Chapter 8: The Last Day in Fowey

Saturday dawned another sunny, almost cloudless day. They joined Phil at the sailing school at 10, as planned.

After kissing Ella, Phil announced “Everything is looking good for the trip upriver, but the wind is quite light, so we need to get going as soon as possible.”

They soon had two dinghies rigged and set off upstream with the tide. Phil and the girls were in ‘Daisy Belle’ and Matt was with Rob and Jan in ‘Taran’s Mistress’. They soon passed the Bodinnick Ferry and later the village of Golant with the wooded Penpol Creek on the opposite side. The river soon forked with the east arm leading up to the village of Lerryn, but they took the west arm towards Lostwithiel. Once they reached St. Winnow, they had to swap their sailing dinghies for kayaks which Phil had arranged. They were soon paddling along the now narrower, winding river, through the salt marshes of Shirehall Moor, where Phil pointed out a large variety a of birds, including kingfishers, herons, oystercatchers and even a couple of buzzards.

When they eventually reached Lostwithiel, they pulled the kayaks up onto the riverbank and Phil took them on a walk around the town, telling them about the history of the town and explaining that it used to be the capital of Cornwall. Afterwards, they went into the pub which Phil suggested and had a Cornish lunch of Pasties and cider.

After lunch, when they had been chatting and relaxing in the pub garden for a while, Phil announced “OK folks, pleasant though it is relaxing here in the sunshine, it’s approaching slack water, so we need to get moving. Remember not to cut corners on the winding parts of the river. If you go aground, you’ll have to get out into the mud and push off!”

They were soon back in their kayaks, paddling slowly through the salt marshes and admiring the scenery and birdlife. At first, progress was quite slow, and, being a teenager, Chloe decided to liven things up and used her paddle to splash Rob. “Oops sorry, Rob. My paddle slipped!”

He retaliated with a poor aim so that he splashed Jan and Ella instead. They both ganged up on Rob and when Chloe splasher Matt, it became a free-for-all water fight.

As the tide started to turn, they began moving faster and then were soon back at St. Winnow. After pulling up the kayaks high up onto the shore, they had a short break before launching the dinghies, rigging them and setting off downstream.

Ella soon had the spinnaker up and was out on the trapeze with her bum inches above the water, balancing the boat. A mischievous grin appeared on Chloe’s face and she pulled the tiller towards her, causing Ella to half submerge. She squealed and shouted “Bitch! I’ll get you for that!”

“Just thought I’d give you an excuse to have a shower with Phil!” Chloe replied.

By 4 o’clock, they were back on the sailing school jetty and de-rigging the dinghies. They were all in a great mood and anyone passing would have been forgiven for thinking that they had just navigated up the Amazon.

Chloe grabbed Phil and kissed him “That was amazing, Phil, Thanks you so much for organising it.”

Ella followed suit “It really was a fun day, thanks Phil!”

The others were equally enthusiastic, but he got no more kisses.

Once they had tidied up the dinghies, they took the loose bits of gear up to the sailing school where they discarded their buoyancy aids. As they were leaving, Phil said “It’s 7:30 for 8 at the Yacht Club, so if you can get the 7 o’clock ferry back over here, I’ll meet you at the landing.”

Once back at the cottage, they all had leisurely showers and got ready for their last night out. Matt and Rob had fortunately brought jackets and ties ‘just in case’ while the girls put on their party minidresses. Chloe and Ella spent some time experimenting with makeup which neither of them usually bothered with much.