Day 11 - ... what a difference a day makes .. la.la

First things first... engineer arrived to assess the steering damage and the source of the hydraulic fluid spillage. Not very conclusive... unable to assertain whether a new leak or the original leak some years ago that had been moved (disturbed) by the bouncing and banging of yesterday.


Quite sad to leave Grimsby... lovely little marina (funded and managed by the club members) and helpful harbour authority. Fueled just after 9-00am and headed straight for the lock and were 'penned' immediately out to the Humber Estuary. The lock was just big enough - as the gates closed the tender was touching the back gates and the bow had just a foot or so clearance of the front gates.

Would you 'adam and eve' it...... clear blue skies, an Inshore Water's Forecast that was accurate and slight sea conditions, yippee! We back-tracked along yesterday's inward route and two hours later we passed the place where we had turned around the previous day (what a lot of wasted time & fuel) Onward we motored at a steady 16 knots and enjoyed the flat seas and warm sunshine.

'Lazy Boy' ( a 40 foot mono-hulled cruiser) had departed the marina some hours before us but we passed them en-route, giving us a much needed lift after our abortive passage yesterday. The Norfolk coastline appeared to our right - flat but framed with beautiful golden sands. Wind farms appeared on the horizon like alien beings from an H.G.Wells novel. We could smell the land and our destination was in view - Lowestoft.

We radioed for permission to enter the harbour and were greeted with an East Anglian twang which reminded us how far South we now were.... more than half-way round the UK and at long last the weather is getting warmer !

Had time for a quick shower and a couple of swift pints before Dave Woods (Wavey Davey) arrived with his new girl to take us to dinner. A curry in the Red Rose Bangladeshy, where wierdly I bumped into a schoolfriend I had not seen since we were 12 - Lisa Dumbleton. I hope Lisa and her friend will visit the blog and perhaps even send a little sponsorship for our cause...

Relatively early night as Colin (Farklin.... wot?) has a cold, the blog needs to be posted and most importantly the skipper needs his 'scratcher'.

Night, night ... Dickie and Farklin xxx