Monday 16 April

We were all excited about today, not only because we would be able to move on, having sat out the fog for two days, but also because we would be back in Blighty. So it was no trouble to jump up early to slip lines and ease out of Dunkerque in the dark at 0600. I’ve enjoyed being there. The timing was to make sure we arrived in Dover within a hour of high water to get into the marina.

Motoring down the well buoyed channel from Dunkerque towards Calais, we passed a ship and a ferry going the other way. We passed four large ships at anchor, just before the edge of the TSS.

The Dover Strait is one of the busiest waterways in the world so it was not a surprise to hear a constant stream of ships calling into the coast guard with their size, draft, cargo details, where they had come from and where they were bound to. One had left Denmark and was bound to Singapore, another had left Hamburg and was going to Italy. One was en route from Kalmar, a port in east Sweden we visited last year, to Shoreham, with a cargo of wood.

There are strict rules about crossing TSS. The boat’s heading, i.e. the course you are steering, has to be at 90 degrees to the shipping lane. This means that that the boat may not actually travel at 90 degrees to it, if it is pushed one way or the other by the tide. We had a southerly tidal flow, which was to our advantage in heading for Dover. We had also planned our point of crossing to avoid being close to a voluntary crossing lane that the cross channel ferries use. The coast guard closely monitors all vessels using and crossing the TSS to make sure everyone is obeying the rules; much needed to avoid collisions.

Crossing the north west bound lane was very straight foreword. There was a lovely gap after two ships passed. Going over the south east bound lane we had to make a course adjustment to keep out of the way of a ship, but passed nicely behind it, with plenty of space before the next one.

The white cliffs need no further introduction

We could almost relax a little after exiting the TSS, but from then vigilance was needed for keeping out of the way of the constant stream of ferries coming in and out of Dover.

Dover port control ask you to radio in when you are two miles from the harbour entrance and we were instructed to keep well to the north of the east entrance and well away from the ferries. Next radio in, was at ten minutes to the harbour entrance and we were given permission to enter. The traffic lights on the harbour wall turned green for us.

We made our way over to west side of the harbour and had to radio in to port control once more and then the instructions moved on to the Dover Marina. We were asked to get a move on as they were holding the swing bridge open for us, so we had to scamper round to get the fenders and mooring lines ready, pdq.

Dover castle, our view from the boat

We have a hammer head mooring, nice and easy for the parking. I am just amazed that, in this large port, it is the only space they have for a yacht of our size and draft. Thankfully we are the only one in at the moment that needs it.

Today Dave had to leave us, to return home. It has been wonderful having him sail with us and we are grateful that he was able to stay an extra few days to help us get back to the UK and get through the trickier passages. Dave, you are an absolute star! We walked up to the station with him and bade him farewell, picked up some supplies and then were very happy to relax and read in the late afternoon sunshine.

Distance covered today - 45 nautical miles

Total distance covered - 581 nautical miles

Tricia (and Steve)