The French Adventure (Boulogne to Dieppe)

So, after the warm-up from Dover we were keen to move on. We knew we had easterlies for a few more days so cracking on whilst we had favourable winds made sense.

The passage to Dieppe was a shade over 50 miles. So a two tide event. We set off at 0545 moving into a fairly informal watch pattern of 1 on 3 off which was nice and easy.

The wind never really sorted itself out so we ended up having to donk the lions share of the way - this lead to boredom and experimentation.

Tom P and Rob had explained when we were last together that whilst on a sailing holiday in Greece Tom had gone up the mast to secure some good snaps. This seemed like a sensible and valuable use of time. I did the same. We even managed to sail awhile with me bouncing off the top of the mast.

View from the top

This entertained us a while but then we felt that as the weather was akin to the Med' we should treat the water as Mediterranean and so Ella and I went for a swim. In Jacks words ... noice

Who needs the Caribbean!

Aided by these distractions we enjoyed a pleasant drive along the coast arriving in Dieppe at 1755

Dieppe is a big port and has a huge marina. Berthing was easy and clearly marked. We were met at the entrance and shown a nice berth close to the facilities.

Snugged up in Dieppe

Dieppe was seeped in history. In August 1942 it was the location for an Allied raid. The raid was not particularly successful but did provide vital intelligence for the subsequent D-Day Landings further west. It wasn't massively compelling!

That evening we enjoyed a pleasant dinner in a bar overlooking the marina. Moules were the order of the day except Jack who had horse! Over dinner we finalised our plans and agreed that whilst the easterlies continued we should push on ...

Next stop Fecamp