Tuesday 23 August 2016

Sophie Heals Herself


Sophie and Jeremy at home

 The best news of the last few months is that our granddaughter, Sophie, aged 4 months, no longer needs an operation to correct her hips and has avoided 12 weeks in a plaster cast from her chest to her ankles. The operation was due to take place on 12th August. Jeremy and I looked after our other granddaughter, Ellie, while Em and Ben took Sophie into hospital. Sophie was put under general anaesthetic and injected with a dye so that her bones would show up on an x-ray. The x-ray revealed that her hips had healed themselves. We are still jumping for joy. Thank you to all our friends and family for your prayers or for keeping Sophie in your thoughts.

Sailor Sophie asleep in the stern cabin
Naturally, all our other news pales into insignificance when compared with this amazing healing, but there are two recent posts underneath that you might have missed.

Monday 22 August 2016

Afloat Again - River Deben to La Rochelle

All the time we were motoring up and down the country, Sal Darago was waiting patiently on the Deacon family mooring on the River Deben. We made her ready for offshore sailing, packed her lockers with food, clothes, spares and prepared for a 10 day trip, hoping to reach Santander in northern Spain, but booking a flight to London from Bordeaux just in case.
Jeremy, Kathy, Ellie and Sophie on the Deben mooring
First, we welcomed Emily, Ben, Ellie and Sophie on board for a family BBQ at The Rocks to celebrate Em’s birthday. The rain held off until we were eating our food. We rushed for cover under trees as the sky darkened and the heavens opened. Ellie was amazing sitting next to me, water gathering on her plate and not a word of complaint. Sophie was not amused to be woken by rain bouncing on her face. Everyone warmed up back at SD with the engine running and the radiators pumping out much needed heat. It was July in Suffolk.
Dieppe Marina in the heart of the town
On Saturday we motored in calm, cloudy weather across the Thames estuary to Ramsgate, where we anchored off the harbour. Jeremy had found the faults in the wind instrument and the log and put them right as we travelled. Crossing the Dover Straits the following morning was less scary than I had expected and we had no close encounters with the many ships, ferries and other vessels using the seaway. Once across we met a foul tide and sat it out making about 2 knots until it turned. At one point we thought we might continue to Cherbourg, but the west wind was on our nose and rose to force 5 with gusts of force 7. We turned inshore and entered Dieppe Harbour at midnight, after a scare with an outgoing ferry.

Entrance to Fecamp - not 24 hours
The bad weather set in. We managed a daysail to Fecamp and spent two nights in harbour, leaving on Wednesday with a reasonable French inshore forecast, but on the tail end of gales in sea areas Thames, Dover and NE Wight according to the BBC. We were in SW Wight. The rain stopped, the mist cleared and the wind blew on the nose again. I took Stugeron and was glad when the uncomfortable night was over.
Fecamp from Chapel de Notre Dame
The main GPS stopped working as we reached Cherbourg, but the weather was calming and the tides were right, so we continued our journey, using our hand held GPS and noting our position on the chart plotter until the main GPS started working again. We rounded Cap de Hague, took advantage of the Alderney Race and zipped along at 8 knots. Once more the wind prevented us from going in the direction we wanted (WSW) and we headed south. This gave us a favourable tide for many hours and by midnight we were close to Ile de Brehat. Now the tide turned and I again got the short straw managing only 5 nautical miles in three hours. At 4pm we were close to L’Aber-Wrac’h and our diesel supplies were depleted. The decision was made to go on in order to pass through Le Chenal de Four and the Raz de Sein. It continued calm and despite a huge (Spring) tide we crawled our way out of the Channel into Le Chenal de Four. We cleared this well lit route at 2300 and noted that we needed to be through the Raz de Sein by 0115 or the tide would turn on us and push us literally backwards. There were only 15 miles to be covered in two and a quarter hours, fairly easy with a good tide, BUT it just was not there. It had disappeared and Jeremy increased the engine to the maximum safe revs. We cleared the Raz de Sein at 0125 as the tide turned hard against us and both breathed a sigh of relief – no more tidal gates, but where to buy diesel?

Waiting for diesel
Using our pilot books, by a process of elimination, we chose to go to the fishing port of Le Guilvinec at 0800 HW Saturday. All went well and we pulled in alongside a pump proclaiming “DIESEL 24 HRS”. There was none for us yachties – just for trawlers. The unhelpful Frenchman suggested Loctudy or walking several kilometres to the nearest garage. We sought advice at a public quay and the same unhelpful Frenchman turned up. He offered to take Jeremy to the garage with cans for 100 litres of fuel and on their return waited patiently while Jeremy siphoned the diesel into the tank. Finally, this fine French chap took Jeremy back to the garage in order that our spare containers would be full. It just goes to show that you cannot judge a book by its cover.
The lighthouse at Cap de Hague
The rest of the day and night continued calm. Jeremy accused me of being smelly at 0300. This was not the case and he soon discovered that the batteries were boiling. We deployed Hydrovane, our trusty wind pilot, hoisted full sails and sailed slowly through the night and most of the next day. While testing the batteries to find out if we could start the engine, Jeremy forgot the helm was lashed and put on Neco, our electronic pilot. Overheating against the strain, Neco switched itself off and would not switch on again. We were reminded of how quickly things can go wrong on a boat. We still had sails, steering and just enough wind to make headway.
Amazing fountain in Bordeaux
The next weather forecast warned us of a 3 metre Atlantic swell heading our way. We’d decided to make for Royen at the mouth of the Gironde, just down river from Bordeaux, but the swell would make the entry dangerous. La Rochelle was nearer and protected by an offshore island, so we headed for the largest marina in Europe. Surely they would have room for us on one of their 3000 berths. Jeremy discovered that one battery was OK. The other two would need to be replaced but could take a charge so we were able to motor into the harbour and berth on the visitors’ pontoon in Port de Minimes.

Stunning stonework in Bordeaux
Two days later we were on the train to Bordeaux, having arranged for Sal Darago to stay in La Rochelle for 6 weeks. Ryanair’s flight to London Stansted was on time but the National Express bus to Ipswich was delayed, meaning an hour’s wait for us on the station platform for the next train to Wickham Market and a 5 minute walk home.

We were back in time for Sophie’s operation on 12th August.

Sunday 21 August 2016

Good News and Sad News



Closed flood gates at Westminster Underground

On 23rd June Jeremy and I caught the train to London to attend an evening Reception on the terrace of the Houses of Parliament, to celebrate 175 years since the foundation of Hild/Bede College, Durham University. It was probably the wettest day of the year and many trains to London were cancelled. Ours terminated at Shenfield in Essex. Serious flooding on the line put out signals and we had a stop-start journey to Liverpool Street on a different train. We were worried about the tube but we made it to Westminster Underground Station. The Lord provided a large umbrella, which we put to good use, once the rain water stopped pouring down the exit steps like a waterfall. Arriving at the Houses of Parliament, we passed through airport like security and had 10 minutes to wolf down coffee and cake before the cafe closed. 


Overlooked by Big Ben

Kathy and Jeremy in the Palace of Westminster



On the way to the Terrace, we were enthralled by the building and its long history as we wandered in the corridors of power catching glimpses of the chambers for the Lords and the Commons. Massive tapestries adorned the walls and larger than life paintings covered the ceilings celebrating the union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.


Kathy and Jeremy on the Terrace
We enjoyed the evening chatting to old friends from our Durham days, sipping wine and nibbling canapés. The journey home was worse than the outward trip with many underground and over ground trains cancelled. After a two hour wait at Shenfield, a train arrived after midnight and took us slowly to Ipswich stopping at every station along the way. We arrived home by taxi at 2.30am. My feet were killing me being unused to wearing high heels for so long.
Walking the Aros Path, Tobermory, Mull
Rainbow over Ledaig, Mull
A few days later we were off to Mull again for about 10 days. This time it rained almost every day. We assembled single beds, worked on the garden and had days out walking. My abused feet objected strongly and large blisters formed on the soles of them.
One new bed in place
On our return, we stopped the night at my friend Pat’s house in Lancashire. Here we received the sad news that our sailing friend, Liz Harcombe, had died and the funeral was to be held in the Lake District later that week.

The cottage in Mull
We had one night at home, booked two nights at different Travelodges and set off north again. On the day of the funeral we woke to absolute chaos on the M6 in Staffordshire. A whole section of the motorway was closed and the surrounding main roads were gridlocked. Jeremy navigated a way through country lanes, partly by map and partly by guesswork until we could join the M6 further north. We made it to the funeral, which celebrated Liz’s life including the time she’s spent with husband, Graham, aboard their ocean going yacht, Ellida. (Sal Darago and Ellida were buddy boats for 3 months on the Sail Indonesia Rally in July/August 2011 and feature in earlier posts on this blog.)

Kathy, Graham, our guide, Juli, Liz and Jeremy

Jeremy, Graham and Liz

Graham, Kathy and Liz in Bali rice fields

Jeremy, Kathy, Liz and Graham with a Komodo dragon
On the way home we popped in to see Aunty Joyce in her new nursing home unit in Brigg. It was good to see her surrounded by her own furniture, enjoying excellent care and chatting about her friends and family.