A Right Royal Weekend

I had a few ‘spare days’, so decided to dash down to Devon for the Dartmouth Royal Regatta…firstly popping in to see Gerard and family near Stonehenge, with Ethan and Elijah ‘jumping for joy’ !! and then continuing down to Brixham, and a pleasant evening walk along the sea front, before being well looked after by Dot, the beloved M-in-L !

Friday we were collected by David and taken over to Kingswear, and soon we were all kitted out for a bit of ‘messing about on the River’…and I was soon installed in the front of David’s boat, watching the rest of them ( Dot,Lesley,Phillippa, Hayley with little Willow and Delilah ) dashing across the River Dart, to do some shopping in Dartmouth , whilst us ‘men’ did some ‘proper sailing’ in and amongst all the Regatta traffic and racing that was also taking place in the river and out to sea… Rupert was soon preparing the 30’ yacht , ready for our sail out to sea..once we’d collected his Dad Bill, who  kindly allowed us all to take his yacht… so soon we were sailing out along the dart, towards the open sea, initially using the motor, but once clear, the sail was unfurled, engine switched off and whoosh… we were sailing under wind power, being tilted by the strength of the wind,I could just about hold my beer !

Not content with giving me a first experience of sailing, Rupert says ‘Do you fancy steering Joe’ ? and with that gave me the tiller…I was sailing the yacht myself, trying to keep it on course, remembering that left meant right, and vice versa !! I was soon into it though, even turning about and heading back towards Dartmouth threading my way through other yachts , and eventually handing over the steering to the experts..my first time in a yacht, and steering as well, Great, Thanks everyone (and the beer was nice !)

Having put the yacht back on it’s mooring, we located all the women and children, and headed back to Lesley's house, ready for the air display, which as it turned out was right above our heads mostly, really good show, firstly the Blades, closely followed by a very noisy Typhoon , even flying upside down – then time for the main event… The Red Arrows, who swept in and over us in a blaze of colour.. doing their acrobatics right over us  , as usual a great display, and then they were off…leaving everyone hooting and cheering with delight…

The following day, a gentle day spent with Dot out on Dartmoor,climbing over Haytor, and looking down at he surrounding moor, ready for the trip home, early the following morning…

A great, but brief, weekend, Thanks everyone for looking after me, and showing me the sights…and sites !