As we only had 8 miles to go today, we agreed on a later start of 09:00. The forecast last night for today was for end-to-end rain, accompanied by strongish southerly winds. However, there was no rain and no wind initially and Richard was keen to get going, as he’s had an early breakfast. However we hadn’t but we did manage to shave off some time from the planned 09:00 and in fact we were away by 08:30, motoring down the buoyed channel that takes you past an island called Strynø. Once past, you are in shallow, open water and the route into our next harbour, Marstal on the island of Ærø is via another buoyed channel which starts about 3 miles to the west. We had deployed the mainsail to give us extra drive whilst we motored but as soon as we were pointing more to the west, we were able to sail without the engine in now blustery, wet conditions with a F6 wind. I could almost hear Richard cursing our delay in setting off, had we done so earlier it would undoubtedly have been a pleasanter crossing. Still, it was only a few miles and we were soon inside the shelter of Marstal’s harbour and we found an alongside berth quite close to the entrance. The nicest alongside berths are reserved for boats of 20m or longer so we had to make do with corrugated iron sides to moor against. The problem here is that the fenders are small enough to fit inside the corrugations and be rendered ineffective but fortunately Richard had a fender board we could borrow. The idea is that the board bridges the corrugations and the fenders rest against the board – simple and effective.

It was a very wet day now and Richard & Gill kindly invited us on board for coffee. Later, the rain died and we went for a stroll to town, one that we are familiar with for the same reasons as Rudkøbing. Back on board we had lunch, dozed, read, blogged, entertained Richard & Gill for tea and later, I went to photograph some of the older, >20m boats that were now tied alongside. Lovely things, so evocative of a past that is long behind us now, especially the Hanse Kogge, which is a replica of a 14^th Century trading vessel! It soon started raining again so I was back on board and indeed was writing this. Tomorrow we part company with Calypso, she will be heading northwards to her home port of Augustenborg whilst we will be heading for Kiel in Germany, so we plan on going out for a meal tonight. Incidentally, we won’t be travelling on our own, we will have the company of a young man called Jakob Brauer. He is part of a 3 man crew on a very small yacht, a yacht that has somehow lost its’ rudder and it’ll take a day or two for the local yard to make another one. They are rafted outside Calypso and we got to chat to them, lovely lads they are. Jakob needs to be back in Kiel so we offered him a lift – he was very excited at the thought of bacon butties for lunch!

Our intention that evening was to go to a pizzeria but when we got there, it was empty bar two disconsolate looking people so we opted to go to the Irish pub close by that had a good menu. There we had pork schnitzel (Richard), pork tenderloin (me), hot smoked salmon served with a lime mayonnaise (Julie) and Gill had plaice. We all enjoyed the food but were surprised to find out that we weren’t actually in the pub, that was actually next door! The restaurant was called Den Gamle Vingård should you ever go to Marstal, we recommend it. Nightcaps and coffee on board CW and that was it, the cruise in company with Calypso was over. We will be seeing them both again in November when they come to visit for a few days, which is a nice thought. They are good company and doubtless we shall sail together again next year. Next year? Yes, Julie and I have decided to postpone doing anything about CW for 12 months, we shall wait for the Brexit debacle to work its way out and find out where we stand vis a vis the 90 day in 180 day rule for Shengen visitors.