We both had been warned that Wells-next-the-sea is a lovely little town, but on arrival we find the beauty of the small coastal town is far beyond our expectations.
Even though we are tired after our nights passage from Lowestoft, after ensuring that the boat is safely moored we go ashore and start exploring. After a decent lunch with harbour view we decide that a couple of hours sleep would recharge our batteries. The following day is ideal to complete work on fitting the awning to our boat the result is very satisfactory.
After lunch we set off for a gorgeous walk out to the estuary of the Wash, on the way we visit the National Coast-watch Institution office which is run by volunteers who monitor the coast line 24/7.
Dinner on the boat is a delicious bit of boiling bacon (which is virtually impossible to buy in Holland) served with vegetables and washed down with an ample amount of Chardonnay!
All good things come to an end - they say - this is certainly the case in Wells-next-the-sea. The harbour master "Robert" (who hates it if you call him "Bob") arrives at the boat the next morning at high water in his launch as agreed. He kindly guides us back out of the channel so we can set sail to the north.
Our destination is Grimsby - a place Roland calls a strategic destination (being a useful destination to get a mooring for a night prior to an onward journey).
Our arrival in Grimsby after a full day downwind sailing is well timed to coincide with the free-flow lock gates at the entrance to Fish Dock where we moor in the visitors mooring at the HCA marina.
It is clear to see by Roland's expression that he is not impressed at all with Grimsby although in the Harbour club house we manage to buy the cheapest one and half pints of english bitter ever: GBP 2.25 . We sit down with the other sailors in the club house and quickly become aware that they obviously had been taking full advantage of the cheap beer - some of them were in a far gone state of inebriation.
After a restless night we stop at the diesel quay, fill up our tank with diesel and depart again through the free-flow lock gates and head north in the early morning sunshine towards our next destination: Scarborough.