Suffice it to say that nothing much happened. We met up with some friends, shopped for food (always a delight in Belgium), strolled around town (in between the showers), read books,... In a nutshell: we were on holiday.

Also had a couple of meals out. One (expensive) disappointment: the RNSYC club restaurant. Once very good, now mediocre at best. And value for money it most certainly was not. Won't be going back in a hurry. Also went out for moules at a restaurant we hadn't frequented before (De Amandine) . And they were to die for. Plenty, tasty and reasonable priced. We will certainly be returning there in the future.

Only blot on the landscape (apart from the rain): the boat's fresh water pressure pump packed up. And it seemed the bilge pump was also acting up, as in: not doing anything. I started to trace our plumbing but could find no obvious leak. The pressure pump was making a sound of sorts but it sounded slightly 'off key'. No leak, not an electrical fault, this only left a fault with pump itself. This was not going to be sorted here and now, so we collected as many empty drinks bottles as we could find and filled those up ashore. Water to be used only for coffee/tea, cooking and washing up and personal hygiene. We still carried an ample stock of mineral water, so no-one is likely to die of dehydration.

On Tuesday afternoon I took another look at the weather forecasts for the remainder of the week. Wednesday looked to be the best day of the lot (NE-E 3 to 4, later backing SE 3). The sensible thing to do seemed to be to head in the direction of 'home'. Thursday looked manageable too, but I had Brigitte's limited mobility to consider. And after the last Ostend-Harwich crossing in May I had had my fill of heavy weather sailing for the year.

Sailing tomorrow it is then. We'll consider our options once we are on the other side.