Day 6: 19/06/17 Boulogne to Dieppe

A long day today. 55 miles in glorious sunshine with enough breeze to make it not unpleasant to sit on deck, but not enough breeze to sail. Ray the autopilot did most of the work while we kept watch and in the afternoon, took turns to catch up on sleep.

This was the first time we had really done boatschool on the move. Both kids read to us and then did some French. I became a bit disenchanted with the lessons I downloaded as they were largely based around phrases used in school. What AJ and Esme need is something they can use when they meet kids in the playground so this week, knowing we have a lot of travelling days, I asked them to think of 5 sentences they wished they could use when they were playing with other kids. Todays was to say that we live on a boat and are travelling. They drew a picture and then wrote out the French and English translations.

I also read another couple of chapters from our D-Day book which tells the true stories of individual soldiers on that day. I'm hoping that this will help the D-Day beaches come alive when we get there in a few days time, in any case I am sure that reading to the kids regularly can only be a good thing. I usually read them something of their choice at bedtime, and something that I would like to read after lunch.

In the afternoon AJ was desperate for his daily electronics fix and disappeared below decks to watch a film on my laptop, where-as once I had been off watch for a short nap, Esme wanted me to help her make a lifejacket for her toy rabbit. Out came the sewing kit (thanks Nana), and Rabbit duly got a pink lifejacket.

We arrived at Dieppe at about 6pm and after having a quick tidy up, went for a stroll. I couldn't face cooking so we stopped at a beach side bar for a treat. Ever careful about funds Pat and I shared an antipasti plate and the kids had a chocolate crepe each. The beers were amazing!

It was still very warm and with little chance of the kids sleeping any time soon we took them to the park where AJ at least tried out some of his French, and much to his credit kept trying even when the boy looked somewhat puzzled and ran away. I went over to help him and we managed some sort of conversation between the two boys and us parents.

All in all a good day with a lovely view of a tall ship in the marina. Weather forecast is for light winds in the correct direction for a couple of days then a few days of heavier winds from the west. Because of this we have decided to keep moving for the next 2 days and get to Ouistreham to ride out the windier weather. Really looking forward to staying in one place for a few days!