Summer 2015

I’m not sure whether the word ‘summer’ is very accurate - we spent the first two weeks cowering from strong winds and driving rain! The Montagues,who had joined us for a couple of weeks at the start of our stay managed only one day sail, right at the end of their two-week stay. However, we had the car with us, so they were able to visit places that we wouldn’t normally have seen, such as the lovely old town of Ribe, and the island of Rømø. Other trips included taking the ferry across to Fyn to visit Egeskov Castle, and the ferry to Aerø and Lyø.

We arrived in Denmark later that anticipated due to the work that we were having done, replacing the engine and the electronics. We had a much longer trip to Denmark than usual, as DFDS had stopped their ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg. Instead we took the ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland with Stena. This, however, involves a long drive through Holland and Germany, which in our case took close to 11 hours! Luckily, on our return trip it was a more manageable 7 hours.

Philip takes advantage of a break in the weather for a barbecue; the beach at Rømø.

We had a limited amount of time so we decided to stay reasonably close to our home port. We headed out to Dyvig first and had a couple of quiet nights at anchor there. We then headed towards the island of Lyø, but once past Nordborg light on the northern end of Als, we had 15 knots of wind on the nose. It was clearly going to be a bit of a slog, and so we bore away and anchored in the bay south of Assens. The next day we went in to Assens marina, mainly to shop and fill up with fuel.

The following day there was no wind, and so we motored to the bay at the north end of Lyø. This was one of those places we had passed on numerous occasions but had never actually visited. It turned out to be a very nice anchorage, and we had the opportunity to try out a new dinghy and outboard to look around the bay and in to the marina.

It was rather overcast when we set off the next morning but it soon brightened and we had a very nice sail towards the island of Aerø. The channel leading to the marina is rather twisty but reasonably wide and well-marked.

Anchorage at Dyvig

We spent a couple of days in Aerøskøbing, and visited the famous museum Flaske Peter - a museum of ships in bottles, all done by one man. The range of subjects was amazing - not only ships but cars, and harbours even, and in every shape and size of bottle imaginable.

We had a good sail from Aerøskøbing to Faaborg but the wind died after that and our crossing from Faaborg back to Als was in a dead calm and very hot. Annabel took the opportunity to do a series of watercolour sketches as we motored across.

The weather had one last go at us, blowing over 20 knots as we made our way in to the marina. At least we got in before it started to rain!

We had a few days to pack the boat up before heading back to the UK and the long drive back to the Hook of Holland.