Back on the Swale

We had a marvellous time at the OGA60 Jubilee party, and the East Coast summer cruise is continuing down to Chatham over the next few days. Its clear the OGA is in robust good health on the East Coast. However after more than 3 months away D and I thought it time to go home to catch up with the real world. So we left Levington at around 6.30am.

We had a westerly wind about force 4. In the Wallet, off Clacton we passed Geoff and Jane in Calismarde. They are having a few days holiday in the Essex and Suffolk rivers.

This is Geoffs picture of Bonita homeward bound.

And this is Calismarde heading out on holiday.

We made good progress and arrived at our mooring on the Swale at about 4.20, high water. Our mooring buoy was covered with weed after being unused in the water for so long.

And so ends Bonitas second circumnavigation of the UK. We have had our share of difficult weather, but we very much enjoyed going round with the Old Gaffers, got to know some very remarkable sailors and visited many places we might otherwise never have seen.

The boat has stood up to the wear and tear fairly well. There are a couple of new(ish) deck leaks revealed by the torrential rain, and a full list of jobs to be done in the winter. It's easy to feel a bit of a sense of anticlimax finishing a cruise such as this, and often one of the better days of a sailing holiday is the day you go back home to a bath and a warm dry bed. However we have plenty to do both ashore and afloat, and next year to plan for.