Chapter 1 - Beaulieu to Norderney

The Story so Far.

Well finally managed to get away from Feltham on 2^nd June. A couple of days late but not too bad as there are always more last minute chores than you imagine. Having locked the house up twice we still managed to leave a bread roll in the microwave which should by now have been moved by Frankie’s helpful neighbour who is keeping an eye on the place while we are gone.

Having transferred to the boat I then had to settle up with the harbour master & make arrangements for him to store my tender for the next few weeks. That done we set off for Brighton & arrived late afternoon following a non eventful trip mainly under engine as the wind was dead on the nose. Brighton Marina was ok so we filled up with fuel & water and had a meal ashore as both quite worn out.

Next day took the tide to Dover. Again used engine all day as wind dead against. Arrived & went into the inner harbour which was quiet. The town is not very exciting but we managed to get a computer adapter & bit for the camera so all was well. Because this was a layover day, due to tides, we wondered around the town & then took a long walk up to the Castle. It is well worth a visit; it has an underground barracks & Control Centre used during WW2 which was interesting. Much exhausted (me anyway) we went back & dropped in on the Royal Cinque Ports YC. The steward was very affable & gave me a novel to read which has proved to be a good story called “Order in Chaos”.

Next day off to Oostende. Crossed the Channel in v. poor visibility, radar on & AIS. Saw plenty of echoes but only the odd shadowy ship in the distance, then up the coast keeping out of the shipping lanes. Again all under engine & not a very memorable day.

The Marina in Oostende was fine & we found space quite easily. Next day we did food shopping and had a walk around the town. It is not bad, a bit like an up market Cherbourg. Plenty of bars, restaurants, patisserie etc. Picked up ½ kilo of prawns some salad & bread & went back to the boat for tea. Excellent!

Oostende to Scheveningen (unpronounceable in English )was another slog without sail. The town has no interest & the marina was packed with rafted boats. We had a short walk but found no interest or even a bar. So back to the boat & ready for the next.

Next was Oudeschild the first of the Friesan Islands. More motoring and we arrived in the evening & found some space. They have some unusual systems & a funny fob which gets you everything from a shower to power for the boat, water, etc. Unfortunately you have to buy a fob & the office is closed for all but 4 hours a day. We did cope! Next day was rain strong wind & horrible weather so we stayed & did some food shopping to replenish supplies & got soaked in the process.   Then did the washing, so it was a day for chores and not much else. The next day was better, sun! so we stayed went to the town of Den Burg & had an enjoyable morning wondering about having a Vietnamese roll for lunch, ice cream, coffee and being a general tourist doing window shopping. 

"Den Burg" lunchtime - Vietnamese Spring Rolls with sweet chilli sauce

We also met an English artist on the bus (Martin) who was very talkative& his girlfriend & told us lots of stuff. Apparently he paints seabirds & nudes, which seems a strange combination  but it takes all sorts. We then went by bus all round the Island to Den Koog, another walk & finally back in the evening to eat on board. The Island was very picturesque & a holiday resort for Dutch & Germans. 

Den Burg, Texel

The boat next to us had a (large) German couple but were very friendly & helped us with the odd systems, washing machines etc. They had 2 dogs on board one a Hovawort which I correctly identified, was quite proud of myself! It was also suggested that we should move on via the inshore route. This is not recommended in the Pilot books but we were told that it was well buoyed & shouldn’t be a problem so we did. It got a bit interesting at one point when the depth got down to ½ metre under the keel but all was well & we were safely through. There were a huge amount of boats out, many old Thames barge type as well as a lot of yachts heading for Harlingen. 

Traditional Dutch botte - Waddenzee

We were also told that they had some sort of pop festival on one of the Islands so it was BUSY. Got boarded by Douane in their big rib who wanted passport & ships number. A bit daunting at first but “Jan” was very friendly & put us at our ease, I think we should have offered them a coffee, next time perhaps, They just chatted  talked about sailing sat around for a bit & then went to find someone else!!

We went to Vlieland. A new Marina with lots of space and nice big pontoons. Because of our early start, delayed by some other Germans at the fuel berth! we arrived early p.m. Had a chat to the Harbourmaster & then decided to hire a bike to tour part of the Island. We took a tandem as I had never ridden one before, bit of a rip off at 20E but worth the experience. There is a definite technique & we found it easiest for me to start pedalling & for Frankie to join in once we had started. It was a bit embarrassing when early on we stopped in the town & couldn’t get going again, much to the amusement of the locals, but by the end of the day we had our system cracked & it worked fine. Not sure I will be able to persuade her to have a tandem next time as she complained she couldn’t see anything back there & her handle bars didn’t work. We had a tour of one of the Island tracks, very peaceful amongst the sand dunes but it rained & we stopped under a tree – still got wet getting back! As we had the tandem for more time we went back to the boat, dried out & then off to the town for a meal out. We even rode back without falling off.

From Vlieland we sailed to Borkum. Another Friesan Island (German not Dutch this time). Actually managed to sail most of the way which was a first. The Marina is in part of the Port & not very inspiring, the town is a long way away so we stayed put. The HM was very friendly & took our order for Bread the next morning but the place had nothing to offer and was just a staging point. We didn’t even try to explore. The main highlight was a seal lying on the sandbank as we came in so you see what I mean.

From Borkum another good sailing day to Norderney the next Friesan Island. Coming in was very exciting as with a strong onshore breeze we had to follow a channel through breaking waves to get round the corner & into the harbour. 

Surfing into Nordeney

It definitely got the old adrenalin going a bit so we arrived on a high to find everything closed but the bar. Shame! Had a curry from the iron rations & collapsed. Layover next day (today) as we have to replenish the food store. Got sore feet carting everything back from town but had a good ice cream and a tourist day in the town. Norderney is a holiday resort so very relaxed & pleasant. Not sure about the breaking waves though & we have to navigate through them again to get out.

Tomorrow off to Cuxhaven so the next chapter to follow soon. 
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