Covid and Brexit regulations require that all arrivals by sea are reported immediately to Her Majesties Border Force to ensure that no illegal persons or goods are entering the UK. It is therefore now the duty of all skippers to contact this highly professional and pro-active 24hr organisation whom I had been informed were likely to conduct an extensive and potentially intrusive examination of our vessel, crew and goods. As per Gov.uk instructions I contacted them as soon as we entered UK waters being 12 miles offshore.
I immediately sensed the officer to whom I was speaking was somewhat distracted from the information being offered but to be fair he did tell me they were currently very busy and they may be a delay in giving us clearance. It was at that moment I heard an enormous cheer from his end of the phone and I realised that Harry Maguire had just scored the second goal in the penalty shoot-out between England and Italy to settle the 2021 Euro Finals.
As Leonardo Bonucci lined up to take the Italians’ third penalty I was swiftly informed that I had passed all of the necessary protocols and was welcomed back to the UK. The phone line went dead and I was home.
Richard took the opportunity of his day zero travel allowance and rushed to get a train back to Woking whilst Dartmouth Harbour assisted me to a mooring buoy where I was to complete my quarantine.
The next 10 days were spent alone under a clear blue sky and on a crystal blue sea. It wasn’t the hardest trial I’d ever faced. Our very dear friends, Peter and Sarah, delivered food to the Harbour office who equally assisted the postage of my test kits. I had 400 litres of water, 120 litres of fuel, 45 litres wine and 100gb of WiFi. Some items clearly required rationing!
As soon as we were both clear, Nina jumped on a train to join me in Dartmouth. Sadly, direct travel was not possible and so the following tortuous route was necessary –
Train 1 : Chichester to Fareham
Train 2 : Fareham to Salisbury
Train 3 : Salisbury to Paignton and finally
Train 4 : The tourist steam train from Paignton to Dartmouth – how idyllic
I stood at the old Victorian Station of Kingswear. My expectation was a scene from that classic British film ‘Brief Encounter’. Recall the scene as the steam drifts from the platform and the camera focuses on Celia Johnson. Glamorous and demure as always, Trevor Howard lost for words.
I spotted Nina from some distance being the only passenger on the tourist train dragging a suitcase as it had lost a wheel somewhere en-route. Being the hottest day of the year all glamour had been lost and her first words to me were …. “I’ve been sweating like a pig, you’d better have a glass of chilled wine ready”.. Oh, how I’d missed her!
Less than 30 minutes later, she was happily on board, showered and holding something white and chilled!
We moved up river to Dittisham the next day and met up with our boating pals, Phil and Michelle. We rafted on a buoy together and celebrated our freedom with a BBQ and wine, and then more wine.
Leaving Dartmouth, we decided to return home to find winter moorings and concentrate on finishing our apartment before tackling the necessary repairs to LJ. After a brief stop at Portland where the domestic batteries were replaced, we arrived back in the Hamble within the care of Fairview Sailing.
Mileage Completed 2540 miles