Bonjour mes amis – greeting from Boulogne! My first entry into a French Port and after crossing the busiest shipping channel in the World! I thought the ferry business was dead (between England and the North French Coast – but apparently not).. As we brushed past Dover, about to start our transit over the Shipping Motorway (properly called – TSS – Traffic Separation Scheme) we encountered a gaggle of ferries (no idea what the collective noun is) coming out of or going into the port of Dover. I had confidently predicted things would be quiet until we turned to cross the channel – wrong! Anyway – we dealt with is and then crossed over the channel and over to La Belle France! We only had one ship call us up to let us know that he intended to “maintain HIS speed and course” (so stay out of his way) and we had a Coaster make a dramatic gesture of turning hard to go behind (or astern of) us (he didn’t need to or have to – but he did).

I have to say we did the journey from Chatham to Boulogne in record time – but without single puff of wind and so we had the motor the entire way. Not what we planned or wanted – but it was either that or we sat in Chatham for a couple of extra days – not a serious option – not in Chatham.

So here we are on Sunday morning after a night in the visitors Marina in Boulogne and a dinner of home made meat balls in a spicy Pesto and Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti – made by my own hand and all washed down with a couple of bottles of – Spanish Red (yes I know – but it was what we had and no-one felt like heading out to find a shop to buy local).

Now – a word about the boat we’re sailing. She’s what one might called gently aged! She is also what one might call – WET! While I cooked last night, our training skipper for this leg, Steve Ellis, emptied 10 full buckets out of the various bilges. Some of that was there when we got on and some came on board to join us as we came over. It’s not unusual for older boats to have water lying in their bilges and that’s what you have pumps for – but this seemed a little excessive and we don’t know whether most of it came from the last trip where they encounter significant rain and arrived into the Marina at 2.00 in the morning exhausted – but she had been there for the whole of last week and no-one thought to dry her out properly.. Steve isn’t pleased! Neither am I – because everything felt damp – but after the grand emptying last night and a night with all of the hatches open – she fells like a completely different boat. If you’re interested – she is an older Bavaria (hence the Bavaria Logo’s at the top of this page), built when Bavaria were less of a production builder.. She was built in 1999 and she raced the Fastnet that year. She is 46 feet in length (LOA) and just over 15 feet in breadth (beam).. I am told she sails very swell especially in strong winds! Hopefully we will see later this week and especially as we recross the channel on Thursday night bound for Southampton.

That’s it from me and Boulogne for now – I still intend to share some thoughts on the Port of Ramsgate at some point – it’s folks seem quite “interesting” – but that will have to come a little later!

Pip pip,
N