We've made it to Belgium! OK, so that's not very far (only 18 miles from our last port of call, truth be told) but it's still another country.
We've managed to maintain our record of sailing everywhere and only using the engine to enter and leave port but it came a bit close when, in 1.8 knots of wind our speed dropped to 0.8 knots. Still, as I pointed out to Jo, we had over a knot of tide in our favour!
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| Jo steering with danbuoy exiting head |
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| Old man of the sea - complete with green buoy exiting head. |
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| Entrance to Nieuwpoort |
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| Where did that come from? Run!! |
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| The view from our berth |
Nieuwpoort has a long boardwalk and a massive sandy beach. It also gave us our first glimpse, on this trip in any case, of the traditional Flemish style building façades.
Perhaps the most impressive thing here is the average person's command of languages. The harbourmaster, chandler, post office clerk and checkout girl all spoke English without difficulty. When asked about it, the person in the marina office said simply that they have to as nobody else speaks Flemish! (She also spoke French and German.....). Makes you feel ashamed!
2 comments:
Just catching upon your progress. We met a dutch fireman who kept his yacht in Nieuwpoort. He said it was a great marina and that alcohol was very reasonably priced. He also spoke perfect English and said 'who doesn't'
Great to hear you are enjoying your trip to date even if the winds have not been kind. Graham
Thanks Graham.
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