Last week the Nancy Blackett welcomed two very special guests who had travelled halfway around the world from Japan for a chance to sail her and see some of the places that feature in Arthur Ransome's novels.
Noriko Tanabe and Mikiko Nakamura are members of the Japanese Arthur Ransome Club, and for Noriko in particular, who has been a member of the Nancy Blackett Trust for over a decade, the experience was really a "dream come true", and included a visit to the Norfolk Broads, staying and sailing on the Nancy Blackett (in the company of skipper John Smith and mate Judy Taylor) and having dinner at the Butt and Oyster. They later went to Walton-on-the-Naze to view Secret Water from the Naze Tower, and walk along the southern coast of the Red Sea.
Noriko praised the weather, the scenery and the sailing and promised that she would have "lots of stories" to tell the members of the Japanese Arthur Ransome Club at their AGM next month.