According to the Lundy Ferry automated phone line, we needed to be ready to board by nine-ish so it was an early rise, breakfast and on the road by eight.
The twenty five mile journey to Ilfracombe took us under an hour which gave us time to park the car (pier next to ferry – £18) and grab a few AdLabs. As I was returning from the final AdLab, I looked down and saw that Sue had already joined the queue for our vessel, the MV Oldenburg.
At 10:00 hours (I’ve gone all nautical) we left the harbour and headed for the open sea.
The ride over was fairly ‘bumpy’ as, I believe, the ship only was a shallow draught so tends to rock around a bit.
Sue was not impressed and was feeling rather queasy but managed to hold it in – not like quite a few others.
We landed at noon and Sue was happy to get back onto solid ground. There was a steep path up from jetty to main settlement – around 100m ascent. Sue, still suffering with the after-effects of the crossing, struggled but we got there in the end.
In the main settlement – little more than a few cottages – we sat Sue on bench while I went to the general stores for snacks.
Leaving Sue to fully recover on the bench, I went for a virtual cache up at the old lighthouse. The owners of the island, The National Trust, will not allow any physical caches to be placed but there are a few virtual caches.
After a bit of hunting around, I found the required information, took a photo of me at the lighthouse and returned to find Sue much but not fully recovered.
Virtual Caches.
A Virtual Cache is about discovering a location rather than a container. The requirements for logging a Virtual Cache vary. You may be required to answer a question about the location, take a picture, complete a task, etc. In any case, you must visit the coordinates before you can post your log.
We took a leisurely stroll back down the steep path back to the waiting vessel. We were a bit (?) early but spent the time watching a seal hauled up on the rocks.
When the ship was ready to be boarded, we were near the head of the queue ensuring that we had the pick of the seats. Just in case the return was as bumpy as the outbound trip, we chose to sit outside near the middle of the ship.
We left Lundy just after 16:00 (or four p.m. for you land-lubbers). Luckily the sea state had moderated from Moderate to Slight and Sue was able to enjoy the ride.
We docked just after six and made our way to a nearby chippy for a meal of whitebait, to start followed by Salmon and Chips (Kev) and Sea Bass and Chips (Sue).
Very tasty.
Replete, we drove back to base, stopping off at ASDA in Barnstaple for booze and ice cream to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace back in the tent.
