Rascal's Odyssey: Ramsgate Part 2

It must be said the all the staff we met at Ramsgate Marina could not have been more helpful and friendly. They were absolutely brilliant which is more than can be said for the weather, which on day one was dreadful. I took the opportunity to do some laundry, the cost of which took my breathe away. £5 for a wash and £3 for a dry. However in the laundry I did meet Joyce from Emma Lucie, we went round for a drink, they were supposed to be leaving for Dunkirk the next day, however it was far to windy so they stayed an extra night and they popped over to us. It is always so sociable on a marina. We also found out from them that we were wise to have left Harwich a day later than planned as they had travelled on our original date, thick fog! Glad we didn't have to contend with that.

The second day the weather was slightly better rain wise but very windy. We went round Ramsgate and found the Waitrose, which was the only supermarket in walking distance. Sadly we didn't get to the Ramsgate Tunnels as they shut at 2 pm, by the time we'd realised that it was already oneish, so we will save the tunnels for the return leg.

We did have a walk round the piers. It should be noted that the harbour was built by John Smeaton, who is from Leeds and as a Leeds girl myself I feel it is an important fact to note. In fact there is a secondary school named after him in East Leeds, which opened in 1969.

Entrance to Ramsgate Harbour

Whilst walking round the East Pier, we did what all Yachtsmen do and watched other boats come in, we both agreed we wouldn't have wanted to come in today as it was blowing a hooley. However we saw a Belgian Yacht run aground as they ignored the fact there is a dirty great sandbank in the inner harbour and were circling round putting their fenders out. Then another Belgium boat had a heck of a job berthing as he got caught by the wind going into his berth, after that it went from bad to worse and went backwards nearly hitting another boat (Also Belgium), then he was totally across the gap between pontoons, at this stage he went sideways, again towards yet another Belgium boat and eventually managed to go in reverse and tuck in behind him. We were just glad that the wind was due to drop over night.

As the wind was so bad Doug and Joyce on Emma Lucie stayed an extra night and they popped over to us. It is always so sociable on a marina.

As we were wandering round the Marina, we noticed 'Princess Matilda', which for those of you who have followed his TV programme will know that this is Timothy Spall's barge.