Good luck matey!

PicoMicroYacht was far enough west to be in Cornwall, where the ports change in character and become more distinctive.

I was leaving Looe, which has about 60 fishing boats and a thriving fishing industry.

The tide was ebbing from the harbour and I was soon just outside.

The plan was to leave Looe at slack water in the channel, go round St George’s Island, and use the tide to row down to Fowey.

I read not to go between the island and the mainland because of the rocky reefs. But the sea was comparatively calm, there was tidal clearance, and fishing boats were doing just that.

Soon St George’s (Looe) Island was receding into the distance. To the south of the Island are the Ranneys, a group of rocks, and an underwater reef that causes quite nasty overfalls.

I looked inland and could see cattle on the cliffs – their sound was reassuring and pastoral.

They were wandering all over the landscape.

Out to sea there were some larger boats.

It wasn’t a long trip and after a few hours I was rowing into Fowey.

A canoeist was coming out, skirting the rocks, and I couldn’t help but notice he was not wearing a life jacket.

Fowey can be best seen from the water where the slightly ramshackle but equally civilised buildings are quite striking.

Soon I was nearing the slipway, opposite the car ferry

I met two friendly fishermen unloading their catch on the slipway.

The skipper got into conversation, curious about the way PicoMicroYacht was kitted up – he seemed somewhat curious about me coming from Looe and also have rowed from Salcombe.

They earn their living crabbing. They use quite a modest boat, with a large hole in the starboard side,  to transfer their crabs to the shore. He reassured me that this was part of the gunnel missing, the rest of the boat solid.

They go all round the coast fishing for crabs, also down to Dodman point, a rough place to be in adverse weather.

As they drove off, the other fisherman waved and said ‘good luck matey.’