Page 20 - Yachter Autumn 2021

20 CRUISING REPORTS
stay another couple of nights and booked
a visit to Tatihou, via the amphibious bus. The maritime museum had been updated since our previous visit, due to necessity as they had had a fire.The tower of theVauban fort was closed, but the German WW2 fortifications were now more incorporated into the history, with well-marked trails and interpretation boards.
After a glorious flaming evening sky,
we left StVaast for Grandcamp-Maisy the next day, with temperatures of 20 degrees at sea being significantly more comfortable than the 30 degrees on land. The weather eventually broke, with evening thunder storms and heavy rain.
We were closely watching the French
COVID statistics, which continued to rise, although cases in the Manche department remained relatively low.Anticipating that UK politicians would eventually react to these numbers, we opted to return to St Vaast, ready for a quick dash back across
the Channel, rather than continuing our explorations in the Baie de Seine. Sure enough,thatThursday evening in StVaast, we heard that we needed to be back in the UK by 04:00 Saturday to avoid quarantine. We duly cancelled Steve’s birthday dinner at the Tomahawk and rebooked to Gins instead, as well as a berth at Hornet Services Sailing Club for the Friday evening.
We sailed at first light, along with two other British yachts.We had a brief sail,
before the wind dropped and the forecast fog closed in.The shipping lanes were fairly busy, but AIS (transmit and receive) and a decent radar made this less stressful.
Approaching the UK, visibility improved a bit and the Isle of Wight loomed out
of the murk and we made an entrance to the Eastern Solent, unusually for us. Plans of arriving in Gosport before sunset were challenged by several successive large ships which delayed our crossing from the Island side to Portsmouth Harbour, but eventually a gap opened up and we were secured
in Gosport about seven hrs before the quarantine deadline.
Steve and Cathy Lacey