Salt and battery, part 2

A Sunday evening trip to Marlec Marine in Ramsgate made it clear that they were very, very closed, but should open at 9am on Monday.

Four padlocks on the outer door and there's an inner grille with more padlocks, plus locks on the inner glass doors.

Bob and I were there at 0855 but it was after 0915 before the man with the keys arrived. The gods were definitely on our side this time, as they only had two batteries in stock and both were the right size, although different brands. I paid £200 for the two which was less than the Varta batteries in 2013. The very nice man from Marlec brought them down, lifted them on to the boat, fitted them, and took the old ones away. Thank you.

Our original plan had been to leave at 0830... and we finally motored out around 1100. We had northwesterly 3-4 and a rather choppy sea, the whole of the TSS to cross, and a tidal gate at Cap Griz Nez, so I'm afraid we did almost all the passage under motor and jib, at a cracking 7 knots or more over the ground much of the way. The Channel was as busy as I had ever seen it, a bit of a baptism of fire for Bob and Elaine, and thank goodness for AIS. Eventually it was all too much for Elaine who had to lie down and fortunately went straight to sleep.

Just off Boulogne Bob and I were hit by a "let's just turn all the taps on and leave them on" kind of shower. I had completely forgotten that Boulogne has an outer wall and it was far too wet to look at the pilot book. In the practically zero visibility the lighthouse on the entrance looked like a moored ship. What a good thing we didn't try to get around the back of it.

Boulogne's tidal marina

Finally, into the marina... to be greeted by the slightly diminished band of Westerlies, only seven of us altogether. Crew problems, technical problems and the weather had kept the rest away. We all went out for a delicious meal at the least accessible restaurant in Boulogne, which fortunately was able to find a table for six of us downstairs. Sam would never have got up the ladder-like staircase. The starters and mains were excellent (desserts a bit dull), and great value, the wine flowed, and WE WERE IN FRANCE!!