Day 22, Amsterdam to Scheveningen
Friday 24 May A fairly early start at 0800 as the 12 mile leg to the Sea is along the Noordzeekanaal (no prizes for the translation) was going to be engine powered. At about 1100 we reached the final Dutch…
Day 23 Scheveningen to Cadzand
Sat 25 May This was going to be a long day on the engine. No wind and 55 miles to go. The only 'excitement' being the sighting of a couple of seals and the necessity to get permission to cross…
Day 24 Cadzand to Oostende
Sunday 26 May This was definitely a day of two halves. Firstly the 5 hour, very lumpy passage, dead into a 20 to 25 knot wind, allegedly with the tide, covering the 20 miles in 5 hours, arriving in the…
Day 25 Oostende to Dunkerque
The forecast was about right in predicting a westerly, and despite wanting to go South West, it was an uncomfortable journey with wind over tide, so we pulled in early at Dunkerque rather than battling on to Calais. This was…
Day 26 Dunkerque to Boulogne-sur-Mer
Tuesday 28 May Nearly 40 miles to cover today, although Calais was an option at about half the distance if the weather was poor. The first half of the passage was excellent making a good 6 knots close hauled with…
Day 27 Boulogne-sur-Mer to Le Treport
Not really sure how far we sailed today, the plotter said 37 miles, the almanac suggests 43, whereas measurement on a chart gives 50 miles, including tacking. I suspect this later distance is more realistic. I'll compare the log on…
Day 28 Le Treport to Dieppe
Thursday 30 May We would have tried for Fecamp today, but it was blowing 20 – 25 knots from the west, exactly the direction we needed to go. So a last minute change of plan and only 13 miles motoring…
Day 29 Dieppe to Fecamp
Friday What a contrast from yesterday, dead calm with virtually no wind so we left at noon and with the tide and engine made the 33 miles to Fecamp in just over 4 hours. Fecamp is a typical French port,…
Day 30 Fecamp to Honfleur
Saturday 1 June With less than 5 knots of wind, it was motor sailing to get us past Le Havre and up the first few miles of the Seine Estuary into Honfleur. We just made the very crowded, 1800 lock…
Day 31, a hot day in Honfleur
Sunday 2 June On poking our heads out into the early morning sun, we started 'conversing' with a French couple moored inside us, who, on discovering our plans to go to Rouen tomorrow, told us about the Rouen Armada, a…