Colmer's Hill

We pass several hills driving from Chideock to Bridport, none more distinctive than Colmer's Hill, rising steeply to the summit with nine trees at the top, making it look very inviting.
John and I were very pleased to reach the top on Thursday.

We started in the village of Symondsbury. At the right hand bend before the church, the no through road ahead is only closed for traffic, but open to pedestrians.   The track leads to North Chideock, and is called Hells Lane.

I learnt from a TV program recently that this is a Holloway, and ancient track used by Cattle drovers, and the sandstone is worn down by use over the centuries, so that the path is flanked on both sides by sandstone walls.  At one section the walls must have been twenty foot or so on either side.  It was very beautiful.  We walked half way to North Chideock before we turned back across the fields to where there was a very clear footpath leading to the summit.

The view from the top was impressive.  We counted all nine trees, including one that was cut short at the first branch, and noticed that quite a few saplings had been planted round the summit, so that the hill may look very different in a few years time.

   We picked out Eype Mouth, which cuts through the hills between us and the sea, and Sloes Hill, just the other side of Symondsbury, and Allington Hill, on the edge of Bridport. Looking North we picked out Park Copse and Henwood Copse, but the hills were not so easy to identify.  It was all very beautiful.

We came down on the South side of the hill and across the field back to the lane where we started.  It was not very clear where to leave the field, but when we found the gate we read the notice which explained the path was a permissive path, and would be closed for ten days each year.

Earlier in the week, we visited the pottery at Symondsbury, and bought a mug that had a depiction of the hill as decoration.

Week at Glenridding

Now that I have a combi trailer I can sail on different lakes, and my first journey was to Glenridding, where I learnt to sail last summer.
Pete & I had already fitted the launching trolley onto the road trailer, and the main task was to take down the mast, a job probably made easier by the branches of the trees, which meant the mast was supported to some extent at the top.  I would have got some help from a water board employee who arrived to check the water levels, but I found I had to disconnect the kicking strap from the boom, and did not like to keep him waiting.
The next task was a journey to Kendal to buy an extension for the tow board electrics, as my 12ft cable was not adequate for the 15ft boat. Having found the retail park at the South, the people at Homebase were able to point me to the one in the north, where Halfords is on the road leading to Shap.  Back at Killington I had to pull the boat with the car, as one of the road trolley wheels seemed reluctant to move from its rut in the gravel which covers the surface of the berth area.
The journey via Penrith and down the west side of Ullswater took an hour. I travelled at 60 on the motorway, and overtook just two vehicles, an old VW camper van and one truck just before Penrith.  It all went smoothly although I did find when I arrived that the bolt keeping the two trolleys together was partially undone and sticking out at an angle.
I managed to set up the mast OK, but did put a dent in the corner of the car roof as I lost control at one stage. I asked for help getting the launching trolley off the road trolley.  It was then time to set  off to rejoin Ann for the evening, so no sailing on Monday.
Tuesday was nice sailing, a fairly happy force 2, and nice sailing from about 11.00 till about 2.30pm.
On Wednesday & Thursday I was joined by Wendy. Wendy tried the helm on Wednesday but the gusts and variable wind direction were a bit much. At one stage we followed another Wayfarer, and were puzzled by their change of direction, but when we got to where we were we did just the same.  We followed them on a course turning 270 degrees, while sailing close hauled on a starboard tack the whole time. Such are the variable winds from the valleys round Ullswater.
Wendy was at the helm the whole three hours on Thursday, and took to it very well. The main problem that day was two episodes sitting in areas of the lake where the wind had dropped altogether, but they were not long lasting.  We raced against a Seafly at one point, very close around Norfolk Island, and then we won getting to the one near the sailing centre. It was actually very difficult. A starboard tack took you to the shore opposite the sailing centre, as the wind came from the south, and a port tack took you back down the lake as you caught the wind coming down from Glenridding valley. Without the challenge of the race we would probably have stayed out nearer Norfolk Island.
Friday did not look particularly inviting weather, but Pete said it was a good wind, steady and not very gusty. Ellie arrived at about 11.00 and soon we were out on the water not noticing whether it was raining or not. We each had a share of helming in force 2-3 winds, and we sailed close to one of the Hawk 20, the one with a cabin.  Then the wind stiffened to a force 4, and it was quite fun. It was quite noticeable that the balance of the two sails was well behind the pivot point, and that I had to pull the tiller quite hard in the strong winds to stop the boat turning to windward.  We raced around with very little other craft to be mindful of.
We could have done with tightening the kicking strap in the stronger winds, but we had another problem caused by the strong winds, which was the goose-neck, very happily lashed to the mast in a force 2 or 3, started to work loose and we then found that the boom was no longer attached to the mast.  Ellie was helming at the time, so we swapped around and sailed away from the island, and Ellie did a passable job at tying it back.  It held fairly OK as we made are way back to the sailing centre and we brought our exciting session to a safe close.
Later they fished out a goose-neck that had brackets to clasp onto the mast, so we made a swap and I am looking forward to trying out the new one soon.