Cruising on Sagitta up the Fowey river

The Cornish town of Fowey, about 20 miles west of Plymouth, has long been hugely popular with cruising sailors. We go there several times a year. However we hadn't been up the river itself for many years, so last week seemed a good opportunity to do so. It's crowded with moorings near the mouth, and has a shallow, twisting channel further inland which makes it all somewhat challenging. So we wanted to concentrate on navigation on the trip upriver. Thus this video starts at St Winnow and its famous water front church, and then makes it way back down to the sea. I have been further upstream (it's possible to get to Lostwithiel) but the river narrows very quickly - too narrow to turn a 30ft x 20ft catamaran round, we didn't want to back out! The upper reaches are basically empty, no moorings, no waterfront houses. That all changes at Golant, a village just north of Fowey. Even though most of it dries out at low water it's still full of small boat moorings. A mile further downstream and, somewhat bizarrely for what seems a sleepy Cornish river, we motored past the commercial docks. Usually exporting china clay, from Cornwall's biggest industry. Turning the last bend we reached Fowey harbour and the town and picked up a mooring. But not before passing the small car ferry and then the house once owned by famous author Daphne de Maurier (of Frenchmans Creek, Jamaica Inn etc fame) In the evening we watched the local dayboats - the Troy class - race in a fading wind. Totally ignoring the china clay ship leaving port. It looked huge going out, but nothing compared to the cruise ships we have seen in the river! As always, there is no audio on this short video (you wouldn't like my choice of backing music, nor the constant noise of an engine). Having said that, the appropriate sound track would of course be something by Oasis, as "Definitely Maybe" was recorded in a water front studio just north of Golant. Yes I know, I should have filmed it as we passed.