I prepped the boat/stowed away most things before bed but we still woke up with a sense of urgency – at 03h15am. We needed to be in the lock by 04h00am. I mean, this wasn’t the only time the lock was was working that day, 04h00am was not the only slot available. We could have gone in at 04h30am– but anyway, we made it, along with a HUGE, smelly fishing boat. Nice for us on an empty stomach.
It had been a while since we had left any mooring in what felt like the middle of the night and it felt quite surreal, there didn’t seem to be anyone around. At a little after 05:00am you could start to see pink sky and we were heading into the sunrise – so lovely. The sea was absolutely calm and flat and no wind – such a pleasure. As the sun rose, it got warmer and was a perfect summer day. We also made good time as Patrick planned the tides right. We had planned to stop at Dover, but the conditions were so good that we agreed to go onto Ramsgate. We had the time and the tide and the only time we really had to pay attention to what was going on was at Dover. It is such a busy harbour and also with the Dover-Calais (UK-France) Crossing, we had to be conscious of all the large ships coming and going. I settled down into the sunshine to spend the next few hours onto Ramsgate, relaxing and dozing and loving life. That was until Patrick disturbed my peace with a request to come and take the helm, the steering didn’t feel right. It felt a little tight and he wanted to check the steering gear, that nothing had got caught in the gear. I mean, we were right in the MIDDLE of the crossing – seemed perfect time for something to go wrong. There were two areas he needed to check – the steering gear in the galley; in a cupboard, behind a cupboard, behind a fixed bin! And the chain in another cupboard in the forepeak, above a cupboard. As neither I, nor the autopilot wanted to be held responsible for a cruise/cargo-ship incident, I suggested I dismantle the cupboards in the galley and then take the helm so he could check. Our galley has been designed and fitted for this exact kind of need – to quickly check steering gear or bilges. So it really was just two screws to release hinges of the bin cupboard and then 4 screws to remove the front of the other cupboard. Patrick was down on his knees, head in steering gear, within seconds. The other cupboard just meant opening the door. He found nothing stuck or trapped. He thought it might be that everything just needed a good greasing !. The rest of the trip was uneventful. I went back to dozing in the sunshine, and missed the dolphins. We made good time and into Ramsgate with no problem. We tied up and set off to explore what turned out to be a really pretty town. We visited the Royal Temple Yacht Club for a beer and after a wander around stopped at the Mariners Pub and had a pizza for dinner. Once back on the boat, we (again) checked Navionics and planned tomorrow. We will be leaving early again (05:00am) and will finally be entering the Thames Estuary. We plan to stay over at Queensborough once we are in the Thames and then plan the next few stops.
