, there is even a Salcombe Gin!

So found everything we need really.
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Probably off a sea school boat and instructed to keep LJ's on so as not to leave them in the tender to have them pinched!
 
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