Cruiser Report ~ Our excursion up the Exe

Published 11:32 on 19 Jul 2023

We had a recovery day in Brixham after the rally, then headed up the coast towards Exmouth. We'd decided to have a couple of lazy days on the Exeter Canal and had booked to go through Turf Lock at midday. You don't choose the time you're locking in (or out) of Turf Lock, the lock keeper determines the times according to the tides and your vessel.

On the charts, wiggling our way up the Exe looked a little challenging, so we decided that traditional pilotage was needed as well as a route on the chart plotter - our plotter is at the helm and difficult to see clearly in bright sunlight, and we'd be heading North at midday. 

On approach we picked out the safe water mark, dropped sails and headed in through a well-buoyed but narrow & shallow entrance. It was neap tides, and about an hour before HW, so no noticeable cross-tide by Exmouth marina as we turned in behind Dawlish Warren.  Then the nav became a little more tricky, the mass of moorings making it difficult to pick out the winding channel in some places. Once clear of the main moorings, it was much easier to follow and the lock finally came in to view as we approached buoy number 39. We'd become quite used to one metre under the keel being more than enough, but that dropped by a metre on the final approach. The lockkeeper was very helpful, having the gates open ready for us and taking our lines. 

 After a couple of relaxing days there - great burgers at the pub, overlooking the beautiful river at HW (and a lot of mud/sand at LW) - we went downriver and picked up a visitor buoy tucked in behind Dawlish Warren, ready to slip and head home the next day at high tide.

In all, a lovely little excursion to somewhere we'd never been before, but we'd certainly return to. And some key facts about mooring in Turf Lock:

To the shore power: 2 yards

To the water tap: 5 yards

To the shower unit: 10 yards

To the pub: 50 yards.

To the Paddington-Penzance mainline: 400 yards (we were surprised at the volume of rail traffic).

To Exeter basin (by dinghy if your air draught is more than 11m, as the M5 is in the way): 5 Nm.

To the SWM at the entrance to the Exe: 6 Nm.

You must book ahead to use the lock it's not manned full time, and the visitors buoy that used to be just before the entrance to the lock has been removed, although it's still in this year's Reeds.

 ~ Doug & Martine O'Malley Aquamarine