It became clear during Thursday that the fleet may be delayed on their return to Ramsgate. Perusing all the forecasts and taking advice from the Royal Navy it seemed possible there was a brief weather window on Friday, 23 May. 21 boats including ‘Cachalot’, decided to go.

This involved a somewhat expensive Uber ride to Loon Plage on Thursday afternoon, the only place available to get a passport stamp for leaving Schengen, since Dunkirk is not an ‘arrival port’. We had, of course, only been stamped in during Thursday morning when PAF (Police aux Frontieres) officers came to Dunkirk for a special session with the DLS fleet! In order to get out through the bridges and locks, the group began to plan their departure for 0630 on Friday. However, the weather window came and went. By 0800 the advice was to stay in Dunkirk, due to reports of a pretty wild sea state and more stormy forecasts. At 1100 the planned reception for ADLS and the Royal Navy took place in the Town Hall, presided over by the Mayor of Dunkirk and attended by Prince Michael of Kent, ADLS Honorary Admiral.

The Little Ships were berthed along the quays of the Bassin du Commerce, home to the Maritime and Port Museum which we visited on Friday. As the wind increased even within the harbour all the flags made a colourful display as hundreds of visitors came to look at the fleet. There was certainly a great deal of interest making us glad we’d made the effort to have information available in French as well as English. The Bassin du Commerce was used for shipbuilding and shipping companies in the 19th century. Now it is the permanent home to three historic heritage vessels: the three masted tall ship ‘La Duchesse Anne’, the lightship ‘Sandettie’ and the tugboat ‘Triomphant’. We visited the extremely moving, well presented and informative Operation Dynamo Museum where there were excellent displays recounting the full horror of what happened in Dunkirk as the evacuation took place over those few days in 1940.

On Saturday evening we attended the Anniversary Supper at Villa Blanche, a rather splendid occasion allowing plenty of mingling over canapés and champagne before sitting at our allocated table with the skipper and crew of ‘Our Lizzie’. She has a remarkable history and tales to tell, including use on a spying mission in 1939 and of course, Operation Dynamo. She was built as a Cornish fishing lugger in 1919, converted into a yacht in the 1930s and was fully restored at IBTC Lowestoft. Sunday, planned to be our last day in Dunkirk, was clearly going to be the start of another week of visiting boats and exploring the area since the weather was consistently too stormy for anyone to venture out.

Beverley managed to negotiate a deal with the landlord of her apartment to move to another, only five minutes away on Monday morning. Simon had to return to Dundee and caught the train to Paris for a flight at noon. There were no foot passenger tickets on the ferry from Calais, Eurostar was over €300 at short notice but after several searches Bev found a bus from Lille to London Victoria leaving on Wednesday. On Monday, ‘Challenge’ the steam tug left for Chatham with a small group of other sturdy boats, leaving spaces along the quays. We moved up to berth alongside ‘Our Lizzie’. In the evening we were invited to a birthday party for Colin, ‘Moonraker’. This was aboard the ‘Princess Elizabeth’, a paddle steamer built 1926, named to celebrate the birth of the future Queen of England. She took part in Operation Dynamo, saving 1673 Allied soldiers and is now a gourmet restaurant in the Bassin de la Marine Quai de l’Estacade.

We enjoyed our extended stay, meeting more people and hearing stories of the boats in a very breezy Dunkirk despite the rain all day on Tuesday. Steve and Mark waved me off at the station for my trip home on Wednesday. Yesterday Steve and Mark took ‘Cachalot’ round into the Marina, along with ‘Maid Marion’ and several other members of the fleet. This provides open access to the sea as they hoped to be able to leave early on Friday morning. An early rise and final check of the weather forecasts meant ‘Cachalot’ left Dunkirk today, Friday 30 May, 2025 at 0700 arriving safely into Ramsgate at 1530. The crossing was ‘exciting’ at times, described by Steve as ‘a bit wild’! They sailed all the way with two reefs and touched 8 knots at one point! Steve and Mark will tidy up and go to the Royal Temple Yacht Club for a well-earned drink.