To Calais

Faversham to Calais Thursday 18th May 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing
There's a clear difference between what we did and what we should have done today. I hope this does not become a recurring theme in this blog.

Nothing drastic, just a change of plan mid-voyage which would have worked better if we had made the decision earlier.

What we did: Got up at 4.45am to catch the tide down Faversham Creek (that part was unavoidable).  We then set off to get to Dover in one tide, changed our minds as we passed Ramsgate at 10am with most of the day still ahead of us, and decided to press on for Calais.
Don't get me wrong, this was not a bad decision. Lots of wind was forecast for Friday so it was certainly worth getting on and getting over there today.

However what we should have done for a passage to Calais was to come further out of the Thames instead of hugging the Kent coast and to sail outside the Goodwin Sands (east of) instead of inside (west of). We'd have had a lovely line directly to Calais, at right angles to the shipping lanes as proscribed, with tidal help all the way.

Or failing that, on making our decision, we should have anchored off Deal for an early lunch (proper anchor not pub anchor). A couple of hours would have made quite a difference.

Instead we carried on down the inside of the Goodwins and as we crossed the shipping lanes by Dover (at the proper angle) we got taken west by the tide. Once across we turned back north east towards Calais and had to punch a foul tide for 2 hours.


Hugging the Kent coast: Broadstairs


Our ritual on landing in France

Moules Frites for him, Salade du Périgord for her


And home to bed - so glad not to be in Victoria in this deluge

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