Following a splendid night listening to the marvelous music of local band Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys, we spent today exploring the town of Fowley and the vicinity.
For some the day began with a six-mile walk into the woodlands opposite Fowey. It was a very pleasant trek through hedge-rowed fields into the little town of Porluan, with opportunities to learn more about the trees and animals that inhabit these places. We then boarded one of the little orange ferryboats that carry both locals and visitors across the river to Fowey.
Others opted to take the short Zodiac trip to Fowley and explore this delightfully picturesque place. On more than one occasion we witnessed traffic jams along the incredibly narrow streets! We passed shops, bakeries, bookshops and of course, a church. There was even a large hotel which was somewhat reminiscent of the BBC series Fawlty Towers. We also saw lots of little plants eking a living out in the rock crevices in the walls. All of these offered opportunities for photography and our photo experts were on hand to help us capture better images.
Lunch today was a varied affair. Some guests chose to return to the ship, while others opted for either a pub lunch or a typical Cornish pasty followed by local fudge for dessert.
We spent the afternoon wandering around the town until our four o’clock departure time. It was a pity to bid farewell to this lovely place and head out to fairly rough waters. It quickly became clear the choice to remain in Fowley rather than attempting to land on the Isles of Scilly was indeed very good. We were soon in strong easterly winds and the ship moved and swayed quite a bit.
Shortly after tea our Global Perspectives guest speaker, Tim Severin, gave us Part II of the Brendan Voyage. Maybe it was appropriate we had the weather we did for the conclusion to this remarkable trip, especially as we relived the part of the little boat negotiating the ice coming down from the Arctic Ocean.
We enjoyed Recap and the briefing of the voyage with our cocktails before settling down for our evening meal.
Today we bid farewell to England and look forward to stops in Wales tomorrow.
