We reached a decision last night to head off towards St Valery en Caux in the morning, which we did, leaving at 08h00.... to be faced by broad reaching conditions of 13kts.... fabulous.... for the first time this holiday, the engine was off and we sailed... making a perfect 6kts.

True to form it couldn't last, as we'd had to set off into the tide in order to make the tidal constrained St Valery en Caux entrance at the appropriate time, and we rounded the first headland, headed up onto the wind a bit more, lost the speed advantage of a broad reach, with 2kts of tide against us, and had to restart the engine... our ground speed was down to under 2kts, so we'd have missed the entrance otherwise.... nevertheless, we still kept the main up, and plugged on...

We watched a French customs vessel in the distance slowly gaining on us, and prayed that we weren't his 'victim' for the day.... and sighed with relief when just 5nm off St Valery, he decided to pick on another vessel, and launched his rib towards them.

For an hour it chucked down with rain, and we endured rather than enjoyed, but as we entered St Valery, we were delighted to see, yet again, a pretty French town awaiting exploration.... lovely.

The entrance was straightforward enough with a holding buoy while we wiated for the bridge to lift, which it duly did on the half hour, and we were through... very good shelter and right outside the ancient house of Henry IV, which makes a lovely backdrop for pictures!