This year, you may recall, we’d decided that we would try whenever possible to sail and not use the engine. However, one has to be pragmatic and in situations such as today when there was literally no wind, then one is faced with two choices – stay put or use the engine. We opted for the latter and there was a sensible reason as well as our desire to move on. The sensible reason is that we need to eventually be east of here ie in Stralsund for the weekend of the rally on 16^th and the prevailing wind has moved now to its’ summer direction, ie easterly. Of course there are days when the wind blows from other sectors but they tend to be rare, so it makes sense to get east whenever you can and a windless day is far better in terms of progress to the east than if we were fighting against a strong headwind. So, that is the logic and the port we’d reckoned on was one that we visited in 2015, the town of Fåborg on the island of Fyn, just under 30 miles away. We’d enjoyed staying here in Assens, it is a good harbour to be in, with access to a chandlery on the quayside complex and a large supermarket within easy walking distance. Be that as it may, it was time to move and at 10.30, we were on our way.

Immediately outside Assens there is an extensive sandbank area known as ‘Assens Rev’ and just to the south, another one called ‘Torø Rev’. Actually, Rev in Danish means reef but I think sandbank or mudbank is nearer the mark. Either way, the water is too shallow so in order to head south we firstly had to arc to the north and only turn to the south when we were a good way offshore. From then on it was a simple matter of allowing the autohelm to do the work whilst we took it in turns on watch, enjoying the calm conditions but today, not seeing any porpoises (I forgot to say that we saw some yesterday as well). Apart from a ferry crossing our path, there was not much of excitement to relate from the journey so there’s little need to add anything else.

When we were about 8 miles from Fåborg, I thought I’d have one more look at the alternatives on offer and one came to mind, another small island, this one called Lyø and with the advantage of only being about 2 miles away, so we decided on the spur of the moment to have a look. By 14:15, we were safely tied up in the marina, one which is in the process of having a new pontoon commissioned but the one we were on was 100% occupied by German yachts. Now they’re a canny lot, the Germans, so we reckoned we’d found something special and so it transpired.

The main village on the island is about a kilometre inland and Julie and I were soon on our way to have a look around. Just like yesterday, we passed rich agricultural land and again, the air was full of the sound of skylarks, just lovely. We had no idea what to expect as we approached the village but what we saw were some splendid, large thatched houses in excellent condition dotted around and specifically, some gorgeous ones near a large pond, a pond that was full of European green frogs making a real racket, fabulous. A little further on there was another pond, even fuller with noisy amphibians, a double whammy! To celebrate, we had a Magnum each from the well-stocked village store and with lolly sticks in hand, we wandered through the rest of the village. The church was beautifully whitewashed, both inside and out and the graveyard was absolutely immaculate, not a weed in sight. It was all very peaceful and quiet, a really nice little village. We had a bonus on the return journey as I spotted two hares again today and this time was able to catch them on the camera, fabulous animals I think.

Back to the boat and a nice end to the day, enjoying the tranquility of this little harbour on this nice island. One final point, it was only then that I decided to look up ‘Captain’s Mate’, an app available to Cruising Association members which provides details of members’ experiences of harbours and anchorages that they have visited. Sure enough, there were several positive, indeed enthusiastic write-ups on Lyø – note to self, check Captain’s Mate more often and if there is no entry, add one (in fairness we have done so in the past, we just fell out of the habit).