This trip will be known as the 'mouth' trip - because we only seemed to visit places ending in mouth - Portsmouth, Yarmouth, Weymouth and Dartmouth! 
This was our first proper trip outside the Solent with Bell and despite some fairly seasonal weather, a nasty fog encounter and an unpleasant sea state across Lyme Bay she behaved impeccably.
After a day of being fog bound at home we finally set off down the Solent to Yarmouth where we caught a few hours sleep before an early start to Weymouth.
Having successfully navigated out through the needles channel we had a lovely sail accross to Weymouth. It was quite entertaining to see 2 Clipper 60's on the dock when we arrived! (Nice to see Pete for a cuppa)From here we headed further west to Dartmouth. The weather had been reasonably kind up to this point but the heavens opened as we picked up a mooring bouy at Dittisham. Fortunately the rain had stopped when it came time to dingy ashore for a very welcome supper in the Ferry Boat Inn.
The next day we moved back down the river to Dartmouth. As the weather was deeply unpleasant outside in Lyme bay we decided a proper day off was in order so we dingy'ed across the river to meet Aunty Ann & Uncle Mike for lunch and a wander around the town.
With all the toing and froing with the dingy - I may have forgotten to check the fuel levels!! Tom did a great job rowing us back to the boat though - great way to work off that cream tea! (Note to self - ALWAYS check the fuel levels in the outboard)
From Dartmouth we decided to test ourselves with our longest trip yet - Dartmouth to Yarmouth. This would be an 18 hour sail. Despite the lumpy sea state and not being able to get the windvane steering to work properly we had a good run back. As night fell we tried to drop into some semblance of watch system but we were both too nervous to sleep properly. And then of course the bloody fog came down just as we were approaching the Needles channel.
The last few hours into Yarmouth were fairly stressful however there were several lessons learned and we arrived safely at circa 4am! AIS is definately on this seasons wish list!
After a very chilled out day in Yarmouth - boozy lunch, long walk, afternoon nap - it was time to head for home. Another early start the next morning to catch the tide down the Solent meant a start in fog. I hate fog. Fortunately it soon cleared and the sun arrived to welcome us home.
225 NM.
