Day 1. Sat 30 May - SYH to Dover 60 miles. High tide Dover 1635.
A glorious day - bright sunshine, with a Force 4 to 5 Easterly wind.
Bill and I left Levington at 0515, slightly earlier than planned, because we were awake, and it was good weather. We listened to the shipping forecast and had breakfast while motoring down river, and hoisted the sails at Harwich Shelf. Port tack all the way to South Foreland, with the ebb tide helping push us round the Northern ends of the Gunfleet and Sunk sands. Then we bore away down Black Deep, punching the last of the ebb, and through Foulgers Gat. After this the GPS seldom showed less than 7 knots as we sped past Ramsgate and into Gull Stream. With a mile to run, we called up Dover Port Control, and were allowed straight into the Eastern Entrance, and across the Harbour to the Marina - sixty miles over the ground in 9.5 hours.
After a quick beer, and reporting to the marina office, we walked up to Dover Castle. The main keep was closed for repair, but we had an interesting tour of the wartime tunnels, and underground hospital, before retiring to an Italian restaurant in the town for a celebratory dinner, to mark the successful start of the trip. And so to bed, ready for another early start in the morning. No photos, because the camera's battery needed recharging!

Day 2. Sun 31 May Dover to Newhaven - 60 miles. High tide Dover 0519.
The weather was still perfect. The forecast was for Force 4 to 5 NE winds, occasionally 6, but until we reached Beachy Head, Force 2 to 3 was the norm.
We had breakfast on the pontoon, before leaving at 0745. We hoisted sails in the harbour and left the Western Entrance. We made good progress past Folkestone, but the wind was dead astern and died as we approached Dungeness, so started the engine. Rounding the point, onto a broad reach, we found some wind again, and were able to revert to sailing until the tide turned against us off Rye at 1230.
At 1700, we rounded Beachy Head. The wind had increased to the top end of force 4, and we reached in to Newhaven, making over 7 knots, and arriving at 1830.

Day 3. Mon 1 June Newhaven to Hamble - 57 miles (plus 5). High tide Dover 0630.
Still sunny , with a light NE wind. Lee on Solent was the hottest place in the UK , with 29 degrees.
We slipped at 0700, to catch as much tide as we could, aiming for Portsmouth, having breakfast under way as we left the harbour. The wind was quite strong as we came out of the shadow of the cliffs, so we put a reef in the main, storming along past Brighton. Then we noticed water over the floorboards in the heads compartment , and as I sponged it out into a bucket, the water seemed to be seeping up between the base plate of the loo's outlet seacock and the hull. Every time the boat surged, an egg-cupful overflowed over the floor. I bailed out two bucketsful, and a further half bucket forty minutes later.
Following a telephone conversation with one of Bill's South Coast contacts, I rang Hamble Yacht Services, who and Leigh agreed to have a look straight away this evening, if we could get there in time. He asked us to ring again as we passed Calshot at the bottom of Southampton Water.
We shook out the reef, and started the engine as the tide turned against us in the Looe Channel off Selsey Bill. By 1715, we were alongside at Hamble, and after a quick look inside, the boat was lifted out and the outside of the seacock examined. They took the seacock apart, and re-ground and re-greased it. We re-launched the boat, trying to rock it with the travel-hoist, to replicate the seas off Brighton; it all seemed OK, so we went for a test sail in the bow waves of the Cowes ferries. Everything seemed satisfactory, so we returned to the berth, thanking Leigh and his team for their prompt service.
We were too tired to be bothered to cook supper, so retired to the Whyte Harte in Hamble for a meal.
Day 4. Tues 2 June. Hamble to Cowes. 5 miles. High Water Dover 0741.
Day 4 dawned hot and cloudless, with a light NE wind, and a bilge full of fresh water. So after breakfast, we moved out of the crane berth to another nearby one, and spent a couple of hours with sponges, buckets and paper towels, tracking down a fresh water leak. Eventually we found a loose Jubilee clip on the T-junction of the main supply from the tanks to the water pump. This was probably the cause of yesterday's leak, with the "surge" of water flowing from the bilge up through the gap between the hull and inner skin and out of a hole in the inner lining at the seacock.
We refilled the water tanks, and checked the fuel - still half full in spite of 16 hours motoring so far. Then off down Southampton Water and across to Cowes, drifting along with jib and tide in a Force 1 Easterly. As we started the engine to come up the Medina, the oil pressure alarm sounded, so we sailed onto the hammerhead at Cowes Yacht Haven, to investigate. After checking the oil level, the water filter and water pump impeller, it now seems to run properly, so we moved onto a berth there, and spent the afternoon wandering round the town, buying a new camera , partaking of liquid refreshment, and generally relaxing after a stressful couple of days.
Day 5. Wed 3 June. Cowes to Newtown River via Folly Inn. 10 miles. High Water Dover 0939.
Weather still sunny, but a little cooler. With a crew change scheduled for Friday in Lymington, we had virtually made our planned mileage for the week, so were able to relax. The boat is a little drier (as far as the bilge is concerned, at any rate), but still getting about half a bucket a day of fresh water in the heads bilge. It's not yet clear whether this is "old" water gradually working its way into an accessible place, or a continuing leak.
We topped up with fresh food - in particular bread and milk (we proved that you can get milk from Cowes) - and then motored gently up the River Medina until the water ran out a few hundred yards beyond the Folly Inn. By then , it was lunchtime, so we moored up and went ashore for both liquid and solid refreshment.
After lunch, we sailed off the pontoon, down river and headed West down the Solent for the Newtown River. All the visitor moorings were already occupied, so we christened the new anchor in Clamerkin Lake, with immaculate timing, since we arrived just as another yacht was leaving.
Day 6. Thurs 4 June. Newtown to Bucklers Hard. 7 miles. HW Dover 1027.
There was a good sailing breeze when we first got up, but by the time we had had a four-course breakfast and cleared away, it was down to no more than a faint puff. We managed to sail off the anchorage to avoid disturbing the wildlife, and drifted out of the creek and into the Solent. Here we met the full force of the ebb tide, and proceeded backwards quite fast towards Hurst Castle. Reluctantly, we started the engine to cross to the North bank, where the wind seemed stronger, and the tide weaker.
Here we were able to make slow progress eastwards to the mouth of the Beaulieu River, where we arrived about lunchtime, and continued up-river, still against the tide, reaching the fuel berth at Bucklers Hard at 1430. We refilled the fuel tank - 24 litres for 18 hours use of the engine, and went onto a berth for the night.
Then followed a gentle stroll of about two miles, along the river bank and through oak woods to Beaulieu, returning to the boat much in need of a well-earned cup of tea