We had a lovely night on board, slept so well, despite wind and rough water. Patrick got up once in the night and added an extra line as just one was taking a lot of strain. We were also moored up on the outside berth and the ferries coming into East Cowes did create a bit of wake. But after having spent so many years on the hard, or tied up in the marina, these movements were very welcome - we had missed this!!
With “boat life” setting in and “land life” miles away, we stumbled out of bed after 10h30 am - just to make the obligatory Baileys coffee and to decide what we wanted to do for the day. We got so far as deciding to have a second cup of Bailey’s coffee and that was as far as proper plans went.
We did eventually have a quick shower and dressed warmly to join friends for brunch in town. We got a table at Jolliffes Eatery. The old building was beautiful and according to the staff, the original building was a bootmaking business established in 1853 and went on to make the shoes for the Royal Family. The building is also frequented by a little ghost named Ursula, who haunts some of the properties in the area. For more info I could check out the Cowes Ghost Map, but I thought I would rather not know any more than I did already.
We wandered around Cowes for a few hours, marvelling at the old buildings and quaint shops (and avoiding any potential ghosts).
A phone call later in the afternoon confirmed that another group of friends had made their way over the Solent and were coming into Cowes - the more the merrier !! It was a rougher crossing for them than what we had experienced the previous day but we soon got the boat tied up and warmed them up with large Baileys coffees. (We fortunately have a large supply).
We had a lovely curry later that evening (thank you Spice Central), followed by a few drinks on board. The evening drew to a close with nostalgic tales of our various adventures and mishaps over the years together and how much we looked forward to a different year following the one we had just been through.
