Tom’s birthday – I’m sure we must have spend birthdays apart before, but I couldn’t remember when. It was clear the emails I was sending weren’t going anywhere and I also had trouble with my new phone, having forgotten to set up roaming etc.
Dhara met me from the ferry and we walked from St Malo around the corner to St Severan where Jalapeño was moored on the pontoon. There was to be just me and Astrid who was joining us early afternoon. Coffee and a wander round the town was fun, followed by prep of the boat and a bread and cheese lunch- well for me anyway as Dhara is vegan. We left the marina early afternoon en route to Jersey – I was a bit apprehensive as it was to be a long crossing in poor weather and we wouldn’t arrive until well after dark. Fun navigating out of St Malo safe water – by then it was clear that battling directly into wind and tall waves was taking its toll on progress and us! The green monster arrived at the same time and we sensibly decided to turn back. In calmer water we soon started to feel better but we couldn’t get back in as the tide was too low to cross the sill. We sat for a couple of hours slowly watching the water depth marker creep up until it was just high enough to scoot in. Dinner of pasta on board and lots of chat, then I crept into the forward cabin and having found a cotton sleeping bag liner I wrapped myself up in my new dressing gown!
