Wednesday 15 June 2021
We left Ramsgate around 9.30. A pretty port with lots of little restaurant/cafes on the seafront and even a ‘correctional‘ (!) institution from 1881 which would have fitted in any where in 21st century England.
We had a good sail down to Dover, dodging the Goodwin Sands successfully and taking advantage of the strong south-going tide.
We had to wait outside the Harbour Eastern Arm to enable several ferries to come in and out, and then were permitted to enter and proceed to the Granville Dock which has a lock entry. Dover Harbour is being completely rebuilt it seems with a vast new Marina under construction. Some friends aboard ‘Rifleman’ were arriving at the same time and we had supper together at the Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club, cooked and served by the Commodore and the Vice-Commodore (his wife) which was immensely kind of them.
We moored alongside a growing pile of battered and partially deflated ribs brought in by Border Force which told their own sad tale.
