Dover

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30^thEastbourne to Dover 45nm

Another big day, not as much current as we’d liked, early start out the lock and set course for Dover. Dover was very tricky to get into due to the waves and currents as you come through the concrete openings. Also have to watch out for ferries and ships entering and need to get permission from harbour master 3 miles out. At one stage Phil seriously thought he was going to have to abort the entry as we were getting pushed too close to the wall. However, he gunned it thought and all was ok. Once again the berth allocated to us was way too squeezy and we couldn’t fit in, so we just perched on the end of a pontoon, went to see the marina guy and sorted out another berth that ended up being cheaper as it was inside a lock. THis lock was only closed a couple of hours over the low tide period, so wouldn’t hamper our departing at 0230 the next morning!! With that sorted, we went to explore the town of dover. Dover is a great little town...just keeps on going and going. We walked down one street, and it just didn’t stop. Eventually we just decided to turn around. There is a great castle that would be good to explore, but you would need a whole day to justify the entrance fee and for a proper explore!

We went to visit Customs to try to ‘clear out’ and claim duty free. But the lady was not very helpful or friendly so a fail there. Turns out we many not be able to claim duty free till we depart the EU and by then the timeframe (3 months from purchase) will have run out! So no go with Duty free!! We watched the trucks coming and going from the ferry for ages....long traffic jams as there were just sooo many trucks coming and going. No wonder there is so much trouble with ‘illegals’ trying to come over! Off to bed early that night as we knew we would have a big and very early morning!!!

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