Hi to all, an email on our progress to date since we left
Torpoint on 13th May.
We crossed from Salcombe to Braye harbour in Alderney. where we
anchored for 3 nights. Alderney is our favourite Channel Island,
reminding us especially of Bryher in the Scilly Isles, for being
unspoilt and uncommercialised (we had been in the Scillies for a
week early in May, taking Ian's sister and brother in law with
us).
A good run then to St Vaast (with an overnight passage stop on a
free buoy in a small village called Omonville). The marina at St
V is expensive so only stayed 1 night. Conditions were then calm
enough for us to anchor for a night amongst the remains of the
Mulberry harbours at Port Winston off Arromanche. They are huge,
makes you realise what a feat of engineering it was under
difficult conditions in 1944 (they were erected for Operation
Overlord - the Allied invasion).
We spent 8 nights in
Caen, where the marina is in the centre of
the city, up a 7 mile canal from the port at Ouistreham. Did
plenty of walking around the sites and also had a day on local
buses, visiting Bayeaux and Arromanches. We didn't go to the
tapestry as I've been before & Ian wasn't interested, but instead
visited WWII sites. My Dad is a D-Day veteran. He landed on Gold
Beach just down from Arromanche in the early hours of 7th June
1944, so it was very interesting for me to learn more about the
Overlord campaign and be where he fought, almost 67 years to the
day! Looking at the newsreels and photos I was wondering if he
was in any of them! On the way up the canal we moored at
Pegasus
Bridge, which is where the first house to be liberated is situated
and where glider planes of the 6th Airborne division landed on 6th
June to take the bridge. Fascinating.
We left Caen and sailed overnight to reach Dieppe, where we are
now (until 6am tomorrow), when we push on up the French coast,
stopping at Boulogne & Dunkirque for a night each before then
going past Belgium and on to
Vlissengen in The Netherlands, where
we enter the canal system.
We've hit a few snags - our wind instrument for measuring speed
and direction packed up on us the day after we left Torpoint and
there have been repair issues at both of Ian's flats,
necessitating in costly bills, but c'est le vie!! It's just good
to be on the move again and we especially like the Normandy towns.
Our friends Dave & Doreen England are about a week ahead of us,
already sailing in Holland, so not sure if we'll meet up with them
as we are in no hurry (may meet them on their return journey!).
We are always pleased to receive news of what you are up to, as it
keeps us in touch, so please email if possible.
We are using Ian's UK mobile number, but for texts only (07766
369868). My (Denise) mobile is disabled whilst away. Our
international sim is to receive phone calls on for emergencies,
family calls etc.
Best wishes to all
Denise & Ian
S/V Caprice
PS to Barbara Leadsford - can you pls ask Lisa for her email
address so I can add her to my list of contacts. She was going to
let me have it but got overlooked when left. Many thanks. D
anything we've experienced before is negotiating the locks and
opening bridges. If you get timings wrong, you often have to
circulate in confined areas, dodging other waiting boats. Fine
for boats that reverse straight, have bow thrusters or are
easily manoeuvred – not so great with our boat, that doesn't
do any of those & is hampered by windage! Still, we've not hit
anyone or anything yet. Now that we are on the “Standing Mast”
route north, in narrower waterways, the other hazard is
avoiding the massive barges that trade these routes – up to
25,000 tons (see pic).
