Epic steam voyage paid off handsomely

I HAD the most wonderful experience last Saturday night.

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The husband and I boarded the Dart Valley Steam Train at Paignton and settled down in the plush red velvet seats of the Pullman observation carriage for the 20-odd minute journey to Kingswear.

We then disembarked and caught the ferry across to Dartmouth, hoping to board the Waverley steam ship, the world’s last seagoing pad dle steamer, to watch the fireworks marking the closing of the 180th Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta.

I say ‘hoping, because it was touch and go as to whether the Waverley would make it. She had left Ayr the previous Monday with the intention of making her way down the west coast of Scotland, across the Irish Sea and round Land’s End. But the sea conditions were so bad they decided to take the long way round, which entailed sailing across the top of Scotland, down the east coast, all along the south coast. It turned out to be the longest-ever single position voyage she has ever taken, well over 1,200 nautical miles.