We left Nieuwpoort in a hailstorm on Wednesday 26 April, and when we emerged from the harbour mouth the sea looked a bit uppity but we carried on. Luckily Ostend was only 10 miles away so we ducked in there, it was a horrible trip, stronger wind than forecast and northerly too, so cold. The sea increased and it was a bit hairy going into Ostend but we were glad to get in. We’ve never been in there before, so looked in the almanac and headed to the Royal Belgian Yacht club down the end. They welcomed us but warned us that the dredger was coming in, but luckily not for a couple of days, hence all the boats were being moved away from us – was it something we said!
Next sail was to Breskens and the following day into Middelburg on Saturday 29th, where we caught up with ‘Magic’, who are heading to the Baltic too. We both went on to Kortgene the same day and stayed there a couple of nights before a long-ish sail to Willemstad on 1st May. We had a freebie night at the lock overnight pontoon, and Magic went into the marina. We are both now at Dordrecht waiting for the rain to stop, had a very wet journey here yesterday. We decided to do the stand mast route to Delfzijl, as the weather has been so bad and have abandoned the ‘outside’ route, at least we can make some progress. Hoping to put some photos on here soon.