Motor Boat & Yachting – May 2018

DEVON

Totnes

Teignmouth

Shaldon

Torquay

Dartmouth

Salcombe

Brixham

Start

Point

BURGH

ISLAND

River

Dart

River

Teign

River

Avon

River

Erme

River

Yealm

River

Tamar

Plymouth

Sound

Start

Bay

Bigbury

Bay

To r

Bay

Ness

Headland

Tamar

bridge

Eddystone
Lighthouse Prawle Point

Hope Cove

Kingsbridge

Plymouth

Saltash

Calstock

Morwellham

Quay

Cargreen

Newton

Ferrers

N

nautical miles

0 1 2 3 4 5

The banks of the Tamar

still bear the hallmarks of

Devon’s old mining industry

John’s well-travelled Princess

V39 Cecienne idles in the shadow

of the Eddystone Lighthouse

The sun sets over Plymouth

Sound, the starting point

for John’s trip up the Tamar

For me, the lighthouse always marks either the beginning

or the end of a voyage. It’s the milestone between Cornish and

Devonshire waters and whenever the seas are calm enough, I will

inch between the rocks and switch off the engines to soak up the

magic of this mystical place, listen to the birds and watch the seals.

I marvel at the skills of the Victorian engineers and labourers who

worked to build a tower here that has withstood almost 150 years

of the worst that the sea can throw against it.

From there, it is an easy run into Plymouth Sound to overnight,

ready for my fi rst venture into the unknown. In almost 30 years of

boating I have never ventured upriver beyond the Tamar Bridge.

Why would I? From driving across the bridge it just appeared to

me a boring wide area of water with scatterings of moorings and

lots of mud. Tomorrow would be the day that proved me wrong.

Plymouth is a huge boating centre, a busy maritime port with

cross-Channel ferries plying their way among pleasure boats,

and one of Britain’s largest naval dockyards where every type

of ship and submarine can be spotted. Don’t get too close

though, as the MOD police

patrol launch will send you

on your way as quickly as a

sheepdog protecting its fl ock.

TAMAR TO

MORWELLHAM

As soon as you pass below the

parallel road and rail bridges,

the change is immediate. The

bustle of the dockyards is left

behind and you’re in rolling

Devon countryside. The wide

gently fl owing Tamar has to

be navigated carefully – mud

banks are everywhere – but

the channel is well marked.

The further you head

upstream, the quirkier the

boats become. Some look

seriously homemade, others

can’t have been used for years

and are little more than roosts