The night at anchor was quite bouncy, but we've had a lot worse so it didn't stop us sleeping. Up at 6am to a gorgeous view of sunrise lit Dover and a spark of a thought in the back of my mind that perhaps Dover wasn't so bad after all. The boarded up pubs, shops and multi-storey carparks. The bombs (see previous post). The litter. The lack of architectural allure. The constant heavy truck traffic. The policy of 'Dover Pride' plastered on billboards all around the town. The policy of charging people a huge hourly rate to park in an empty carpark and use the empty beach they're trying to attract people to in order to fuel the 'Pride' and regeneration of the place..... All forgotten after trips to the castle, the "secret wartime tunnels" in the white cliffs, the "Grand Shaft" (officially closed but where there's a will hehe) and the ruined Fort Redoubt - the latter giving us a day feeling like an away party of The Famous Five.
At 07:30 with some effort I weighed anchor (it was _really_ heavy this morning) and called the port control. I wanted to leave by the same harbour exit as the ferries use - partly because it offered the shortest route, but mainly because I wanted to say I'd done it. Port control advised we should head to the south breakwater and proceed to the knuckle light, then call them again. This was all understood, but gave concern as before my call we'd heard them advise P&O ferry "Port of Calais" to "enter at the east and hold at the knuckle light". 5 minutes later Port of Calais was bearing down on us and its captain querying the port as to what we were doing.
We hovered close to the breakwater by the light awaiting instructions with P of C's bow looming over us. Moments later another P&O ferry slipped its lines and started to "leave by the east" and we were instructed to follow it out.
At 07:54 we left "by the east".
At 15:55 we dropped anchor in the river Swale.
At 17:20 we landed in the dinghy on the Isle of Sheppey, and Lunar disappeared.
At 17:30 I was informed that the many farmers on the Isle of Sheppey "don't mess about when it comes to shooting dogs near their livestock."
At 19:10 I'd about given up hope of ever seeing Lunar again, and was feeling pretty despondent.
At 19:20 Lunar was delivered to Rose, outside a busy pub, to a cheer, by a small boy who'd found her near to where we'd landed in the first place. She was covered in very thick mud up to about halfway up her flank, was shaking a little and (sorry) was squirting water out of her bum every 30 seconds or so. Best guess is that she got herself stuck in mud which was under seawater and swallowed quite a lot before managing to drag herself out; we'll never know.
Here's some stats:
Motored: 36 hours 30 mins
Sailed: 57 hours 5 mins
Anchored: 25 nights
Marina: 20 nights
Other: 40 nights
Berth Fees: £738 (therefore average night = £738 / (25 + 20 + 40) = £8.68 which is less than the ~£10 per night for a permanent marina berth)
Logged: 406.7 nautical miles
BBQs: 15
Fish: 5 caught
Here's some photos:
Dover looking nice, with Henry IIs castle on the hill, beneath which are the "secret" tunnels.
Ferry "Port of Calais" approaching the same holding place as us
"Port of Calais" wondering what our intentions are
Following another P&O ferry out of the east harbour mouth
