Dover

Allan and I woke to find that the wind had subsided in the night to a more civilised force 4 SW, so we decided to leave further exploration of the pleasures of Newhaven to another day and left the harbour early.  The harbour dredger was already out in the entrance channel dredging  - perhaps it had been working all night - but we managed to slip out past it.  We had the sort of day's sailing that everyone enjoys : sun, fair wind, all sails set, self steering gear doing all the work and the boat making steady progress in the right direction. 

Beachy Head

The picture shows the cliffs at Beachy Head.  The lighthouse at the base of the cliffs used to be one of the most distinctive on the coast.  The first lighthouse was on top of the cliffs, but it was so often obscured by fog that a new one was built at ground level.  A high powered rotating beam from this lighthouse could be seen traversing the white cliffs behind it and was instantly recognisable from many miles out at sea.  

Sadly this has now been replaced by a much lower powered LED light that flashes rather than rotates. It no longer lights up the cliffs and is much harder to recognise from a distance. However we shouldn't complain.  Since practically everyone today has electronic navigation systems we should be grateful that the old visual aids to navigation are maintained as a check and a back up. Long may it continue.

There was quite a bit of turbulence round the entrance to Dover harbour, as usual, but with Allan at the helm we negotiated the entrance and tied up in the Granville dock around 8pm. Once ashore we had no trouble in finding a suitable restaurant in which to reflect on the day's journey.

An Easy Day's Track