Wednesday 25th july 2018
After two days of being anchored in the River Stour whilst we caught our breath, we weighed anchor at 6.30am on Wednesday 25th July. Oh my, was that hard work! I don't think either of us had been up and about at 5.30 am for the last year!
After two days of being anchored in the River Stour whilst we caught our breath, we weighed anchor at 6.30am on Wednesday 25th July. Oh my, was that hard work! I don't think either of us had been up and about at 5.30 am for the last year!
One of the key pieces of equipment for our refit was a manual windlass, one of those just in case purchases. We hadn’t expected to use it quite so quickly, but it proved invaluable when the electric windlass just stopped and we (Mark) had to pull the anchor on board by hand. Thank heavens for a good boat jumble purchase as we may still be sitting on the Stour.
So, after a slight delay we left the River Stout and said our goodbyes to Harwich Harbour, Felixstowe Port and Landguard bouy.
Our planned route to Dover was to go past the wind farms, through Fisherman's Gat, across the Thames Estuary and down the channel to Dover. Glad to say everything went to plan route wise, although the passage highlighted a few snagging problems but nothing too serious.
The wind was so calm that we had to motor most of the journey, although we did manage to get all 3 sails up at one point and turned the engine off for a couple of hours.
Seeing the white cliffs of Dover from the sea in Offbeat was a sight to behold. This was a major milestone for us because it was the first leg of our adventure, the white cliffs are a national landmark and it’s a turning point from heading south to turning west towards Cornwall.
In keeping with our traditions, we celebrated by going to the pub and having fish and chips.
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