Honfleur

How deceiving can a photograph be.

Not in as much as this shows the pretty fishing village of Honfleur, as this is just what it is, but it cannot possibly tell the story of how we arrived there.

We set sail from the Hamble at about 1130 on Thursday and, after a breifing on what's what around the ship and a few manoeuvres in the solent, set our sights on France.
Watches were arranged and my watch were to cover till 2000, sleep (I am joking) till midnight and then start all over again.

Sometime between 2000 and midnight the world changed. By that time, four of the party were being seriously ill, one had slipped setting sails and torn the ligaments in his knee and we were battling through a force 7!

The joy of covering the night watch, and all that included on a dark and stormy night in one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes was not extreme to say the least. This was my first experience of sailing amd may well be the last.

We are all different - I have said that once before this week - but why some people choose to cross stretches of water under sail when someone some years ago invented the steam and diesel engine is beyond me.

Four o'clock came and went and with little prosect of any sleep, I crawled back into my bunk to at least give it a try. Anchored off the coast a little while later for breakfast and then into Honfleur for a lazy day after tidying away the debris on board.

To be continued!