Brexit

Well we have finally got away leaving Gillingham lock at 0750 on Sunday 1st May. Granddad saw us off and enjoyed my several attempts to call the lock keeper on the wrong channel then the blank look I gave the lock keeper when he asked for my exit card. We sorted it.

A lovely day but no wind meant that Hermy's engine had to do all the work. We thought we had encountered our first pirate just off the strand but it turned out to be the skipper of Aronele seeing us off in his tender. The flat calm persisted.  Shivering Sands towers, mid Thames Estuary.

The wind picked up as we motored between the coast and the Goodwins but it was on the nose. Arrival in Dover was reasonably uneventful. Monday's weather turned horrible so we set about entertaining ourselves in Dover. Jungle book seemed a good idea but the House only had 73 seats and after 45 minutes queuing we got within ten people from admission when we were turned away. The museum was open so we went in there. Have to say it was really good. We began to like Dover, strangely! Tuesday 3rd saw a beautiful day and having discovered out of date flares in the box we hiked up on to the white cliffs to dispose of them at the Coast Guard station.

Liking Dover even more

A walk to Dover castle via the Bleriot memorial was very pleasant and I entered in to the history of it all.

Dover Castle seemed even more interesting than last time, it must have been the sunshine effect. Despite the run down appearance of the town and the Witherspoon's 10am drinking facility, you get the feeling Dover is ripe for regeneration.

On Wednesday 4th May we slipped our mooring, fuelled up and after a short telling off from Dover Port Control for requesting permission to leave later than we should have, we headed for Boulogne motor sailing. The busiest shipping lane in the world, wasn't all that busy and after slowing down considerably to let a ship pass ahead of us we managed to create a collision course that didn't initially exist. We dodged him and I don't think there was any fist shaking, It could have been a friendly wave!

Boulogne Digue Carnot. A very friendly reception despite the large dredger hiding behind the wall. Boulogne Sur Mer for a couple of days exploring and amusing the locals with my version of French.