Welsh Interlude

4th August, 2020

A little over 6 years ago we found Garron Pill, a near abandoned boatyard, it was originally dug out in the quest for mining limestone, more recently oysters were farmed here and more recently still it has gone from being a quiet boatyard to a home, a place full of visitors, campfires, swings, children, creation, bush-baths, parties, laughter, births, mud, and a mid-life refit for Lilly Bolero.

We couldn’t have dreamt up a more idyllic setting to tie up for this period – which would explain why it’s been so hard to get to this point of setting sail once again. Physically the set-up is brilliant – power and water to the deck, alongside a slipway, and 10m to a 60′ long workshop, possibly the most remote spot in Pembrokeshire surrounded by oak woodlands and fields and of course the Cleddau estuary lapping at the keel.

Then there’s been the friends and community we’ve been so lucky to be part of, support, friendship, employment, and the creation of the Pencoed community garden, which, as well as supplying us with delicious veg, has given a framework within which friendships have grown, and principles for life have been explored and discussed.

With help primarily from Jono we’ve built a host of groovy shelters including a shepherd’s hut/palace, a houseboat, a deluxe bog hut, and a modern wheelie-cabin. Nono studied to become a Doula and has attended a number of births and even organised a conference on the topic.

Both Seren and Morla were born here in the quarry on board Lilly and two years ago we celebrated all the love in the air with a fantastical love party, to which all our nearest and dearest friends came and celebrated.

Any other free days, when we weren’t off on van camps, in North Wales, or travelling in France, were filled with working on Lilly B to bring her to the fine state she is in today. All exterior metal has been removed and either remade or re-galvanised, new bulwarks and taffrail, new gaffs, rigging, top of foremast, nav lights, blocks, deadeyes, main sheet track; 2 new dinghies, new galley, engine driven pump/deckwash, bunks, repainted top to bottom…… and so the list goes on…

With the masts back in, in the summer of 2019 we sailed North to Scotland for a couple of months, fantastic sailing, scenery, family and friends! For Nick and Rowena this sealed their desire to sail further afield with us and as I write are busy fitting a new bulkhead in the aft cabin; without Nick’s help over the past year, tirelessly working away on Lilly, we wouldn’t be in the shipshape state we find ourselves today!

And to the here and now… We’d actually chosen today as our deadline to exit the quarry, but hey, what’s a couple of weeks…? And besides Nono has been pretty busy today helping her sister Bebe with the birth of a little girl a few hours ago! So in two weeks with the list sufficiently complete we shall nose out of our little nest and head down stream. Cornwall, Brittany, Southwards and Westward Ho…. Lilly’s next adventure is about to begin.

Lilly in hibernation