Sep. 16, 2007 - Not A Wild Goose Chase!

It had been our intention to spend two nights in the Grevelingenmeer and then go down to Goes for Friday night, returning to our marina on Saturday morning. Given that we had to leave for the ferry Saturday afternoon, we decided it might all be a bit of a rush, so headed down to Goes on Thursday. As it was a fairly long trip we got under way first thing and had breakfast on the hoof. Again there was little or no wind so we motor sailed some of the way and straight motored the rest. We even had some company for part of the journey!

We finally arrived at Goes at 15.50 and got a berth right in the inner harbour.

After going to the supermarket to get some more supplies, we settled down on the boat for our usual evening of over indulgence!

Friday morning we were awoken by a lot of noise and found that a floating stage was being set up in the harbour. After wandering around the shops to sort out our Rabo Bank Account and to register our account for the Digitenne Digital TV, we found out that there was a live music festival being staged at the weekend. Later on as we left Goes, there was a continuous stream of boats heading in and it became clear that our earlier stopover was a smart move. Had we gone into Goes on Friday night as planned, it would have been packed out.

After some sightseeing including some of Goes more famous inhabitants -

We departed for our home marina. Once back in the Osterschelde, we sailed for a while under genoa only, but as we were trying to beat into 20 knots plus of wind we gave up and motored home. By the time we got back the wind was howling and Kim and Trevor got soaked cleaning the boat down.

In the evening we went into the village and had a superb meal at the Overstag Restaurant. It is to be thoroughly recommended.

Saturday morning, after we had cleaned the inside of the boat and packed away, we drove up to the Brouwersdam to show Julie and Trevor the massive storm barrier the Dutch have built and to have a walk.

After  a quick  traditional Dutch lunch of chips and mayonaise, we headed off for Calais.

We all had a brilliant week. The weather was pretty good in as much as we didn't really have much rain and we had a few days of really good sailing. On the days when there was no wind it was quite hot - shorts & T-shirts. We all ate far too much and drank too much. Wendy and Kim pushed the boundaries a bit further by getting up into the Grevelingenmeer and racking up more experience with locks and bridges.

Our total distance covered was 72 miles, which was not bad since we did a bit of sight seeing as well.

So, roll on next time.