Clearing Out

Blankenberge had been a convenient location for the 6 days of ‘down time’ and I feel we used the time to the very best advantage. Pierre in the Marina had been so helpful, and I feel very guilty that we departed without returning the 3 pass cards he gave us for the security gate and facilities – I will post them back to him from the UK with a suitably grovelling letter.

With the growing necessity to get back home after our 6 weeks away, the planning was complicated, beyond the usual weather considerations, by the necessity to get an exit stamp in our passports. I knew from a previous experience on a friends yacht, that this was not possible in Dunkirk. I had had to take an 80 Euro taxi ride to the nearest border establishment for this frustrating formality. The only viable opportunities were Calais or Cherbourg. I am not sure what the implications would be of a failure to secure an exit stamp, but it may be logged electronically, and we all felt it best not to take the risk.

We opted to ‘clear out’ in Cherbourg then cross to Poole, so we took what we saw as a weather window to make the 185 mile passage through the night direct from Dunkirk to Cherbourg.

Early morning fog in Dunkirk gave way to glorious sunshine but with very little wind, we could not make the necessary progress under sail alone.

Things changed in the night with a tremendous thunderstorm, winds rapidly increasing to 26 knots and shifting through 100 degrees. The rain was absolutely biblical but, thankfully we had been able to see it approaching and it didn’t catch us completely by surprise.

Cherbourg was busy, but there were plenty of empty berths when we arrived although it was quite full by the evening. It was the most expensive mooring since the UK, but they have a captive market as it is ideally located for channel crossings, and it is a port of entry/exit. For this we had to show up at 19.15hrs in the Capitainerie to have our passports stamped, (I have just deleted a diatribe on this subject, but you can imagine the content)! So, with our Passage Plan logged with Border Force and HMRC, another formality, we were ‘good to go’. (subsequent note: the instructions state that, on arrival back in the UK, you have to fly the yellow ‘Q’ flag until informed by Border Force, by phone, text or email, that you can take it down – we heard nothing so, in the morning, we dropped the flag and went home.)

At 05.30hrs, UK time we quietly slipped out from our berth and made our way out into the Channel with a moderate wind behind us, with the forecast suggesting it would be stable and veer during the day. We had not used the Parasailor for several years as crew and conditions hadn’t been right on our passages up to and back from Scotland and we lost a season to the refit. I have now made another ‘note to self’ to remember to lubricate snap shackles before stowing at the end of a season as some of them were seized. It takes some time to set up for the Parasailor and, as soon as it was released, the wind built and one of the shackles let go. As we dropped the kite, the heavens opened. So, slightly chastened, we had to ‘flake’ it down below to dry while we worked and oiled all the shackles. Our arrival in Poole Harbour was timely for the bridge openings up to our berth for a few weeks in Cobbs Quay Marina. This is a free berth within the MDL Marina ‘swapsie’ scheme but, given what I pay in annual mooring fees, it is anything but free! I have chosen Poole as, in a couple of weeks, we have a full family holiday in an Airbnb in Swanage and having Hejira ‘on hand’, we may be able to access some deserted beaches.

I am tempted to draw comparisons in our observations of the contrasts between the three countries visited on this adventure. This may be contentious and sensitive ground, but here goes… We have experienced only courteous and helpful interactions with the natives of all three countries, Holland, Belgium and France. At the risk of generalisation, the Dutch are very tall, the Belgians are shorter, fatter (probably all those ‘frites’) more tattooed, smoked a lot but they seemed to be the jolliest of all and the French are, well, the French.. We now know, to our cost, that the beers can be very much stronger than in the UK, peaking in our experience at 11%! Pleasingly and surprisingly, there seemed to be no culture of tipping, this has become prevalent in the UK, probably adopted from the USA where they now demand tips with menaces. They all invariably expressed a sadness at our departure from the EU and couldn’t understand the stupidity of Brexit. In Cherbourg, the indignity of having to queue at a certain time, in a certain place, just to get our Passports stamped was frustrating beyond belief. I have had to do it in other places and rather than getting easier, I find it more and more infuriating.

Richard writes:

Holland was a delight. Although, having lived there for a couple of years, we were all surprised, and delighted by, the friendliness, courtesy and level of customer service demonstrated by almost everyone we met. It was was so much better than we generally accept, and experience in the UK.

In Belgium, at Blankenberge, we were gob-smacked by the beach scene. Dozens of beach clubs along the very extensive sandy beach, each with their own theme; from tropical to clubby to childrens play to adults only , to Nick’s favourite, no dogs! This, backed by restaurant after restaurant after restaurant.

Now, David is a superb cook. I can turn my hand to simple dishes but Nick; well Nick is enthusiastic. However, every dish has to include onions, garlic and chillies. The night before last, he cooked a beef curry made from a couple of tins of stewed beef, raw onions, fresh chillies, chilli flakes and chilli sauce, served with sticky rice (it wasn’t meant to be sticky!!). Mmmmm. Then last night, he insisted, despite a lot of pleading, on cooking tuna pasta bake.

Made from a couple of tins of tuna, a packet of sauce which went out date in 2016, some cheese and no bake! If it wasn’t for the beer, we’d all be losing weight!

David writes:

Having rejoined Hejira after ten days or so away, I am reminded that this cruising business is all about contrast, I said last time, that feeling has been emphasised even more this week. With the first couple of days exploring the battlefields and seeing some very special places, followed by a short passage to Dunkirk, which was far more industrial than the image I had of this point of mass evacuation, and then a much longer overnight passage to Cherbourg. That passage alone was full of contrast from glorious sunshine during the day to the thunderstorms, sheet lightning and torrential rain, in the darkness before midnight, to the surprisingly strong tides against us as we approached Cherbourg, the port of landing for my first crossing of the English Channel, with Nick back in 1992. A different boat and a very different story! Then onto our final passage back across the Channel to Poole, in strong following winds that built and stirred up the sea state to what was a constant test for our core muscles as we were corkscrewing one way then the other. Appropriately though as we rounded Old Harrys Rock the sunshine prevailed and we had a lovely sail up to our end marina, through the two bridges that are so different in their engineering this was a final example of the contrasts we have experienced on this cruise.

All in all, it has been another excellent week and a very enjoyable summer cruise, on board an extremely well kitted-out yacht, which is a joy to sail on.