Practical Boat Owner — November 2017

CRUISING

T

here are few harbours in Britain
where you get a cruise liner
anchoring amongst Cornish gigs,
a Russian ship loading china clay,
and the BBC fi lming Poldark. Welcome to
Fowey Harbour – where multitasking is all
in a day’s work. Even the harbourmaster
doubles as the pilot, managing to park
150m ships while policing the waters.
This south Cornwall harbour sees 300
ships a year and 7,000 leisure boats, yet
for somewhere so busy, it’s surprisingly
quaint. The town of Fowey on the west
bank is a maze of whitewashed
fi shermen’s cottages and narrow streets,
and the estuary beyond a stretch of idyllic
wooden creeks that inspired Kenneth
Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.
‘There is nothing – absolutely nothing

• half so much worth doing as simply
  messing about in boats,’ says Ratty to

Mole in chapter one of the beloved

children’s book. Having explored the

Fowey estuary by kayak, I have to say I

agree, so am delighted to see it again with

the harbourmaster, Captain Paul Thomas.

It’s a glorious bank holiday, and it seems

everyone under the age of 10 is out

crabbing off Albert Quay. People complain,

Paul tells me, but he ignores them. ‘It’s

nice to see kids having fun,’ he says. ‘The

crabs spend all day going up and down

but they’ve got choosy about their bait.’

The kids move their buckets aside for us

to climb aboard the launch and a minute

later we’re on the water, motoring towards

the harbour entrance. On the cliff above

Readymoney Cove is the pretty Italianate

villa, Point Neptune. The property belongs

to Dawn French but it has another claim

to fame; the ornate iron gates are referred

to in the famous opening lines of Rebecca

by Daphne du Maurier. The novelist lived

in the coach house opposite but later

moved to Menabilly on Gribbin Head,

which features in some of her books,

including Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel.

You can walk to Menabilly from

Readymoney Cove, passing St Catherine’s

Castle which marks the entrance to the

harbour. Built as part of Henry VIII’s south

coast defences, the fort was again used

to defend the harbour during World War II.

Before the castle, the harbour was

defended by two blockhouses – one

in Fowey and the other in Polruan – with

a great chain stretched between them,

which would be raised to keep out the

French and Spanish. Fortunately, no

such hazards threaten today’s shipping.

‘There’s nothing to concern a yacht,’

says Paul. ‘Small craft should avoid

entering at half ebb with a gale force

Fowey

Ali Wood explores

southern Cornwall’s

beauty spot, a harbour

town steeped in history

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Polruan

Gribbin Head

Fowey Lighthouse LFl.WR.5s White House

Day Mark

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Fowey

Udder Rock

Udder Rock

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Bell

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Lantic LantivetBay

Bay

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Royal Fowey Yacht Club

CRUISING