Monday
This was always going to be a challenging day, as the journey to Rouen from Honfleur is 60 miles, with no places to stop and you're not permitted to sail/motor between sunset and sunrise. With the Seine running on an ebb tide at up to 4 knots, it means leaving at the start of a flood tide close after sunrise, hence the journey is only doable for less than 2 weeks a month.
Also according to the books, numerous fast moving ships and barges present a further stress factor.
And of course, the risk of not getting a berth in Rouen.
We got away at 0615 for the 0630 lock opening, dropping us about 5 metres into the very muddy Seine. For the first hour we still had the ebb tide against us, although once it started flooding we were soon covering the ground at up to 10 knots through some very beautiful old villages past grand chateau and luscious countryside interspersed with industrial areas. En route, only 1 ship and 1 barge overtook us and we met one tourist boat as we entered Rouen!
We covered most of the journey with the tide, arriving in Rouen at 3 in the afternoon. After some interesting negotiation with a marina junior man, he eventually and very reluctantly agreed to us staying for one night and one night only.
Spent the evening getting the mast ready for unstepping in anticipation that Christophe might be able to squeeze us in tomorrow.
