Mon 24 Aug, Catching Breath in Lowestoft

Shortly after breakfast, who should knock on the ‘door?’ You may remember, dear reader, of our sojourn in the Caledonian Canal, where we stopped and ate at the Eagle Barge Restaurant (Friday 17 July) and we met up with Kel and Jackie onboard their motor cruiser ‘Boisterous Mistress?’ Yep, they had been on their own journey and had just arrived here too. We spent a lovely couple of hours nattering and comparing experiences. They had had some engine problems (not good for a motor-cruiser.) Kel had very kindly donated us a 5 ltr can of engine oil when we were in the Caledonian Canal, so it was a real pleasure to donate to them a (nearly) full bottle of diesel bug cleaning additive (like Marine 16 but called something else.)
It is lovely when a charitable act can be returned isn’t it.

Charles arrived a little later and had a good look around Wight Mistress, especially at her ‘’behind the mast’ mainsail furling system. He lives close by and is a very experienced sailor. Knowing the typical needs of seafarers, especially after a bit of a long-ish trip (and both in our 70s) Charles is a brilliant engineer and fix-it person and he is keen to fit a furling system to his mainsail, so allow him to continue sailing well into his 9th decade. We talked things Fisher and had a hot drink and then Charles very kindly took us to the supermarket to stock up on essentials (y’know, chocolate, biscuits, tea bags, cake and a few other bits and pieces.)

Dropping us off outside the yacht club (The one way system in Lowestoft is horrendous) we accidentally bumped into a low flying ice cream parlour on the front.
Fighting off the shy talks, we braved the sunshine and view and consumed our ice creams. There was one young’un standing there, giving us the shy-talk version of the ‘evil eye’ (they really don’t teach their young to beg in a nice way, do they?) We ignored the little darling.

Spurred on by the overnighter, which we did with comparative ease, we decided that the next leg would be Ramsgate (72 miles, crossing the Thames Estuary) just another long day really), where Mike is joining us again and where Steve and Mike are heading off to see an old navy mate, Dick Joy, who now lives in Maurice House, the Royal British Legion (RBL) home in Broadstairs.

We went into the yacht club with Kel and Jackie, had drinks and dinner with them and nice chat. However, with the prospect of an early start tomorrow, we made our farewells quite early we headed off to bed and set a couple of alarms for the morning. Just before settling down, and with the wind howling, Kel came by and asked us if we were really going to set sail in THAT? Our reply was that we reserved the right to decide in the morning, and we went to bed.Read more