The Journey Home

 We left Odden on 11^th July. Our destination was Kerteminde Yacht Haven on Fyn on the west side of Store Sound. We decided to anchor off the island of Romso as the wind had died away to nothing. We tried both anchorages to the north and south of the old lighthouse and dragged. At our third attempt north of the lighthouse the anchor held, but there was an alarming smell of hot oil coming from the engine. When Jeremy checked the oil filler cap wasn’t there. Fortunately, it was nearby and must not have been put on properly the day before. Anyway, no harm was done and there was no oil over the engine or in the bilges.

Peaceful scene on the Gieselau Kanal

We left Romso at 5.00am the next day and motorsailed through the Wester side of the Store Bridge. The 18m clearance didn’t look high enough for the mast, even though we knew it was. The wind increased and was directly “on the nose”, only freeing up a little as we approached Langeland. We spent the night at Spodsbjerg Harbour, where friendly neighbours helped us with our shore lines. Jeremy went on board a Dutch yacht, Verandi, and was given a guide to the Staandmaast Roote from the River Ems to Amsterdam and beyond. Although we had not yet decided, this inland waterways route was to be a significant part of our journey home.

180 degree turn into the ferry dock

We left Spodsbjerg at 5.00am and had a good motorsail with full sails very close hauled all the way to Kieler Fjord. We had to wait an hour to lock into the Kiel Kanal at Holtenau at lunchtime. We had crossed the border into Germany on the way. Once in the canal, we motored 60km to the Gieselau Kanal, where we spent the night. We considered continuing along the Gieselau Kanal to avoid the River Elbe estuary, but it looked like a long, torturous route that might be less than 2m in places. Our draught is 1.5m.

River Ems side of Delfzil

We had a lie in the next day, leaving at 7.30am and motoring to the end of the canal at Brunsbuttel. We were wearing shorts by the time we arrived four hours later and joined the flotilla of yachts waiting for the lunchtime lock to catch the tide to Cuxhaven on the River Elbe. Here we bought diesel and spent the night in the American Haven. For one euro a metre, we had a secure pontoon berth, the loan of bikes and a key to the clubhouse where we used the hot shower and the honesty bar. We helped ourselves to beer at one euro a bottle and put the money in a tin.

In the sea lock at Delfzil

We left Cuxhaven at 3.00am in order to take the tide out of the estuary with light winds of force 2-3 forecast. We kept outside the busy shipping channel. The wind increased to 24 knots and rough seas were kicked up for a while. Sal Darago bounced like a kangaroo and log speeds were down to 2 knots or less at the strongest part of the ebb. Conditions improved with the dawn and once we were out of the Elbe the dark clouds were replaced by sunshine and we changed into shorts. We crossed the entrance channels for the Rivers Weser and Jade and as we approached the safe water buoy for the entrance to the island of Nordeney, we had to decide whether to go to the harbour or keep going to Vlieland in The Netherlands. Gales were on the way and I was tired. We turned into the Dovetief Channel and followed a large sailling barge to Nordeney Yacht Haven. Nordeney was a holiday island, full of hotels, tourists and naturally - bicycles. We ate out at the marina.

Lifting bridge

After checking with the harbourmaster, we left Nordeney the next day at 8.30am on a rising tide. We followed the inshore route to the River Ems. We almost took a wrong channel and slid across a sandbank to the right one. Here we followed a ferry, and behind us was a huge coaster-type ship, so there must be enough depth of water, we reasoned. Wrong! Both vessels went aground and so did we. Afloat again, we moved closer to the channel marker buoys, which soon became withies (thin tree branches with top twigs going up) that marked the northern part of the shifting channel. We had about 10cm of water under our keel for quite a while; finally breathing sighs of relief when we reached the deeper Oesterems Channel. We had a few more sandbanks to navigate before we reached the river, where we turned south and followed the edge of the ship channel to Delfzil. On our port side we could see Germany and on our starboard side we could see The Netherlands.

Home time

We entered the Staand Maast Roote and motored to Groningen Yacht Harbour for the night. There were no canal fees to pay and the locks and bridges were all controlled by traffic lights. The privately run yacht harbour charged 18 euros per night. It was very interesting the following day to motor through the city, where lock keepers lifted the many bridges for us.

Passing through Groningen

The gale that we were avoiding hit us as we were crossing the Zuiderzee South, perhaps the widest and most exposed part of the whole inland waterways route. Gusts of 30 knots whipped up the water and spray came over soaking me. I almost lost my way in the poor visibility brought by the heavy rain and was very pleased to turn into the channel that led to the next stretch of canal. A Danish yacht had gone aground on a sandbank. We turned around and towed them off, not an easy task in the strong winds. Soon after, it was our turn to be in trouble. Jeremy noticed the bow line was missing. It was over the side and stuck firmly around something. We made our way to a jetty and tied up. Jeremy put on his snorkelling gear and went over the side. He was able to release the line, which wasn’t quite long enough to stop the propeller turning. Had it been, we would’ve been blown aground before we could raise a sail or drop an anchor. Jeremy narrowly avoided crushing his ankle as he tried to push Sal Darago off the jetty and was lucky to escape with a swollen ankle and bruising.

Leafy Groningen

Thanks to our son, Simon, who was able to send an email for us, we found out we were only 8 miles from Mike and Suzie on Nostromo (Antigua and then Skeets Boatyard, Melton). We changed course, anchored near them and spent 4 happy hours enjoying sundowners and chatting. We returned the invaluable cruising guide to Germany and Denmark, which we had borrowed at the start of our adventure.

Windmills and canals

Being so close, we had to go to Amsterdam. We went to a yacht haven in Aeolus just across the river from Central Station. A free ferry took us across to the city, where we wandered through the red light district looking for a particular canal trip operator (Oh, is that what we were looking for {J}). Soon we were slowly motoring through Amsterdam on a converted lifeboat, sipping beer or G&T’s and enjoying the humour of our friendly guide and skipper. After lunch in a Chinese restaurant, we walked along one of the canals, visiting the floating flower market on the way.

A wrong turn had us touching the bottom in Wergen

We checked the weather when we returned to SD. Gales were expected in a few days. We wanted to be back in the UK before the weather changed, so we left  the following morning along the wide and deep Nordzee Kanal to Ijmuiden. We passed through the sea lock and motorsailed close hauled to Scheveningen, where we spent the night. Having stocked up with food, had lunch and made sandwiches, we left the next day for a 24 hour crossing of the North Sea. The NW gale 8 expected later was upgraded to a severe gale 9 and by the time we reached the River Deben in Suffolk, storm force 10 was expected soon. We had a quiet motorsail to the Suffolk coast, switching off the engine to drift with the tide until we could enter the Deben.

The storm rattled the rigging that night and woke us up, but we were on the mooring several miles inshore and very happy not to be out at sea. Emily, Ben and Ellie came for us the following day and took us to our house. Another adventure had come to an end and it was good to be reunited with our family.