Join me in full Swallows and Amazons mode for a breezy sail down Coniston Water in the Cornish Coble 'Sea Bear', a sightseeing tour and pilgrimage to the Arthur Ransome books which inspired me, and thousands of others, to learn to sail.

We start close to the jetties and boathouses below Bank Ground Farm, which became the model for Holly Howe, and sail down the lake to circumnavigate Peel Island. Can we call it Wild Cat Island?...

I've made this quite a long 'edit', so you can choose to come with me for a large chunk of the voyage, or use the chapter headings below to skip to 'Swallows and Amazons' moments, or 'Voyage notes' when I have something else to say about the sailing.

0:00 Intro
0:49 Swallows and Amazons: Lanehead and Bank Ground Farm, or Holly Howe
3:30 Voyage notes: Timings, and why didn't I reef straight away?!
7:15 Voyage notes: Sea Bear's speed
10:45 Swallows and Amazons: Gondola, or Captain Flint's houseboat
15:30 Voyage notes: Deciding to reef
19:20 Coming ashore to reef
23:22 Close encounter with the Coniston Launch
25:00 Voyage notes: Adjustments after reefing
26:18 Swallows and Amazons: Sea Bear's name, and The Heald
27:06 Just sailing!
41:37 Swallows and Amazons: Kanchenjunga and High Topps
42:17 Voyage notes: Shifting wind
46:58 Swallows and Amazons: Peel Island is it Wild Cat Island?
50:11 Rounding Peel Island's southern point
50:42 Voyage notes: Concealed rocks
51:08 Promise to return
51:39 Farewell to the Sea Bear

For more info on Arthur Ransome, try these links as well as The Arthur Ransome Group on Facebook...
https://arthurransometrust.org.uk/
https://arthurransome.org/
http://www.allthingsransome.net
http://nancyblackett.org

There are now several books about how Swallows and Amazons came to be written, and about explorations in search of the locations. I'm very glad my school library stocked this one for me to discover, aged 11. It is still the one I would recommend first.
https://christinahardyment.co.uk/book...

Music from Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com/
Jon Bjork: Just Like Paradise

#dinghycruising #sailingadventures #sailing #swallowsandamazons #arthurransome #lakedistrict #stsbyoutube