Lundy Day 1. Part 1.

Having had such a wonderful 4 days on Lundy and taken 291 photos I've decided to let the trip run over this week's blogs as I would find it hard to pick out just a few pictures to illustrate this magical island. The Oldenburg nestled almost out of sight at the end of the jetty.
We sailed out of Ilfracombe on Saturday morning at the civilised hour of 10.00. It was my job to leave the car at the long stay car park on the other side of the harbour. Much anticipation at the start of our week-end away.


The tide was low leaving all the yachts sitting on the muddy looking sand. I had to march the whole way around the harbour to meet up with the others who were waiting on the jetty. Our luggage had already been loaded onto the boat.

Finally underway we were able to catch some new views of Ilfracombe. The 2 'cooling towers' by the beach are also known as 'Madonna's Bra' and are some architect's vision of a modern performance space!

Sailing around the coast we were able to see our favourite walks around Bull Point and Morte Point from a new angle. As we sailed out into more open seas the boat began to pitch and roll sending spray over those who like us had chosen to sit outside on the top deck. I had received a few funny looks from fellow passengers (day trippers who were dressed in summer holiday wear), when I put on an anorak, ex-navy gortex long jacket and scarf. Not surprisingly once we started to feel the full effect of the ocean spray the benches suddenly emptied as people headed down to the shelter of the cabin (& out came the sick bags!). The Oldenburg has a flat bottom to allow it to sail in shallow waters and this does not make it the most stable of vessels. One thing that was noticeable was the way people began to chat to each other (so un-British). We were standing with one couple who were heading for a diving week-end and another couple who were involved with the restoration of an old sailing ship.

Two hours, 24 miles and 1 rain squall later Lundy's magnificent 120m cliffs came into view.

The island is a plateau on top of magnificent granite cliffs with many indentations but few beaches. The N/S orientation means that the east coast is much more sheltered than the west coast which faces out to the Atlantic and each coast has a different character and provides very different habitats. Even up on the plateau there are fresh water pools, marsh land, heath and windswept rocky habitats.

There is only one place where boats can moor and for the passengers there is the steep walk up to the top of the island where most of the buildings are. (Lundy has been inhabited since prehistoric times and there are traces of Bronze and iron age settlements as well as many more recent buildings.)

Luckily for us there is a sturdy jetty built in 2000 which marks the visitors first steps on the island.

To be contd.....

So far this has been a fairly mundane photo journey but I promise some amazing and spectacular pictures to come.

And as for today, back to work to a different world, so much to do in the final week of school. I was a planning a late evening in my class getting things sorted when Peter turned up at school. Poor Vicky dropped our very sharp kitchen knife on her bare foot resulting in a trip to hospital, 4 stitches and a tetanus injection. She and Romas had been about to leave for the drive up to York when this happened but they are back here now as she can't drive until tomorrow. By the time we knew what was happening it wasn't worth going back to work and once this blog is posted I have plenty of school work I can do at home tonight.