In the first week of the May holidays we unexpectedly make a very nice sailing trip to London. Unexpected because we decided to go on holiday only at the last moment when it became clear that Marinthe would not be recovered in time for the tennis tournament. Every disadvantage has its advantage; fortunately all four of us think so ... it is just fantastic to be able to make a nice trip with the Brandaan again. The spring weather has not yet really shown itself in the Netherlands. The coming week? Fortunately ... we are very lucky. Good wind on the way there and back, and in London un-English weather; dry with quite a lot of sun. In the beginning of the week it is still very cold, even close to freezing point at night. Long live a good heating system on board ... it has even been turned on once during the night on the way back. London is a great destination for a week. Both the outward and the return trip we do in one go with one night of sailing (in about 30 hours) and in between we have four full days in London. A review of the past week ....

We leave for Bruinisse on the afternoon of Friday 26 April immediately after school and work. On Saturday, the weather is fine for crossing and because of the height of the bridge, we have to be through the Roompot lock before noon. That's why we sailed to Roompot Marina on Friday evening. After we have stowed away a lot of groceries on board and have received the new navionics cards. It's a great sailing trip with a nice tail wind and we are all alone on the Oosterschelde. The next day we leave immediately after breakfast and at 11 o'clock we sail through the lock into the North Sea. In the beginning we had a calm wind (force 3-4) from NNO (half to big wind) and still in the sun. Later the wind increases to force 4-6 and it is firm sailing with a strong current and it is freezing, especially in the evening and night. We do go fast. At 21:00 we have already crossed the shipping lane. I crawl into bed, just like the girls and Toine keeps watch from the warm cabin. At 3 o'clock I take over and we are almost at Princess Chanel in the mouth of the Thames. I dress up thickly (with a winter hat) because keeping watch outside is not a luxury in this area with busy shipping and narrow channels between shallows. It is dark with a weak moon. For a moment we were in a difficult situation and I called Toine to get out of the way of a large tanker that had just come out of Princess Chanel and at the end of the day he steered to starboard to pass in front of us. After that we neatly passed the outside of the red buoys of the Princess Chanel to Kobbs Chanel.

Around half past three at night, after about 18 hours of just sailing, we are near Queensborough at the beginning of the Medway River, where we stop for a few hours at a mooring buoy. The current on the Thames can be 3-4 knots, especially in the narrower parts. So it is important to have the current with us. It takes a while before we have found the mooring buoys in the dark and we are not moored until 5 o'clock. We sleep until 10 o'clock ... the sun is shining and the tide has just turned so that in the coming hours we can sail with the current along the Thames for 45 miles to London. In the beginning it was a boring landscape. The colour of the river reminds us of the Gambia River. But that is the only similarity. Further on it became more pleasant and the last 10 miles were really nice ... through the Tidal Barrier, past the Millennium Dome, the Old Navy College and over the Greenwich meridian. Along Canary Warf with the financial district and along the Dockhouses to the entrance of Limehouse Basin. That is 1.5 miles from Tower Bridge. St Kaths Dock is a marina just next to Tower Bridge but we can only enter on Wednesday May 1st because they are repairing the access bridge. Limehouse Basin is also a good marina with friendly people and a good connection via DLR train to the centre of London.

We have four full days in London. The first day we have to puzzle out how the train- and subway tickets work. We visit Oxford and Regent Street and make a bus tour through the city in one of those open double-decker buses. This way we get a good impression of what there is to do and to see. Nice and well maintained city! Cold in the wind but nice in the sun. In the evening we dine in the Narrows, a Gordon Ramsey restaurant near the harbour. The second day we first visit the Westminster Abbey. In the Netherlands the coronation takes place and we get little of it. Only later some pictures and a summary of the day's events. During the coronation we have a fantastic lunch at Fifteen, the first restaurant of Jamie Oliver where disadvantaged young people work. A highlight of the holiday with very good food and in Marinthe's eyes a very nice coffee boy who does his best and is cute. In the afternoon we take the subway to the London Eye; but we don't go in because of the long line and the price. In the evening we have dinner on the boat and watch a movie. A perfect combination ... a beautiful big city and next to that our own boat to retreat to.

The third day we take the train to Greenwich and visit the Observatory on the Greenwich Meridian. For sailors a concept and you must have seen that. Nice to learn something about the history of time; we read that years ago there was a service for the rich that once a week your watch was set by someone to Greenwich, where the only reliable clock of England was.

For lunch we eat a delicious Vietnamese dim sum. After that a quick visit to the Maritime Museum and back to the boat. Because at the end of the afternoon we have to be out of the harbour to move to St Kaths Dock for the last two nights. A real experience to be able to sail with your own boat right up to Tower Bridge and to be in the harbour right next to it! Together with a lot of other Dutch boats. In the evening, when it's dark, we take a long walk over Tower Bridge and back over London Bridge. A beautiful sight, a city with many bridges and lights. The last day we take it easy. We visit the National Gallery with beautiful paintings. All museums are free in London, so you can easily walk in. Around lunch we have a look at Covenant Garden. It is warm and sunny. The rest of the afternoon we spend on the boat cleaning the outside. Earlier this week, Toine has already rubbed the teak deck with baracol, a product which you can't buy in Holland but which is ordered and delivered here in one day. It really improves the teak deck. When Eline and I go shopping, we see the Baltic Match. Hey, isn't that Martin and Jeske's boat? That's right, I checked via sms. When they return from town they come by for a spontaneous drink. Very nice. The last evening we have dinner at the Dickins Inn next to the harbour. Very cosy and we have nice conversations with the girls, but you don't have to do it for the food.

On Friday the 2nd of May, at 9.00 a.m. NL time, we sail through the lock on the Thames for the return home. Until well into the afternoon on the motorbike with a nice warm sun and little wind. For a while it was almost too hot. Halfway the Princess Chanel around 5 pm the wind rises from the south and we can sail with half wind. Not long after that the wind picks up to a thick force 5 and we lay a reef in the genoa and the big sail. The boat moves a lot, 'what a 'klotsbak' is that North Sea anyway', says Toine. But it is nice sailing! We all go to bed early and Toine keeps watch again from the warm cabin and a little later outside in the cold when we cross the shippinglane. There is a lot of shipping ... we sail nicely in between, only in the end Toine leaves for a tanker to go behind. That's wise. During my watch in the middle of the night the wind disappears and the engine comes on. But in the early morning the wind picks up again and we can sail the rest of the trip with half to wide winds. We arrive at Roompot around 11 o'clock, but we can only pass through the lock at 13 o'clock because of the bridge and the mast height of 19.5 m. Once we are on the Oosterschelde, there is a strong wind; an ample force 6. But the wind comes from behind, and even though it is against the current, it is wonderful sailing on the Oosterschelde back to Bru. At 17.30 hours we are back in our harbour. We look back on a wonderful week of holiday. A good start of the sailing season. That promises something!