By the morning of the 29th, we have land in sight! The North-Eastern wind is cold on our faces, making our noses run as we look at the faint line that marks the coastline of France. The sun is rising slowly, casting a nice glow over our hazy surroundings. We’re still motoring and the wind has picked up a bit but the weather has cleared and this far north at least the days are a lot longer! For as far as we can look at the weather forecast the wind is either gone or against us and we decide to keep motoring to Cherbourg to fill up our diesel tanks ( slightly painful with these prices ugh) and spend a night on the dock to wait for the wind to drop completely, which seems the best case scenario at the moment 🙂 We’re motoring past the channel islands in the middle of the night, causing the usual confusion with the time change that automatically happens on everyone’s phone. So people either come too late for watch or are confused why they are woken so early haha. We’re lucky to have the tide at the perfect timing, flying through the passage in between the islands and around the headland at 10 knots. We enter Cherbourg in the morning, it’s cloudy, windy, and sneering cold but everyone is excited to see yet another country. Victoria and Kiley, who made a promise to each other to swim in each country were slightly less excited – but they kept their word and jumped in the 11 degrees cold water. We all enjoyed a nice long hot shower, some yummy French pastries, and a little rest before the last stretch to the Netherlands on which we will embark tomorrow morning.
Laura