Wednesday 9 April
Despite going to the Marina office about five times to pay there was never anyone there, so at 06:15 we slipped away after a free night's mooring. The morning was glorious - calm sea andthe sun just rising. We still did not have a working electronic compass, so had carefully plotted the course on paper the night before. Our paper course plot and passage plan were very helpful, as we had all the VHF channel numbers and other information to hand.The crossing was extremely smooth. The forecast was for winds 2-3 and good visibility and this was correct. We checked our position every 15 minutes on GPS and found that we kept very closely to the predicted course. We saw little shipping on the way, but kept one large ship in sight for a long way before being sure that it was going to pass behind us. we could see land the whole way. The tide was a little stronger than predicted near Calais and we had to steer a more easterly course than planned to keep above the harbour. The entry lights were red when we arrived so we drifted around just above the harbour entrance for a few minutes until the radio suddenly said "Calais control to small barge waiting outside the harbour". We responded and were asked to enter quickly, before the next large ferry arrived. We had to tie to a buoy for an hour before the bridge opened to let us through to the marina. Once through we were immediately directed to a mooring. The sun was still out and we explored the town and found a good restaurant for dinner, but not before downing a bottle of Champagne to celebrate.
Thursday 10 April
Another beautiful day. After breakfast we walked to the ferry terminal with the Bickfords and said goodbye as they left on the 11:00 Seafrance, very speedy, boat trip back to England. We found the waterways office where we were to purchase our licence, but it was closed until 21 April, so just hope no-one challenges us until we can get to another office. At 13:45 we filled up with diesel and left the marina on the 14:15 bridge opening. Neither Reed’s nor any of the signs in the marina indicated what should be done to enter the ship lock, so, in blissful ignorance, we went straight in. We thought that this was the entry to the canal system, but it was still part of Calais Port Control. After someone waived his arms and called at us to switch to VHF channel 17 we spoke to Port Control and were asked to move swiftly out of the lock. Moored next to a tug, we bounced around for half an hour until a monster ship, the Arco Beck, emerged from the lock that we had been occupying. Told to go through quickly after the Arco Beck, we obeyed our instructions and waited patiently at the next lock for about 45 minutes until the lock keeper arrived and finally let us through into the canal system.
Again I tried channel 22 (as instructed on the papers given to us by the lock keeper) with no response. A telephone call produced an immediate response and a VNF employee turned up within 10 minutes. He drove ahead and opened all the swing bridges as we approached.
During the approach to one bridge a loud warning sound came from the instruments, and we noticed the engine temperature at 100 degrees. We shut off the engine and coasted through the bridge, steering on bow thruster, and watching the motorists getting a little impatient at our slow progress. As we passed through the bridge we tried the engine again and the problem cleared, so we carried on for an hour or so until we reached another lift bridge that was closed for the night.