Two of nine.

Actually not a reference to the Borg and nothing to do with Angmar….

Photo and post tour of the south west UK rivers…..Falmouth.

This week’s video post starts with a short piece filmed in Ruan creek….which is the actual Fal river.

In the first post of this nine part series I took a look , via photographs, of the lovely Helford river which alongside little known Gillan creek forms the usual western limit of my home cruising ground – in this post we’re working our way slowly east and just 5 miles after exiting the Helford river we arrive off the deep water harbour of Carrick roads and the port of Falmouth so……

Obviously there’s a lot more to see and talk about when comparing Falmouth to the Helford river so lets proceed by pretending that we have arrived off Carrick roads, avoided the rock and it’s marker slap bang in the middle of the fairway and made our way up the eastern side which is marked by the lighthouse on St Anthony’s head. Not known about that well except mostly by local sailors there’s an excellent anchorage on that side which is sheltered during an easterly and a nice place to anchor for a lunch stop during settled weather.

Continuing northwards on that side the first major river that opens out is the Percuil and the little harbour just inside the entrance on the northern side is St Mawes : there’s a ferry service to and from there which runs across to Falmouth town and another smaller boat that will take you over to join the south west coastal path which picks up again on the south side of the Percuil at a place called place….Place honestly !. The problem with the Percuil river and it’s many moorings is that the typical gales in this part of the world are westerly’s and sou-westerly’s and they blow straight into the river.

During my last trip there I had gale after gale but rather than staying in the west they boxed the compass so I had to move nearly every day and one of my hide-outs during a westerly gale is the shallow bay just off ‘Place’ where the bay is sheltered by high ground and trees. It’s a good bottom there two and I found a nice spot in a small gully where the boat would be protected from any wave action by the slightly higher sand and shingle all around it….it blew good and hard that day.

The little blue Liberty on the beach at a place called Place.

For now we’ll ignore the port and town of Falmouth and scoot on up the Carrick roads, past St Just in Roseland and past the rising ground on our right until we have to duck around the marked spit off Turnaware point and head upstream past the various moorings and pontoons towards the King Harry ferry. The river gets a lot narrower here but it’s still deep – deep enough that it’s normal to find a ship or ocean going tug moored there. The creek directly opposite the end of Turnaware point is Channals creek and a good anchorage as long as it’s not blowing from the south….personally I prefer anchoring in the mouth of the tiny Turnaware creek itself just off the shingle beach where boaters often camp.

Channals creek

Deep water ships mooring near King Harry ferry.

The Truro and the Fal, my favorite place in the south west.

We now get to the interesting bit , the river now starts to meander a bit, there are several creeks on our left and then the actual Fal river (technically Ruan creek) splits off to our right while the main branch, now the Truro river continues up past Malpas and eventually to the head of navigation just outside the city of Truro. Let me tell you about Ruan creek though and why it’s the place I go and hide out when I need ‘creek’ time or go and shelter from multi-directional gales.

In Ruan creek.

Ruan creek is the nearest I ever come to what I call a ‘Maurice Griffiths‘ moment , by which I refer to his apparent love for the small and quiet creeks and swatchways of the east coast. I don’t know whether Griffiths ever had a favorite creek because there used to be many small tidal rivers and creeks that in his day weren’t rammed with lines of moorings – the nearest I ever got myself was the Walton channel of the Walton backwaters.

The creek is unusual in that there are two spots where it’s possible to dry the boat out on a soft sand bottom as opposed to the thick mud which is common to all of the other side rivers and creeks in the area. The other useful aspect is that by the time you get to the position below you have several layers of wooded headlands protecting the creek so it’s almost a ‘hurricane hole’. During my autumn cruise in 2019 we had gale after gale sweeping through and boxing the compass – Ruan creek was just about the only place where I could be on my own with the little Pansy stove going and at low tide get out and go for a walk around the creek.

It’s also one of the few nature filled areas because usually there are a few Deer browsing the wooded banks in the dusk and pretty well always some Owls, Crows and a noisy Pheasant for company – last time I was there and all-but dried out I even had a friendly and curious Seal biffing at my rudder blade.

Malpas and beyond.

Back out in the main river, definitely the Truro now, hang a right and head upriver towards Malpas where the river divides once more to give us the Truro river on the left and the Tresillian offshoot on our right. Iv’e been up the Tresillian river just to have a look around, not much to see, so the main interest is to now wiggle our way up the shallow channel towards the Truro tidal barrier and beyond that a short stretch of river which effectively terminates at a small quay just outside the city of Truro itself. It is possible to land there but iv’e never been able to do it because the tidal barrier was closed both times I was there due to high spring tides and lots of wind ; sometimes there is a locally run Dutch Bjotter or similar parked there.

Falmouth is rightfully known as one of the UK’s major centers for traditional wooden boatbuilding and one of the best examples is Luke Powell’s boats and his yard on the end of the lighterage quay situated almost on top of the Truro tidal barrier….on the water that’s as far as I got but I did spend a few hours alongside two of his pilot cutters down at Falmouth yacht haven on a rainy day when I was doing my food buying.

Falmouth yacht haven is the place I usually tie up alongside when I need to take on water and go and buy my stores : in 2019, when I made the return trip from Brittany I made my landfall in a rapidly rising wind and had a hard but short beat, on the tide, up towards Tremayne quay in the Helford river where I hit the sack for most of the next day and night. Once conscious and vaguely sensible again my sole aim was to get over to Falmouth and hit the high street just outside the yacht haven to go and have proper Haddock and Chips at the best chippie I know at this end of England – that’s Harbour Lights fish and chip place literally just a few yards from where I had tied up.

Honestly…..110 days in Brittany which claims to do the best seafood in France and what I was absolutely gagging for was simple deep fried Haddock and chips in Falmouth…..I know !

While we’re talking about seafood though……

Today’s little factoid about Falmouth is that it is the only place in England where there is a fishing fleet that has to work under sail only…..that’s the oyster dredging fleet that works in gaff rigged boats of around 28 feet or so and principally open boats that mainly work out of Mylor creek and often totally embarrass the modern cruiser racers during a summer’s evening of racing in the Carrick roads.

That’s it for me…..I know I haven’t said anything about the Penryhn boatyards, the yard at Mylor which I know better or even the superyacht facility over at Pendennis – my request for a look around there was totally ignored. There is the maritime museum which is worth a look around and there are far more creeks and odd corners that I have missed….but it’s a big place and even having spent several months there while using a mooring at Mylor even i didn’t around it all.

Best wishes Y’awl.