51:19.69N 01:25.24E Two big milestones but first an admission – we ran aground yesterday.  Actually, that sounds more dramatic than it was, we had just exited the marina lock at low tide and were making our way down a channel that was shown as dredged to 2 metres (we draw 1.1m) and we just stopped, no bump and no noise so it must have been estuary mud.  When I radioed the lockkeeper he cheerfully told us that it shouldn’t be too long, and so it proved but one does feel rather silly sitting waiting for the water to rise!  Not the most auspicious start for a Thames crossing because the chart is littered with sandbanks and shallow areas!

We couldn’t have asked for a better day to cross, sunshine, calm sea and clear visibility.  It’s so interesting because you’re passing over a huge area of water and you imagine you have all the room in the world, but it is very deceptive.  Even a small boat like ours has to pick a careful path – it’s also an area for big ships making their way down the deep channels and we twice had to change course to let a monster continue on its way.  Good sail at one point before having to admit the wind was too much on the nose for us to keep to our route.  Still, our course into Ramsgate took us towards North Foreland as the light was fading so it gave me the chance to put some day skipper theory into practice and identify the lighthouse by the flashes (5 white flashes in a 20 sec sequence if you’re interested!).

So, back to milestones – another shipping area bites the dust, we’ve just sailed right through the Gibraltar Point to North Foreland area, the next area will be North Foreland to Selsey Bill.  We’ve also finished another folio of charts so it’s all change for the next step.  The other milestone is that we’ve passed the most easterly point of Great Britain – Lowestoft Ness; one down, the next one will be the most southerly point which is Lizard Point in Cornwall.

I’ve realised that although I name the photos before posting them this doesn’t appear on the blog.  So I will add a little detail in the text where appropriate.  This is the view from the boat in Harwich as we wait for the tide to rise!