Sunday 8 April

The long lie in this morning was very welcome. We were all pretty tired on arrival last night. After a leisurely breakfast, we cleaned the boat, followed by coffee on deck. The sun was shining so we put up the cockpit table and had our lunch on deck, only wearing tee shirts; this being all the more remarkable, as only a week ago we were sitting inside the boat, barely able to keep warm, with snow on the deck. While we were having lunch, a young man came down the pontoon looking at the sides, as if checking out the suitability for a vessel coming in. We started talking and he had a pronounced Yorkshire accent. On inquiring, that he was not from arrange here, he told us he was from Grimsby and was working on the wind turbines in the offshore wind farm, of which there are many round here, to fit a receiver for a new device for the maintenance workers to more easily transfer from the tug, taking them there, to the turbine, without having to jump on a ladder from a boat rolling in the waves. Well, we learned something about the engineering of these things!

After lunch, we walked the 7k into Borkum town, which is absolutely delightful and such a contrast from the industrial surroundings of the harbour we are moored in. Borkum town is a seaside resort, with a paved promenade, and bandstand inside a long golden sandy beach. The town is clearly just starting to wake up for the season, with about half of the tourist shops and cafes open. Dave treated us to ice creams, he and I having the raspberry and prosecco flavour. Yum yum!

A band of three youngsters were playing tunes, something like Ed Sheeran’s songs while people sat on deck chairs outside the cafes and bars, being entertained.

We resisted the temptation to take the narrow gage railway back, feeling we needed the exercise. The numerous cyclists, we had seen in the other direction, had almost all disappeared. The houses on the outskirts of town have the steep roofs, typical of this part of the world and many had decorated gardens with nautical equivalents of garden gnomes: buoys, seagulls, old fishermen and the like.

By the time we got back, it was around 6.30 so I got on smartly, to make supper. After eating we retired early at about 9.30 in preparation for the early planned start tomorrow.

Distance covered today - 88 nautical miles

Total distance covered - 260 nautical miles

Tricia (and Steve)