A bit of spare time today which is nice. Arrived in Ramsgate yesterday afternoon after a very smooth crossing - the photo shows a ship just passing ahead in the lanes in the Dover Straight, and you can see the sea is pretty flat.

I am writing this in the comfort of the Royal Temple Yacht Club in Ramsgate, overlooking the harbour - photos of both below:

And here are some photos from Dieppe and Boulogne; Boulogne first; not much to see there apart from flats, whereas Dieppe had a very prominent church lit up at night. The photo of the sea is just to show how unbelievably flat it was between Dieppe and Boulogne.

And finally, the wonderful vessel below was in Ouistreham as we came out on the 7th. She is the Norge, the Royal Yacht of the King of Norway. Now that's class. Good to see a country that maintains some standards and understands that cost cutting is not necessarily the answer to a maiden's prayer. Let us not forget that the Blair government was responsible for the decision not to replace Britannia (but didn't make that public in its manifesto for the 1997 election). Messrs Blair and Brown were such nice chaps, it must have been an oversight.