which west country drop off? Help please

iangrant

iangrant

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Kicking off some crew and picking up another in the west country, and it seems the transport back to Hampshire seems a little, shall we say, lacking.

Which is easiest for trains or tesco's for that matter.

Dartmouth, Brixham, Falmouth, etc...?????

Local knowledge will really help ta,,

Ian
 
As you're headed south immediately, I'd opt for Falmouth ... you're not angling to Ushant from there as it's a straight shot down but depending on your boat, its size and your skill, if you're concerned about weather, etc, it's a good jumping off place and a proper sailors haven if you're weather bound ... train station's a walk away, Tesco's a bit of a trudge but not too far, and you can makel the Chain Locker Pub homebase if you're forced to stay a few days.
PS go to the Maritime Museum while there.
 
Definately Plymouth for the best transport links fairly close to the marinas. Main line trains from here, but they will probably have to change at Exeter. Takes about 3-4 hours to Southampton by train. The other option is Torquay and then get a Taxi or bus to Newton Abbot station about 6 miles away- again this is main line, but will still have to change at Exeter. Falmouth makes it a very long journey back to Hampshire. Book in advace on The Trainline.com for better prices if you can.
 
Falmouth Yacht Haven is about 5 min walk to the Dell Station, train to Truro, then Plymouth on. I think they are runing the southern route to London from Plymouth now, which will suit Hampshire, check www.rail.co.uk, online train search.
Plymouth Stton Harbour is 15 min walk up hill to station, others are taxi trip, but trains to London from Plymouth run every hour.

Brian
 
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Only for the brave in heart, surely ? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

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Why's that ? Kept a boat there for a number of years - inland side of bridge off Chris Humphrey's yard. It was ok other than lack of water except +/-1hr HW /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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Only for the brave in heart, surely ? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

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It's not that bad! Even you could get in there with your boat. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif (I think though that I would allow more than the 1hr either side of low water which Guzz mentions)

But I agree it's not the easiest of entrances and it can be a bit weather dependent. There's also no chance of an alongside berth so any crew changes will have to be by dinghy which may be a bit of a pain. There are better places for what Iangrant has in mind.

FWIW I was always a bit nervous entering Teignmouth until I discovered their website which has excellent pilotage notes. http://www.teignmouth-harbour.com/nav_safety.htm Far better than any of the pilot books or almanacs.
 
If it's your home port then I expect you're familiar with it and don't mind the changing entrance (any more than we minded the moving sand banks of the Thames Estuary when we were based there) but I must admit the view from the car park and the comments in the pilot books are enough for me ! As a visitor I'd take the easy options of Plymouth, Torbay or Falmouth and save my 9 lives ! However I do take your point that it's a _much_ shorter train journey - the distance and cost of Plymouth and Falmouth are worth considering.
 
If you're only doing a crew change and maybe a bit of shopping you can tie up on the fish quay so long as no trawlers are there. Not sure if its "legal" but loads of people do this as it's much easier loading jerry cans of fuel etc. from the quay rather than rowing them out in the dingy.
 
Thanks for the web site address, Joe - I may be able to persuade HWMBO to try it some time - pity about the bridge (despite its beauty) tho as there's nowhere much to go!

Does Exmouth have a similar site ? I noticed one mentioned for one of the East Coast rivers with a moving bar - the idea of up to date info is wonderful - you used to have to phone the HM and get him to post you some notes !
 
Teignmouth is a nice "one night" stop. On the Shaldon side there's quite a few good places to eat and there's a better than average chandlers (no cheaper, but good range of stock for its size). Teignmouth itself is a bit of a dump but good food in the pubs on the front, an excellent chip shop 100yards from the beach, and a great little secondhand book shop a couple of doors away.

I'm not aware of anything for The Exe, but with your draft I definitely wouldn't advise entering at low water! We just scraped in on Sunday (and, as you know, we've got a lifting keel!) but there were two boats aground waiting for the tide. When you enter hug the starboard side of the channel; if you can reach out and touch the green buoys you're about right. FWIW I would always suggest that it's best to make a first entrance during neap tides.

If you decide to try it, do give us a call beforehand.
 
There is one train a day that runs to Basingstoke from Torquay with no changes, it leaves Torquay 12:30 Sunday and is in Basingstoke 16::00 ish (runs via Yeovil Salisbury etc) there are others but you have to change . Advantage is that Torquay Station is an easy walk from the marina
 
Done same 3 times over years, only cheap!!!!!! convienient way is go to falmouth hire casr for one way trip back to soton would you beleive. Train you buy it and bloody long day. national express takes forever
 
Do consider that trains which start at Penzance, running via Plymouth, route also via Bristol or Westbury.

So what? Well, there's a quite frequent 'Sprinter' rail service from Bristol, via Westbury, down to So'ton and points further east in Hampshire. That routing might well serve your needs....
 
Ian,

It looks like you may be needing this!

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/planmyjour...94_200562961119

Incidently you can get to Dartmouth by train. It involves going to Paignton (I think) then catching the steam train to Kingswear. It's not the most efficient of trips, but it's a really pleasant way to get there. You end up just round the corner from one of the Marina's. Personally, I think that Dartmouth is one of the nicest destinations in the South West.
 
We dropped boat off at Falmouth for repairs and picked up 1m later a couple of years ago.
Forget Trains. For 1 person it was about £50 if you get cheap ticket (2-3 weeks notice as they run out) and then taxis on top. We did one way car hire with Enterprise from Soton to Falmouth, probably slightly more expensive for 1 person but only took 4 hours (with a break.) and lugging kit, sleeping bags etc from train to train is not fun.

Would go along with Plymouth as an alternative. Excellent rail and road links and several secure places to leave boat whilst dropping off crew, loading more food etc.
 
Unfortunately no fast trains stop at Teignmouth so it will mean changing at Exeter to get anywhere quickly.
Plymouth is undoubtedly the best choice for trains as it has a lot more services than any of the other possible stopovers.
 
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