Out of Lockdown 19

 

I scan the news feeds eagerly. Tune in to the BBC. Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary, has called a news conference. What hand will he deal us, for our summer cruise? Which countries will be on the UK Green List, of permitted leisure travel destinations, this summer?

Evocative island destinations abound: St Helena, Tristan de Cunha, Ascension, The Falklands, South Georgia. The list goes on. All distant mid ocean stopovers, beyond Stargazer's reach.

I search in vain for our favourite landfalls: France and Ireland. Portugal is included (although it is not currently admitting leisure travellers, either to the mainland or to the Azores) as is Gibraltar. Both are within reach, of a concerted summer-long cruise, but with an over-winter stay required, before returning the following season. That option now complicated by the, post-Brexit, Schengen stay limit (ninety days in any rolling one hundred and eighty days) and by the difficulty in reaching either, with French ports pronounced off limits.

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A visit to The Cruising Association website lifts my spirits. As things stood, sailors were required to enter, or leave, France only via one of the ferry ports; and by seeking out the Police aux Frontieres, in town or in the ferry terminal, during working hours, to manually present documents and fill forms. In practice, highly restrictive to a boat on passage. An on line process, permitting access or egress through any French port is now being rolled out, with a pilot scheme already started in Le Havre . Welcome news. . . . . .for the future.

For now, yesterday's bucolic tranquility has been banished. It is a day to sit below, contemplating. With that special snug and secure feeling, brought by being warm and dry whilst, outside, rain drums on Stargazer's deck and the wind whistles in her rigging. I consider our options, for this summer's cruise. At the end of the month I will received my second vaccination. We will be free to set sail.

 The wind, warmer now, from the south, is due to drop over the next couple of days. The sun to return. Bringing the opportunity to explore the enticing paths, winding away into the countryside. Whilst we wait for the tides to come fair, for the next leg of this shakedown cruise. South to the Essex shore.