Left Eastbourne at 05.40 a.m. on Sunday 09 May. Had a good journey crossing channel at Dungeness to Cap Gris Nez in 6 hours and then the fun began. Tide turned reducing our speed from 8+ knots to just below 6 and the sea got rougher. Finally gave up and went into Nieuwport for the night at about 20.20hrs BST - no-one around to allocate a berth so we tidied up, had some pasta and a bottle of wine and went to bed!
Left Nieuwport by 09.20 a.m. (now on European time) into equally unfriendly sea and had to head out to sea for 2 miles as found ourselves in a firing practice zone. Arrived in Vlissingen by 3 p.m. only to be told at first lock that the first bridge would be closed until 7 p.m. No problem - lovely sunny day and we needed to stretch our legs. And then we had a visit from two Customs Officers - they were very thorough and although reasonably friendly felt they were trying to catch us out. Fortunately the Captain was well prepared and was able to produce everything requested - except for proof of ownership of our VHF licence. Great. We rifled through everything and fortunately found an old copy of licence granted on 2005-2007 which showed our call sign and they accepted that. Twenty minutes to go now before bridge opens and we hope to get to a place called Veer tonight, which we stayed in 5 years ago, and then hopefully on to Maasbracht by Wednesday evening - but watch this space - we could do with a little bit of good luck!
Left Nieuwport by 09.20 a.m. (now on European time) into equally unfriendly sea and had to head out to sea for 2 miles as found ourselves in a firing practice zone. Arrived in Vlissingen by 3 p.m. only to be told at first lock that the first bridge would be closed until 7 p.m. No problem - lovely sunny day and we needed to stretch our legs. And then we had a visit from two Customs Officers - they were very thorough and although reasonably friendly felt they were trying to catch us out. Fortunately the Captain was well prepared and was able to produce everything requested - except for proof of ownership of our VHF licence. Great. We rifled through everything and fortunately found an old copy of licence granted on 2005-2007 which showed our call sign and they accepted that. Twenty minutes to go now before bridge opens and we hope to get to a place called Veer tonight, which we stayed in 5 years ago, and then hopefully on to Maasbracht by Wednesday evening - but watch this space - we could do with a little bit of good luck!
Wow what an adventure u r having already! I'm glad u weren't frustrated by the lock stopping u for a few hours, but if u were able to jump off and go shopping I'm sure u were happy! No huury I guess now you dine the difficult sea bit. That did not sound so much fun!
ReplyDeleteHaving a good week so far, learning mote everyday, looking forward to the next installment
lots of love xxxxx
Hi Guys, Doesn't seem like plain sailing so far, so let's hope you have a bit of luck now.
ReplyDeleteStill really cold here but at least the sun is trying to appear this morning.
At least you will be close to land now so shopping trips might be the answer.
Take care. Sue x
It can only get better once you are in the water in France. Thank goodness Bruce is well organised regarding the Customs people after talking about it when we visited you a couple of weeks ago. How are the cameras/sensors working out or have you not needed them so far?
ReplyDeleteLove K & V x