Pierced and Planted

Friday, July 4, 2008
Quai du Midi
Marans, France

Pierced and Planted

This is a wrap-up (b)log for the summer sailing season. We hope to do some more in September, and I am racing to write this before the experience vanishes away, dream-like in the face of returning to the starting point. Sometimes it’s easy to believe that you never went anywhere, just imagined it all.

Two very real events that I thought you should hear about! We managed to puncture our dinghy in Aix. Oyster shells are the sharpest things in the world (apart from diamonds) and we weren’t quite careful enough landing the dinghy on Aix, where we were on a buoy some way from the shore. It is not always easy to work out where to go with the dinghy - too shallow, or underwater obstructions can cause the shear pin to break. This saves the propeller and shaft from damage but it also means that you have to row or carry out a running repair. The best place is often the ferry quay, but then the ferries appear out of no-where and scare you to bits. Well, we landed on the ferry quay - plenty of water and towed the dinghy around to a second smaller ramp, a little too close to the shell-covered wall. When we came back from our jolly bike trip, the starboard side was distinctly wrinkled. A bad sign! Fortunately we have an ‘unsinkable’ Tinker Tramp with inner tubes so were not too worried. Now repaired and looking good but untested. I learned that the French word for punctured is ‘pierce’ (sorry about the missing accents - should be an acute on the final ‘e’).

We also learned the French for ‘aground’ which is ‘plante’ (see above for accent). Ars-en-Re is practically inland and the channel to the marina is very narrow and shallow. The problem, of course, is that these channels don’t look narrow; they look like they are miles wide. Unfortunately that is an illusion - only the middle bits are deep with less than a metre of water on either side. Our boat draws 1.52m. We made it to within 50m of the marina entrance before I noticed that there was something strange and Al noticed what it was. We were no longer moving! Aaaaargh!! Aground! We were also probably just on the wrong side of high water (meaning it’s getting lower all the time). Al got on the phone to the marina (nobody seems to use VHF anymore) and I wrung out my brain for helpful hints on grounding. The marina said they would send a boat out, Al asked me what happens when the tide goes out, and I remembered what to do. I asked Al to hang out on the shrouds (bits of wire that hold the mast up) on the starboard side while I put full revs on and steered toward the channel. He bounced up and down, I sweated and steered and AHA we were moving. Whew! We passed the marina boat on our way in. He clearly turns out several times a day for this kind of performance - in fact we saw another boat get stuck about half an hour later. It’s the evening sport at Ars-en-Re watching innocents go aground while the locals go ‘heh heh’. We heard that the previous week someone had fallen asleep (tired and emotional?) on his boat at high tide and woke up when it fell over.
Ars-en-Re was worth the effort, though. It gave us access to the West end of the island on bikes. Ars and Les Portes are clearly preserves of the well-off holiday home-owners who live behind the very pretty walls and high gates of the villages - built by the workers in the salt trade. Although I am not a bird freak, there was an amazing bird reserve that we pedalled through just before sunset, when it was thick with avocets, egrets and lots of other more exotic stuff, all calling as they settled down for the night. It was quite magical.
After making it safely out of the Ars channel we had a quiet afternoon followed by a big blow just after the Re bridge - caught with all the main up - on the way back to La Rochelle Minimes, and the final leg back to Marans the following day. (Tides make it impossible to do many of these trips in one day, even though the distances are less than 20 Miles).
After a lull in the Force 6 on Wednesday morning, we made it through the Marans channel without mishap and back into the now crowded canal. Al is back in the UK and I am washing sails and making lists prior to leaving the Snork Maiden to her own devices for a couple of months. She is hoping to get to Spain next year, or at least to see a bit more water under her beautiful keel. We are lucky to have such a brave and pretty boat.

Pierced and Planted

Friday, July 4, 2008
Quai du Midi
Marans, France

Pierced and Planted

This is a wrap-up (b)log for the summer sailing season. We hope to do some more in September, and I am racing to write this before the experience vanishes away, dream-like in the face of returning to the starting point. Sometimes it’s easy to believe that you never went anywhere, just imagined it all.

Two very real events that I thought you should hear about! We managed to puncture our dinghy in Aix. Oyster shells are the sharpest things in the world (apart from diamonds) and we weren’t quite careful enough landing the dinghy on Aix, where we were on a buoy some way from the shore. It is not always easy to work out where to go with the dinghy - too shallow, or underwater obstructions can cause the shear pin to break. This saves the propeller and shaft from damage but it also means that you have to row or carry out a running repair. The best place is often the ferry quay, but then the ferries appear out of no-where and scare you to bits. Well, we landed on the ferry quay - plenty of water and towed the dinghy around to a second smaller ramp, a little too close to the shell-covered wall. When we came back from our jolly bike trip, the starboard side was distinctly wrinkled. A bad sign! Fortunately we have an ‘unsinkable’ Tinker Tramp with inner tubes so were not too worried. Now repaired and looking good but untested. I learned that the French word for punctured is ‘pierce’ (sorry about the missing accents - should be an acute on the final ‘e’).

We also learned the French for ‘aground’ which is ‘plante’ (see above for accent). Ars-en-Re is practically inland and the channel to the marina is very narrow and shallow. The problem, of course, is that these channels don’t look narrow; they look like they are miles wide. Unfortunately that is an illusion - only the middle bits are deep with less than a metre of water on either side. Our boat draws 1.52m. We made it to within 50m of the marina entrance before I noticed that there was something strange and Al noticed what it was. We were no longer moving! Aaaaargh!! Aground! We were also probably just on the wrong side of high water (meaning it’s getting lower all the time). Al got on the phone to the marina (nobody seems to use VHF anymore) and I wrung out my brain for helpful hints on grounding. The marina said they would send a boat out, Al asked me what happens when the tide goes out, and I remembered what to do. I asked Al to hang out on the shrouds (bits of wire that hold the mast up) on the starboard side while I put full revs on and steered toward the channel. He bounced up and down, I sweated and steered and AHA we were moving. Whew! We passed the marina boat on our way in. He clearly turns out several times a day for this kind of performance - in fact we saw another boat get stuck about half an hour later. It’s the evening sport at Ars-en-Re watching innocents go aground while the locals go ‘heh heh’. We heard that the previous week someone had fallen asleep (tired and emotional?) on his boat at high tide and woke up when it fell over.
Ars-en-Re was worth the effort, though. It gave us access to the West end of the island on bikes. Ars and Les Portes are clearly preserves of the well-off holiday home-owners who live behind the very pretty walls and high gates of the villages - built by the workers in the salt trade. Although I am not a bird freak, there was an amazing bird reserve that we pedalled through just before sunset, when it was thick with avocets, egrets and lots of other more exotic stuff, all calling as they settled down for the night. It was quite magical.
After making it safely out of the Ars channel we had a quiet afternoon followed by a big blow just after the Re bridge - caught with all the main up - on the way back to La Rochelle Minimes, and the final leg back to Marans the following day. (Tides make it impossible to do many of these trips in one day, even though the distances are less than 20 Miles).
After a lull in the Force 6 on Wednesday morning, we made it through the Marans channel without mishap and back into the now crowded canal. Al is back in the UK and I am washing sails and making lists prior to leaving the Snork Maiden to her own devices for a couple of months. She is hoping to get to Spain next year, or at least to see a bit more water under her beautiful keel. We are lucky to have such a brave and pretty boat.

Fort Boyard, Sea, Sticks and Rags

Thursday, June 26, 2008
Snork Maiden
Boyardville, Ile d’Oleron

Fort Boyard, Sea, Sticks and Rags

The weather has turned into summer. We wake up to sunshine and blue skies, and the evenings are long and clear. Sometimes cloud in the middle of the day, but that’s good since the sun is mid-summer strong. There are good beaches on Oleron, but it tends to be windy - that’s how come La Rochelle is such a good sailing place.

We arrived in Boyardville a couple of days ago. Bodyarville is a small holiday village on an old canal leading into the marshy are of the island. It would have started life as an island but now its big attraction is the beach, the small marina with restaurants clustered around it - and Fort Boyard. It was a perfect sailing day when we arrived so we sailed a circuit of the fort. We were approached by a 3rd assistant director in a RIB (rigid inflatable boat with a large outboard engine). He asked us very politely to sail away out of shot, and sure enough, we could see a camera on a crane on top of the fort. (for those of you who don’t know, Ft B is the location for a TV game show - maybe one of you would like to add a comment, ‘cos I haven’t seen it either! Ella Dovey??). Anyway, I am sure that they like to maintain the fiction that it’s in the sea miles from anywhere and not a bus ride from La Rochelle. There is a local industry in boats taking tourists out there to sail around the exclusion zone and ogle. It was nice to do that on our own boat and save the 35€ each. We spent the rest of the day tied to a buoy (corps mort) and snoozing whilst waiting for the tidal gate to open and let us into the harbour. The channel into Boyardville is very necky - Sally will probably remember how it looked at low tide - like a little groove in the sand! Anyway - another soft landing for Snork Maiden.

This end of the island also has a small forest of mixed trees - mainly pines and there’s a shady bike ride parallel to the beaches that has the smell of the Mediterranean. Yesterday evening we cycled down the digue just after sunset and the sea colours and surface were just indescribable. Lawrence called the Med a ‘wine-dark sea’ and that almost does it because the sea manages to be blue and red at the same time. I tried to photograph it, but its not possible to reproduce the appearance, let alone the feeling. In Rochefort we went to the maritime museum and there was an exhibition of paintings by an artist called LAPIQUE. He was fascinated by boats and the sea and really caught some of that in a completely unexpected way. Google him and take a look! Some of the Brittany artists also have a take on that. There are good collections at Pont Aven and Quimper.
People with power boats call yachts ‘boats with sticks and rags’. We call their boats ‘stink pots’. Fortunately, there are very few of those here, just honest day fishing boats. I did the washing yesterday and hung it all over the boat as usual. Most of our clothes look like they are ready to be engine rags!
Saturday 28th June
Back in La Rochelle after a good day’s sailing - 6.4 Knots in a F5 with a reef in the main and working jib. Light airs forecast for tomorrow. We will make for Ars-en-Re, at the N end of the Ile de Re. Access is via a narrow channel through mud and rock. We have to catch it at high water to be safe, so will put the light Genoa sail on and shake out the reef as we go out tomorrow, in other words, give it all we’ve got to get there by 1300. 6am start and midnight now so going to bed.

Fort Boyard, Sea, Sticks and Rags

Thursday, June 26, 2008
Snork Maiden
Boyardville, Ile d’Oleron

Fort Boyard, Sea, Sticks and Rags

The weather has turned into summer. We wake up to sunshine and blue skies, and the evenings are long and clear. Sometimes cloud in the middle of the day, but that’s good since the sun is mid-summer strong. There are good beaches on Oleron, but it tends to be windy - that’s how come La Rochelle is such a good sailing place.

We arrived in Boyardville a couple of days ago. Bodyarville is a small holiday village on an old canal leading into the marshy are of the island. It would have started life as an island but now its big attraction is the beach, the small marina with restaurants clustered around it - and Fort Boyard. It was a perfect sailing day when we arrived so we sailed a circuit of the fort. We were approached by a 3rd assistant director in a RIB (rigid inflatable boat with a large outboard engine). He asked us very politely to sail away out of shot, and sure enough, we could see a camera on a crane on top of the fort. (for those of you who don’t know, Ft B is the location for a TV game show - maybe one of you would like to add a comment, ‘cos I haven’t seen it either! Ella Dovey??). Anyway, I am sure that they like to maintain the fiction that it’s in the sea miles from anywhere and not a bus ride from La Rochelle. There is a local industry in boats taking tourists out there to sail around the exclusion zone and ogle. It was nice to do that on our own boat and save the 35€ each. We spent the rest of the day tied to a buoy (corps mort) and snoozing whilst waiting for the tidal gate to open and let us into the harbour. The channel into Boyardville is very necky - Sally will probably remember how it looked at low tide - like a little groove in the sand! Anyway - another soft landing for Snork Maiden.

This end of the island also has a small forest of mixed trees - mainly pines and there’s a shady bike ride parallel to the beaches that has the smell of the Mediterranean. Yesterday evening we cycled down the digue just after sunset and the sea colours and surface were just indescribable. Lawrence called the Med a ‘wine-dark sea’ and that almost does it because the sea manages to be blue and red at the same time. I tried to photograph it, but its not possible to reproduce the appearance, let alone the feeling. In Rochefort we went to the maritime museum and there was an exhibition of paintings by an artist called LAPIQUE. He was fascinated by boats and the sea and really caught some of that in a completely unexpected way. Google him and take a look! Some of the Brittany artists also have a take on that. There are good collections at Pont Aven and Quimper.
People with power boats call yachts ‘boats with sticks and rags’. We call their boats ‘stink pots’. Fortunately, there are very few of those here, just honest day fishing boats. I did the washing yesterday and hung it all over the boat as usual. Most of our clothes look like they are ready to be engine rags!
Saturday 28th June
Back in La Rochelle after a good day’s sailing - 6.4 Knots in a F5 with a reef in the main and working jib. Light airs forecast for tomorrow. We will make for Ars-en-Re, at the N end of the Ile de Re. Access is via a narrow channel through mud and rock. We have to catch it at high water to be safe, so will put the light Genoa sail on and shake out the reef as we go out tomorrow, in other words, give it all we’ve got to get there by 1300. 6am start and midnight now so going to bed.

River Charente

Monday, June 23, 2008
Maiden Snork
Rochefort

River Charente

This morning we had a visitor - there will be a picture if I don’t run out of time!
This is a quick blog due to an expensive time limited wifi connection!

We spent a couple of nights on a buoy off Ile d’Aix at the weekend and came up the River Charente yesterday. Ile d’Aix is a few miles from La Rochelle and Al’s mother has childhood memories of visiting the island so he was keen to re-visit it. We hired bikes with funny wide handlebars and no gears! There is a lot of shade from pines, but not much in the way of swimming beaches. There was a huge wedding going on with lots of uncomfortably hot people in suits and small children crying.

Our second night was interesting - an electric storm in the early hours of the morning then a 0730 take off next morning for the Charente river. It was high tide so the bar (shallow bit) almost un-noticeable except for a slight ruffle in the water. The river flowed fast but was very pretty with reeds and fishing huts on the banks. Fish eagles too, hunting over the banks.

We made a stop at a small town called Soubise, so that we could wait out the time until the lock opened at Rochefort. Interesting mooring situation with a fast-flowing river coming down towards us, shoving us off the pontoon, and the wind blowing us on. The 2 more-or-less cancelled each other out so we had an uneventful entry. Leaving was a bit more exciting, with a stout Frenchman helping. No-one can resist offering an opinion! The problem was the reverse of coming in, with the wind tending to keep us where we were, and the river wanting to push us up onto the next boat. It would have gone very well if I had remembered to put the engine in gear. Al and the stout chap managed to hold us off the boat in front while I located my brain. You’ll be delighted to know that Rochefort was less problematic and much more dignified.

Rocheforte also has the very exciting Transbordeur bridge - pylons either side of the river, with a clearance of 50 metres for tall boats to go in and out. There is a sort of girder thing over the river, and a sort of cage takes pedestrians from one side to the other.

Rochefort is a slightly run-down kind of place with a Louise XIV history and a huge rope works and dry docks for building wooden ships. Not much more than 100 years since they were scrapped to make way for the modern age. More and more realising how fast things can change and do.

The yacht harbour here is surrounded by quite grand, but mainly disused buildings. Like most of the marinas we have been to, it is owned and run by the town or commune and its Mairie. They seem to be well-managed, the showers usually work and the Capitanerie staff are very nice and helpful. We got the spot we asked for and a free re-useable bag of tourist info. Charges vary from around 4 to 18 € per night for a boat our size and the third night is often free!

The lock opens tomorrow at 0915 so early night to get ready for the sea - well, the river, then the sea…

River Charente

Monday, June 23, 2008
Maiden Snork
Rochefort

River Charente

This morning we had a visitor - there will be a picture if I don’t run out of time!
This is a quick blog due to an expensive time limited wifi connection!

We spent a couple of nights on a buoy off Ile d’Aix at the weekend and came up the River Charente yesterday. Ile d’Aix is a few miles from La Rochelle and Al’s mother has childhood memories of visiting the island so he was keen to re-visit it. We hired bikes with funny wide handlebars and no gears! There is a lot of shade from pines, but not much in the way of swimming beaches. There was a huge wedding going on with lots of uncomfortably hot people in suits and small children crying.

Our second night was interesting - an electric storm in the early hours of the morning then a 0730 take off next morning for the Charente river. It was high tide so the bar (shallow bit) almost un-noticeable except for a slight ruffle in the water. The river flowed fast but was very pretty with reeds and fishing huts on the banks. Fish eagles too, hunting over the banks.

We made a stop at a small town called Soubise, so that we could wait out the time until the lock opened at Rochefort. Interesting mooring situation with a fast-flowing river coming down towards us, shoving us off the pontoon, and the wind blowing us on. The 2 more-or-less cancelled each other out so we had an uneventful entry. Leaving was a bit more exciting, with a stout Frenchman helping. No-one can resist offering an opinion! The problem was the reverse of coming in, with the wind tending to keep us where we were, and the river wanting to push us up onto the next boat. It would have gone very well if I had remembered to put the engine in gear. Al and the stout chap managed to hold us off the boat in front while I located my brain. You’ll be delighted to know that Rochefort was less problematic and much more dignified.

Rocheforte also has the very exciting Transbordeur bridge - pylons either side of the river, with a clearance of 50 metres for tall boats to go in and out. There is a sort of girder thing over the river, and a sort of cage takes pedestrians from one side to the other.

Rochefort is a slightly run-down kind of place with a Louise XIV history and a huge rope works and dry docks for building wooden ships. Not much more than 100 years since they were scrapped to make way for the modern age. More and more realising how fast things can change and do.

The yacht harbour here is surrounded by quite grand, but mainly disused buildings. Like most of the marinas we have been to, it is owned and run by the town or commune and its Mairie. They seem to be well-managed, the showers usually work and the Capitanerie staff are very nice and helpful. We got the spot we asked for and a free re-useable bag of tourist info. Charges vary from around 4 to 18 € per night for a boat our size and the third night is often free!

The lock opens tomorrow at 0915 so early night to get ready for the sea - well, the river, then the sea…

Rafting and Racing

Thursday, June 19, 2008
Le Vieux Port
La Rochelle

The tower on the right of the picture is the 'Chain Tower', so called because a chain was stretched across the harbour mouth to keep the English out. Now Easy Jet has engineered a more permanent invasion.

Rafting & Racing

Well, Snork Maiden is getting restless and I think we are off tomorrow. There are a lot of English in La Rochelle and several English boats on our pontoon. When there is not enough space for all the visiting boats to go alongside – parallel to the pontoon, they have to go alongside each other. That means a sort of floating caravan park, where you have only about 6 inches between your caravan and the next, and your neighbours have to climb over your roof to get out. It also means that you might be sleeping closer to someone else’s spouse than you are to your own. Boats are more soundproof than tents so it’s rare to hear snoring. There is a kind of etiquette by which you always walk around your neighbour’s bow, and try not to look nosy, comment on what they are having for supper etc.
(Pontoon = a floating platform that goes up and down with the tide, so that you are looking out almost at road level and then six hours later you are 5 metres lower looking at a slimy wall.)

Went to see a movie yesterday – documentary about Eric Taberly – French sailor extraordinaire - boats mostly named Pen Duick. There was some amazing ocean footage. In the 1970s no-one wore life jackets or harnesses, or any fancy sailing gear - just old jumpers and oilies like the fishermen wear. He was very matter-of-fact, didn’t say much but broke all the records and won all the races in sight. He died falling into the sea off Ireland in 1998 whilst doing a tour with Pen D 1 for her 100th birthday. Those old racing boats looked so dramatic - acres of sail and a rail in the water going to windward. No chance of a UK distribution but I’ll try to get a DVD. Some shots of other sailing hero, Moitessier.

The cinema was well worth the visit - all rococo gold and black with very comfortable seats.

For those of you following our property adventures, we have completed our cooling off period and should complete the deal on our ‘fermette’ at the end of September. That may get a blog of its own.

Rafting and Racing

Thursday, June 19, 2008
Le Vieux Port
La Rochelle

The tower on the right of the picture is the 'Chain Tower', so called because a chain was stretched across the harbour mouth to keep the English out. Now Easy Jet has engineered a more permanent invasion.

Rafting & Racing

Well, Snork Maiden is getting restless and I think we are off tomorrow. There are a lot of English in La Rochelle and several English boats on our pontoon. When there is not enough space for all the visiting boats to go alongside – parallel to the pontoon, they have to go alongside each other. That means a sort of floating caravan park, where you have only about 6 inches between your caravan and the next, and your neighbours have to climb over your roof to get out. It also means that you might be sleeping closer to someone else’s spouse than you are to your own. Boats are more soundproof than tents so it’s rare to hear snoring. There is a kind of etiquette by which you always walk around your neighbour’s bow, and try not to look nosy, comment on what they are having for supper etc.
(Pontoon = a floating platform that goes up and down with the tide, so that you are looking out almost at road level and then six hours later you are 5 metres lower looking at a slimy wall.)

Went to see a movie yesterday – documentary about Eric Taberly – French sailor extraordinaire - boats mostly named Pen Duick. There was some amazing ocean footage. In the 1970s no-one wore life jackets or harnesses, or any fancy sailing gear - just old jumpers and oilies like the fishermen wear. He was very matter-of-fact, didn’t say much but broke all the records and won all the races in sight. He died falling into the sea off Ireland in 1998 whilst doing a tour with Pen D 1 for her 100th birthday. Those old racing boats looked so dramatic - acres of sail and a rail in the water going to windward. No chance of a UK distribution but I’ll try to get a DVD. Some shots of other sailing hero, Moitessier.

The cinema was well worth the visit - all rococo gold and black with very comfortable seats.

For those of you following our property adventures, we have completed our cooling off period and should complete the deal on our ‘fermette’ at the end of September. That may get a blog of its own.

Castles and Cinemas

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
La Rochelle
La Renommee Café

It’s busy in La Rochelle with ferries coming and going, lots of regattas and sailing schools to play dodgems with!

Not an internet café but a corner café at the unfashionable end of the port, close to a building site! I was on my way to the showers – 3 yacht basins away from where we are so a bit inconvenient for the loo – when I saw 4 or 5 blokes letting themselves in to the shiny aluminium building that houses the 1 or 2 toilets and showers that seemingly serve the several hundred berths here. So I thought I’d give it a miss, at least for a while. As I’ve already mentioned, facilities here can be a bit intimate.

Weather today is cloudy – although promised to be sunny and hot. The people who give out the sailing Meteo are still on strike. So off to the Internet place (NOT a café) to post this and trawl the wwweather. We might stay in La R another day. Al’s enjoying it here – it’s an interesting city with lots to see including several cinemas practically at the end of our pontoon in the Vieux Port. (I have just realised that the word for ‘door’ and ‘port’ are pretty much the same in French. I suppose both are openings leading to the rest of the world.)

Castles and Cinemas

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
La Rochelle
La Renommee Café

It’s busy in La Rochelle with ferries coming and going, lots of regattas and sailing schools to play dodgems with!

Not an internet café but a corner café at the unfashionable end of the port, close to a building site! I was on my way to the showers – 3 yacht basins away from where we are so a bit inconvenient for the loo – when I saw 4 or 5 blokes letting themselves in to the shiny aluminium building that houses the 1 or 2 toilets and showers that seemingly serve the several hundred berths here. So I thought I’d give it a miss, at least for a while. As I’ve already mentioned, facilities here can be a bit intimate.

Weather today is cloudy – although promised to be sunny and hot. The people who give out the sailing Meteo are still on strike. So off to the Internet place (NOT a café) to post this and trawl the wwweather. We might stay in La R another day. Al’s enjoying it here – it’s an interesting city with lots to see including several cinemas practically at the end of our pontoon in the Vieux Port. (I have just realised that the word for ‘door’ and ‘port’ are pretty much the same in French. I suppose both are openings leading to the rest of the world.)

Bums, Boats and Camper Vans

Sunday, June 15, 2008
Snork Maiden
Minimes, La Rochelle



There is something different about the homeless in La Rochelle. They are much less meek than the British sort and never advise you to ‘Gob less’ or say anything at all, actually. They are older and remind me more of the Orwellian style of tramp. I saw a street scene a couple of days ago that would have made a great verite clip. A very well dressed woman, stout, middle-aged, smart in a cream suit with an asymmetrically cut jacket and gold jewellery was face to face in profile with one of the bums, both slightly leaning into frame. I had them in profile, too far away to hear. The man, in his 60s maybe, was also stout, seated wearing a baseball cap and with a small box or bowl on the pavement in front of him (I have never seen any explanatory signs). The woman was clearly engaging him in discussion, but not, apparently, abusing him – it looked more like a debate in which they were both engaged and interested. She repeatedly pointed to the pavement in front of him – he made wide gestures with both hands as though he might be describing problems that are all-enveloping. You can write your own scripts. I walked on, then walked back to check it out again but she’d gone.

We lost our camera on the last trip to Thouars / Rigny in pursuit of property. I bought another one but also had to go to the police station to make a deposition about the loss, for insurance. I was handed over to the Capitaine, who was in his 40’s and had a nice bum I noticed, as I followed him along the corridor. He was pleasant, polite, helpful and spoke to me in French for the whole time.

The showers at the La R capitanerie are pretty good but expensive at 2€ for 10 minutes. Couples often shower together – presumably out of French frugality and lack of shame over bathroom matters. In fact the shower room doors are always left open in spite of the fact that they open practically on to the reception area. I saw the rear view of a naked man feeding the shower machine yesterday. (Fortunetely passable in the backside region.) In Marans (winter place for boat) the showers / toilets / wash-up room is completely non-sexed and no-one seems to have the slightest sense of embarrassment or self-consciousness about this arrangement. Showers and loos have doors, of course. And there is a semi-shielded urinoir – also very French.

Actually I have nothing to say about boats today (except, Snork Maiden, I love you!). Camper vans are very popular in France with a huge variety of makes available. They seem to be getting larger, though. They camp out at marinas apparently for free, there are about 10-20 here on any day. Most places in France seems to have facilities for them and it’s clear that they are a pretty convenient way to travel – apart from the price of diesel, which has climbed radically – hence the demos.

Moving around to the Vieux Port shortly, so more about the city soon.

Bums, Boats and Camper Vans

Sunday, June 15, 2008
Snork Maiden
Minimes, La Rochelle



There is something different about the homeless in La Rochelle. They are much less meek than the British sort and never advise you to ‘Gob less’ or say anything at all, actually. They are older and remind me more of the Orwellian style of tramp. I saw a street scene a couple of days ago that would have made a great verite clip. A very well dressed woman, stout, middle-aged, smart in a cream suit with an asymmetrically cut jacket and gold jewellery was face to face in profile with one of the bums, both slightly leaning into frame. I had them in profile, too far away to hear. The man, in his 60s maybe, was also stout, seated wearing a baseball cap and with a small box or bowl on the pavement in front of him (I have never seen any explanatory signs). The woman was clearly engaging him in discussion, but not, apparently, abusing him – it looked more like a debate in which they were both engaged and interested. She repeatedly pointed to the pavement in front of him – he made wide gestures with both hands as though he might be describing problems that are all-enveloping. You can write your own scripts. I walked on, then walked back to check it out again but she’d gone.

We lost our camera on the last trip to Thouars / Rigny in pursuit of property. I bought another one but also had to go to the police station to make a deposition about the loss, for insurance. I was handed over to the Capitaine, who was in his 40’s and had a nice bum I noticed, as I followed him along the corridor. He was pleasant, polite, helpful and spoke to me in French for the whole time.

The showers at the La R capitanerie are pretty good but expensive at 2€ for 10 minutes. Couples often shower together – presumably out of French frugality and lack of shame over bathroom matters. In fact the shower room doors are always left open in spite of the fact that they open practically on to the reception area. I saw the rear view of a naked man feeding the shower machine yesterday. (Fortunetely passable in the backside region.) In Marans (winter place for boat) the showers / toilets / wash-up room is completely non-sexed and no-one seems to have the slightest sense of embarrassment or self-consciousness about this arrangement. Showers and loos have doors, of course. And there is a semi-shielded urinoir – also very French.

Actually I have nothing to say about boats today (except, Snork Maiden, I love you!). Camper vans are very popular in France with a huge variety of makes available. They seem to be getting larger, though. They camp out at marinas apparently for free, there are about 10-20 here on any day. Most places in France seems to have facilities for them and it’s clear that they are a pretty convenient way to travel – apart from the price of diesel, which has climbed radically – hence the demos.

Moving around to the Vieux Port shortly, so more about the city soon.

Light and Lightning

June 11 2008-06-11
Snork Maiden
La Rochelle

I have been absent from the keyboard for a while – hands-on with sheets, halyards, winches, sails and all those other delightful nautical bits and pieces. I have also been reading one of the Patrick O’Brian novels (as in the film Master and Commander). For those of you who are not avid readers of the series, the novels feature a naval captain, Jack Aubrey, and his not at all nautically inclined friend, Stephen Maturin, ship’s surgeon, musical partner and ‘particular friend’ of Jack’s. The background is ongoing naval warfare and political alliances around the Napoleonic Wars. I don’t bear any resemblance to the huge, red-faced Jack, and apart from the music, Al’s not much like Stephen. Snork Maiden is certainly not a bit like a naval sloop, apart from the fact that oddly, they both travel at about the same speed. Snork Maiden does better to windward. We do not carry cannons or bad tempered personal servants, although, come to think of it maybe we both act that role from time to time.
The last few days we have been over in Ile de Re, a more up-market kind of island than Oleron – a lot of rich Parisians, I think. The last morning we were there, there was a film shoot going on around the harbour. Lots of extras all signing their blood chits and collecting coffee from the catering table, then being marshalled to do their actions, just like “Day for Night”.
The best part, though, was cycling over to the beach on the other side of the island, for a swim. Well, Al swam and I waded about a bit because of the jellyfish. It was hot but we found some shade lying under a dinghy on a trailer that someone had parked on the beach. There was a Hobicat sailing school and to advertise it, there was a single Hobi hull, painted a pale lilac colour and suspended between 2 poles. From where we lay it was against the pure blue sky with just the structure of supporting poles against the dunes and grass. Quite surreal and I will try to paint it. I would have photographed it but our very nice camera is so small that we’ve managed to lose it. There were many other stunning visual experiences. I can’t begin to describe the colours I saw when I was wading in the sea at low tide. Everything from pale sea green to dark red floating seaweed, apple green sea lettuce – some creamy white, all of them changing from minute to minute. It’s already fading before I can quite capture it in my mind.
The next day we decided to sail the long way back to La Rochelle, around the NW end of the island – quite flat with several lighthouses. The weather was sunny, clear and fairly light winds. We picked up a weather forecast from the Capitanerie and there was nothing much in the offing, maybe some F5s later in the day so we put on the working jib and went with the full main. All very nice and sailing well, we rounded the end of the island. Actually it doesn’t really feel like that because you see the same lighthouse from different angles for a very long time and it looks just the same! The wind had become very light and we should maybe have put on the big genoa sail, but bearing in mind the forecast, we didn’t. A couple of larger boats overtook us (bigger boats go faster – some law of physics) and Al thought that one of them was motor sailing – there was a thrumming noise. He went downstairs to take a nap (we often take turns like this if we are on a few hours passage – sleeping on the boat underway is a real pleasure). I listened to the sound he heard and it got steadily louder even though the boat had gone ahead of us downwind. I realised what it was – the sound of the Atlantic meeting the island. It is a sound that you wouldn’t want to hear while sailing at night; it sounds as if the surf is just a few boat-lengths away, a kind of booming roar. I could imagine seeing the surf-line in the moonlight, beautiful but very scary.
Speaking of scary, the air went rather dense, the sky darkened ahead of us, the wind came up fast, and it all turned a bit necky for a while. Too late to start reefing the main, too much sail to heave to, we backed the jib and dropped it – that immediately reduces the ‘out of control’ feeling that the boat develops when she’s carrying too much sail for the conditions. Al went up to the foredeck and tied it to the rail, and I managed to start the engine – that gives more control over the way we can steer the boat. To reef the mainsail – to make it smaller – you have to turn the boat into the wind to take the pressure out of the sail and allow it to be pulled down enough to capture a section of it and tie it to the boom – roughly speaking. Anyway, that done, it started to thunder and lightening in the distance, forking down to the horizon. This was followed by heavy rain. We managed to get into wet gear in time, so that was OK. Wind was pretty far forward so we went for the motor-sailing option. Still plenty of wind though, enough to sail with 2 reefs in the main, and no jib! Waves had kicked up too, until we came under the lee of Oleron. Motor-sailing meant that we got in at 2130 – still light at that time but La Rochelle also has daylight leading lights – very clear and nice to see them, they take us safely down a narrow channel in an expanse of shallow water. The colours of the evening were also incredible – dark sky, shafting light, sun shining over Re while it was raining and storming over us. The sea was full of changing colours. Later the sky over Re was dusky orange, with slanting bands of slate grey as the rain blew over. By the time we got in to harbour, the water was calm and we went peacefully alongside an unoccupied boat, moving twice before breakfast this morning to get a better berth next to a pontoon – water and electricity on hand. We are again in Minimes – not as pretty as the old harbour, but plenty of technicians, chandleries and the all-important Wifi at 1 euro a day.
Have to pack up for tonight – we have someone coming 0830 in the morning to fit our Navtex (weather forecast transmitted to a screen on the boat). Useful for longer passages and especially just now since the people who do the French coastal forecasts are on strike. Driving inland a few days ago we passed a huge convoy of emergency vehicles, demonstrating against fuel prices. The fisherman’s blockade of ports seems to have eased off a bit but they feel very strongly about the fuel prices here and we’ve heard from a British yacht that was harassed by a fishing boat on the way to Bordeaux. Nothing quite so exciting has happened to us yet, but if it does I will assume my Jack Aubrey persona and let go with a few fictional cannon.

Light and Lightning

June 11 2008-06-11
Snork Maiden
La Rochelle

I have been absent from the keyboard for a while – hands-on with sheets, halyards, winches, sails and all those other delightful nautical bits and pieces. I have also been reading one of the Patrick O’Brian novels (as in the film Master and Commander). For those of you who are not avid readers of the series, the novels feature a naval captain, Jack Aubrey, and his not at all nautically inclined friend, Stephen Maturin, ship’s surgeon, musical partner and ‘particular friend’ of Jack’s. The background is ongoing naval warfare and political alliances around the Napoleonic Wars. I don’t bear any resemblance to the huge, red-faced Jack, and apart from the music, Al’s not much like Stephen. Snork Maiden is certainly not a bit like a naval sloop, apart from the fact that oddly, they both travel at about the same speed. Snork Maiden does better to windward. We do not carry cannons or bad tempered personal servants, although, come to think of it maybe we both act that role from time to time.
The last few days we have been over in Ile de Re, a more up-market kind of island than Oleron – a lot of rich Parisians, I think. The last morning we were there, there was a film shoot going on around the harbour. Lots of extras all signing their blood chits and collecting coffee from the catering table, then being marshalled to do their actions, just like “Day for Night”.
The best part, though, was cycling over to the beach on the other side of the island, for a swim. Well, Al swam and I waded about a bit because of the jellyfish. It was hot but we found some shade lying under a dinghy on a trailer that someone had parked on the beach. There was a Hobicat sailing school and to advertise it, there was a single Hobi hull, painted a pale lilac colour and suspended between 2 poles. From where we lay it was against the pure blue sky with just the structure of supporting poles against the dunes and grass. Quite surreal and I will try to paint it. I would have photographed it but our very nice camera is so small that we’ve managed to lose it. There were many other stunning visual experiences. I can’t begin to describe the colours I saw when I was wading in the sea at low tide. Everything from pale sea green to dark red floating seaweed, apple green sea lettuce – some creamy white, all of them changing from minute to minute. It’s already fading before I can quite capture it in my mind.
The next day we decided to sail the long way back to La Rochelle, around the NW end of the island – quite flat with several lighthouses. The weather was sunny, clear and fairly light winds. We picked up a weather forecast from the Capitanerie and there was nothing much in the offing, maybe some F5s later in the day so we put on the working jib and went with the full main. All very nice and sailing well, we rounded the end of the island. Actually it doesn’t really feel like that because you see the same lighthouse from different angles for a very long time and it looks just the same! The wind had become very light and we should maybe have put on the big genoa sail, but bearing in mind the forecast, we didn’t. A couple of larger boats overtook us (bigger boats go faster – some law of physics) and Al thought that one of them was motor sailing – there was a thrumming noise. He went downstairs to take a nap (we often take turns like this if we are on a few hours passage – sleeping on the boat underway is a real pleasure). I listened to the sound he heard and it got steadily louder even though the boat had gone ahead of us downwind. I realised what it was – the sound of the Atlantic meeting the island. It is a sound that you wouldn’t want to hear while sailing at night; it sounds as if the surf is just a few boat-lengths away, a kind of booming roar. I could imagine seeing the surf-line in the moonlight, beautiful but very scary.
Speaking of scary, the air went rather dense, the sky darkened ahead of us, the wind came up fast, and it all turned a bit necky for a while. Too late to start reefing the main, too much sail to heave to, we backed the jib and dropped it – that immediately reduces the ‘out of control’ feeling that the boat develops when she’s carrying too much sail for the conditions. Al went up to the foredeck and tied it to the rail, and I managed to start the engine – that gives more control over the way we can steer the boat. To reef the mainsail – to make it smaller – you have to turn the boat into the wind to take the pressure out of the sail and allow it to be pulled down enough to capture a section of it and tie it to the boom – roughly speaking. Anyway, that done, it started to thunder and lightening in the distance, forking down to the horizon. This was followed by heavy rain. We managed to get into wet gear in time, so that was OK. Wind was pretty far forward so we went for the motor-sailing option. Still plenty of wind though, enough to sail with 2 reefs in the main, and no jib! Waves had kicked up too, until we came under the lee of Oleron. Motor-sailing meant that we got in at 2130 – still light at that time but La Rochelle also has daylight leading lights – very clear and nice to see them, they take us safely down a narrow channel in an expanse of shallow water. The colours of the evening were also incredible – dark sky, shafting light, sun shining over Re while it was raining and storming over us. The sea was full of changing colours. Later the sky over Re was dusky orange, with slanting bands of slate grey as the rain blew over. By the time we got in to harbour, the water was calm and we went peacefully alongside an unoccupied boat, moving twice before breakfast this morning to get a better berth next to a pontoon – water and electricity on hand. We are again in Minimes – not as pretty as the old harbour, but plenty of technicians, chandleries and the all-important Wifi at 1 euro a day.
Have to pack up for tonight – we have someone coming 0830 in the morning to fit our Navtex (weather forecast transmitted to a screen on the boat). Useful for longer passages and especially just now since the people who do the French coastal forecasts are on strike. Driving inland a few days ago we passed a huge convoy of emergency vehicles, demonstrating against fuel prices. The fisherman’s blockade of ports seems to have eased off a bit but they feel very strongly about the fuel prices here and we’ve heard from a British yacht that was harassed by a fishing boat on the way to Bordeaux. Nothing quite so exciting has happened to us yet, but if it does I will assume my Jack Aubrey persona and let go with a few fictional cannon.

Ile d'Oleron & wind

Snork Maiden
St Denis d’Oleron
Sunday, June 1, 2008

Seems ages since the last (b)log.

We left Marans (finally) on Thursday 29th, around 1130 to catch the high tide at 1230. I thought it took an hour – I am sure it did when I came in with Carol last year, but then we were probably idling, looking at the birds and making a video (well, Carol did). Anyway we were clearly early for the lock so we idled around and enjoyed the morning – sunny, peaceful.

After the lock, and the lifting road bridge, we got into the wind-ey bit of the river, saw the first channel markers and smelt diesel. I had a look at the engine and saw a big pool of diesel in the bilge under the engine. We moored up on a waiting buoy and I thought it was something to do with the filter I had changed, had a go at tightening it up (probably making it worse), bailed it out, and carried on into La Rochelle. Wind on the nose, so motored around to La Rochelle Minimes, home to 3500 white plastic yachts (and a few more interesting ones).

Spent Friday morning traipsing around borrowing tools and eventually found an available engineer who came and sorted out the knackered copper washers that keep the filter connected to the fuel in and out lines with no leaks. Unfortunately couldn’t replace them with new copper (washer suppliers not open Saturday morning) so now have to keep a note of which washers are fibre, and which one is an ‘O’ ring.I can buy some more copper ones back in the UK.

By lunchtime, we were ready to go, theoretically speaking. Went to get the weather forecast and found that the wind was going up to 25Knots (almost 30mph) by 1800. So it was a race to get ready, practically speaking, and get over to the island before the wind really kicked up. We have a wind indicator but I think it consistently under-reads. I quite like that, it’s less scary that way. We put on the working jib, and went out with 1 reef in the main. The wind was on the beam to start with, and the sun was out, and the Snork Maiden flew along. The balance was a bit off – too much jib for the main, but we didn’t want to stop and lose time with a sail change, giving the wind time to come up more! Great to be sailing again – and on my birthday!
We got into St Denis harbour just as it started to howl. Getting in with the wind was a bit tricky. I got shouted at by a little French motor-boat whilst we had the usual port-starboard discussion in the harbour mouth. Came in next to a Pacific-style catamaran from Milford Haven. They said they are waiting for a weather window for Spain. Since they left 4 years ago, they don’t seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere much! They have a collie dog, a good sun awning and a tinker tramp dinghy.
I wore my funky black skirt with cup-cakes and we went into the village for supper – the Royal Moule proven to be a great choice – simple but good food and a really nice atmosphere. They have a way of cooking mussels on a hearth with a heap of pine needles that they set on fire. I wasn’t quite brave enough to have them, but that’s a good reason to come back. The 2 chaps next to us were digging into them. I asked if the dish was called ‘moules Jeanne d’Arc’.
Now Sunday and it’s been raining most of the day. I’m watching Six Feet Under Series Two on DVD and Al’s playing guitar. Haven’t been off the boat yet and it’s almost 1430. It’s a bit like playing in a home-made tent on a wet day when you’re a kid.
Seems to be clearing a bit so maybe time to get out of pyjamas and surface. I think the marina has wi-fi so can maybe post this today. Thanks for the birthday wishes!

Tuesday 3 June
Laundrette
Port St Denis d’Oleron

It’s a sad fact that the more you do, the less time there is to write about it! We managed to get out for a walk on Sunday afternoon – there was some sort of aqua-scooter petrol-head race going on around the corner that seemed to have to do with how much planetary resource could be squandered in the shortest amount of time. Or something.
The real experience of sailing is hard to describe – always different but always the same too. You just have to come and experience it – if you haven’t already. There is such a closeness to the outdoors that you are not looking at the landscape (or seascape), you are IN it.
Yesterday hired bikes (at huge expense) and went over to a very windswept beach on the Atlantic side of the island and watched the breaking waves. Saw a bunch of avocets on the way. The island is quite flat with lots of drainage ditches, vineyards, fishing spots, beaches. Today the big howling wind has dropped, it’s not raining and I think we will leave for La Rochelle this afternoon. This port has a sandbar that can be driven across at low tide, so you have to wait until around 2 hours before high water. That means we will try to leave around 3 this afternoon. There’s a F4 from the NW that should get us back nicely.
The plan is to go back to La Rochelle and leave the boat for a couple of days while we go back to Thours to negotiate and hopefully sign up for the fermette. (Sorry, Sally, couldn’t wait to see Spain – there an access issue with Spain – just too far away – although once we have a Eurozone property, we can always sell and trade to another one.)
We have fixed up to see an architect (she’s Columbian so should be a bit of light relief) and a builder, just to check out that we can do the kinds of things we think we might be able to do – if we ever have the money, that is.
This is a funny little place – none of the machines in the laundry work first time and the Capitanerie chap has to come down and fix them every time! There is a kind of French system to most things. The kind of system that can seem unbearably slow. The 12.00 – 15.00 lunch is alive and well at least in some places, and people really do sit down and eat. People rarely eat in the street or at their desks. There is a small market here in St Denis and most of the produce is local – broad beans, peas, strawberries, potatoes, melons…
Now have to go and book hire car – quicker to get one from La Rochelle than to get bac k to Marans by bus. The tourist office here has already spent about 6 person-hours on finding out the times and still hasn’t got there. They are wallowing around in a maze of incorrect faxes (wrong time of day) e-mails sent without attachments etc. But they are very nice.
The Capitanerie guys at La Rochelle are much the same – nice uniforms and completely clueless about how to find anything on their own computer system. Their password seems to be ‘putain’ – at least, they said it a lot.
2235 La Rochelle
Brisk sail this afetrnoon! 1 reef and #2 gave us 6 knots over a bumpy sea. Roll set in about the same time as last year when I asked Sal to throw herswelf in after the boathook.

Ile d'Oleron & wind

Snork Maiden
St Denis d’Oleron
Sunday, June 1, 2008

Seems ages since the last (b)log.

We left Marans (finally) on Thursday 29th, around 1130 to catch the high tide at 1230. I thought it took an hour – I am sure it did when I came in with Carol last year, but then we were probably idling, looking at the birds and making a video (well, Carol did). Anyway we were clearly early for the lock so we idled around and enjoyed the morning – sunny, peaceful.

After the lock, and the lifting road bridge, we got into the wind-ey bit of the river, saw the first channel markers and smelt diesel. I had a look at the engine and saw a big pool of diesel in the bilge under the engine. We moored up on a waiting buoy and I thought it was something to do with the filter I had changed, had a go at tightening it up (probably making it worse), bailed it out, and carried on into La Rochelle. Wind on the nose, so motored around to La Rochelle Minimes, home to 3500 white plastic yachts (and a few more interesting ones).

Spent Friday morning traipsing around borrowing tools and eventually found an available engineer who came and sorted out the knackered copper washers that keep the filter connected to the fuel in and out lines with no leaks. Unfortunately couldn’t replace them with new copper (washer suppliers not open Saturday morning) so now have to keep a note of which washers are fibre, and which one is an ‘O’ ring.I can buy some more copper ones back in the UK.

By lunchtime, we were ready to go, theoretically speaking. Went to get the weather forecast and found that the wind was going up to 25Knots (almost 30mph) by 1800. So it was a race to get ready, practically speaking, and get over to the island before the wind really kicked up. We have a wind indicator but I think it consistently under-reads. I quite like that, it’s less scary that way. We put on the working jib, and went out with 1 reef in the main. The wind was on the beam to start with, and the sun was out, and the Snork Maiden flew along. The balance was a bit off – too much jib for the main, but we didn’t want to stop and lose time with a sail change, giving the wind time to come up more! Great to be sailing again – and on my birthday!
We got into St Denis harbour just as it started to howl. Getting in with the wind was a bit tricky. I got shouted at by a little French motor-boat whilst we had the usual port-starboard discussion in the harbour mouth. Came in next to a Pacific-style catamaran from Milford Haven. They said they are waiting for a weather window for Spain. Since they left 4 years ago, they don’t seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere much! They have a collie dog, a good sun awning and a tinker tramp dinghy.
I wore my funky black skirt with cup-cakes and we went into the village for supper – the Royal Moule proven to be a great choice – simple but good food and a really nice atmosphere. They have a way of cooking mussels on a hearth with a heap of pine needles that they set on fire. I wasn’t quite brave enough to have them, but that’s a good reason to come back. The 2 chaps next to us were digging into them. I asked if the dish was called ‘moules Jeanne d’Arc’.
Now Sunday and it’s been raining most of the day. I’m watching Six Feet Under Series Two on DVD and Al’s playing guitar. Haven’t been off the boat yet and it’s almost 1430. It’s a bit like playing in a home-made tent on a wet day when you’re a kid.
Seems to be clearing a bit so maybe time to get out of pyjamas and surface. I think the marina has wi-fi so can maybe post this today. Thanks for the birthday wishes!

Tuesday 3 June
Laundrette
Port St Denis d’Oleron

It’s a sad fact that the more you do, the less time there is to write about it! We managed to get out for a walk on Sunday afternoon – there was some sort of aqua-scooter petrol-head race going on around the corner that seemed to have to do with how much planetary resource could be squandered in the shortest amount of time. Or something.
The real experience of sailing is hard to describe – always different but always the same too. You just have to come and experience it – if you haven’t already. There is such a closeness to the outdoors that you are not looking at the landscape (or seascape), you are IN it.
Yesterday hired bikes (at huge expense) and went over to a very windswept beach on the Atlantic side of the island and watched the breaking waves. Saw a bunch of avocets on the way. The island is quite flat with lots of drainage ditches, vineyards, fishing spots, beaches. Today the big howling wind has dropped, it’s not raining and I think we will leave for La Rochelle this afternoon. This port has a sandbar that can be driven across at low tide, so you have to wait until around 2 hours before high water. That means we will try to leave around 3 this afternoon. There’s a F4 from the NW that should get us back nicely.
The plan is to go back to La Rochelle and leave the boat for a couple of days while we go back to Thours to negotiate and hopefully sign up for the fermette. (Sorry, Sally, couldn’t wait to see Spain – there an access issue with Spain – just too far away – although once we have a Eurozone property, we can always sell and trade to another one.)
We have fixed up to see an architect (she’s Columbian so should be a bit of light relief) and a builder, just to check out that we can do the kinds of things we think we might be able to do – if we ever have the money, that is.
This is a funny little place – none of the machines in the laundry work first time and the Capitanerie chap has to come down and fix them every time! There is a kind of French system to most things. The kind of system that can seem unbearably slow. The 12.00 – 15.00 lunch is alive and well at least in some places, and people really do sit down and eat. People rarely eat in the street or at their desks. There is a small market here in St Denis and most of the produce is local – broad beans, peas, strawberries, potatoes, melons…
Now have to go and book hire car – quicker to get one from La Rochelle than to get bac k to Marans by bus. The tourist office here has already spent about 6 person-hours on finding out the times and still hasn’t got there. They are wallowing around in a maze of incorrect faxes (wrong time of day) e-mails sent without attachments etc. But they are very nice.
The Capitanerie guys at La Rochelle are much the same – nice uniforms and completely clueless about how to find anything on their own computer system. Their password seems to be ‘putain’ – at least, they said it a lot.
2235 La Rochelle
Brisk sail this afetrnoon! 1 reef and #2 gave us 6 knots over a bumpy sea. Roll set in about the same time as last year when I asked Sal to throw herswelf in after the boathook.

Grand Designs meets Jean de Floret

Monday, May 26, 2008
Snork Maiden, Marans
Grand Designs

Well. Well. On Saturday morning Al woke up and said that he had a proposition. No, not that. He said that he thought we should abandon sailing (not ship) for a few more days, while we got the ‘buying a French ruin’ idea out of our systems. After all, we have been planning this for almost 2 years now. First sell the flat in London and then buy a ruin in France, make it habitable and green, then go and live there when the work / money runs out. Low overheads, keep chickens and a goat, stay in touch with friends (that’s you) over the web etc. Some of you might remember that an early incarnation of the idea in more optimistic times was to buy a building plot and install a beautifully built and cheap kit house from East Germany. That one fell at a number of fences, including the fact that most building plots are too small, too remote, too expensive… and most of the best sites have already been developed. So we decided to do the next best thing and go for a restorable ruin.
Last September we found a very neat place in the department of Deux Sevres (named after the 2 rivers Sevre that run through it). It is on the edge of a village near an undistinguished medieval town called Thours (after the river Thouay). To locate it for you, it is around100 Km NE from La Rochelle, 37Kms from Saumur (on the Loire), around 4 hours drive from the Western channel ports, 2 hours-ish from Paris by TGV from Saumur. It’s also quite close to Loudon (cf Ken Russell & The Devils) and Chateau Oiron – home to a VERY surreal art collection. In fact our fermette is probably at the epicentre of French cultural activity. The landscape is rivers / agricultural land with quite a bit of woodland.
The place itself is a barn and cowshed in an L-shape, with adjoining piggery and kind of shed thing joining on to the long side of the L. Then there’s a wall that completes the lines of the buildings to enclose a courtyard. On the other side of the cowshed and barn, there’s a field also enclosed by a wall. The field is big – quite enough for a garden etc.
We drove there in the pelting rain last Saturday, and just as we got there the rain cleared, the sun shone on the little fermette, there was a sound of crescendo strings and readers, we fell for it. Anyway, we have made an offer that the chatelaine next door (Mme Chateau – har har) will probably accept. Now for a close encounter with French bureaucracy.

Café du Quai de Midi in the rain
Aaargh! Now we are ready to go – toilet fixed – copious amounts of new pipe, glue and rescue tape, since you ask, boat all ship-shape and a GRUESOME weather forecast of strong winds and plenty of rain. Still, that’s how it all is with sailing, ain’t it just. Lying around reading and waiting for the weather to get better and buying House and Building mags in French.

I think I may have to split the blog between sailing and la terre. We already have an incipient Jean de Floret over access to ‘our well’. Toujours la meme chose & all that.

Please do keep up the comments – we like to know you’re out there!

Grand Designs meets Jean de Floret

Monday, May 26, 2008
Snork Maiden, Marans
Grand Designs

Well. Well. On Saturday morning Al woke up and said that he had a proposition. No, not that. He said that he thought we should abandon sailing (not ship) for a few more days, while we got the ‘buying a French ruin’ idea out of our systems. After all, we have been planning this for almost 2 years now. First sell the flat in London and then buy a ruin in France, make it habitable and green, then go and live there when the work / money runs out. Low overheads, keep chickens and a goat, stay in touch with friends (that’s you) over the web etc. Some of you might remember that an early incarnation of the idea in more optimistic times was to buy a building plot and install a beautifully built and cheap kit house from East Germany. That one fell at a number of fences, including the fact that most building plots are too small, too remote, too expensive… and most of the best sites have already been developed. So we decided to do the next best thing and go for a restorable ruin.
Last September we found a very neat place in the department of Deux Sevres (named after the 2 rivers Sevre that run through it). It is on the edge of a village near an undistinguished medieval town called Thours (after the river Thouay). To locate it for you, it is around100 Km NE from La Rochelle, 37Kms from Saumur (on the Loire), around 4 hours drive from the Western channel ports, 2 hours-ish from Paris by TGV from Saumur. It’s also quite close to Loudon (cf Ken Russell & The Devils) and Chateau Oiron – home to a VERY surreal art collection. In fact our fermette is probably at the epicentre of French cultural activity. The landscape is rivers / agricultural land with quite a bit of woodland.
The place itself is a barn and cowshed in an L-shape, with adjoining piggery and kind of shed thing joining on to the long side of the L. Then there’s a wall that completes the lines of the buildings to enclose a courtyard. On the other side of the cowshed and barn, there’s a field also enclosed by a wall. The field is big – quite enough for a garden etc.
We drove there in the pelting rain last Saturday, and just as we got there the rain cleared, the sun shone on the little fermette, there was a sound of crescendo strings and readers, we fell for it. Anyway, we have made an offer that the chatelaine next door (Mme Chateau – har har) will probably accept. Now for a close encounter with French bureaucracy.

Café du Quai de Midi in the rain
Aaargh! Now we are ready to go – toilet fixed – copious amounts of new pipe, glue and rescue tape, since you ask, boat all ship-shape and a GRUESOME weather forecast of strong winds and plenty of rain. Still, that’s how it all is with sailing, ain’t it just. Lying around reading and waiting for the weather to get better and buying House and Building mags in French.

I think I may have to split the blog between sailing and la terre. We already have an incipient Jean de Floret over access to ‘our well’. Toujours la meme chose & all that.

Please do keep up the comments – we like to know you’re out there!

Ooops - Al pic

Ooops - Al pic

Readers and comments

Apologies fore ignoring comments! I have only just worked out that I have to look for them. So to all you eagle eyes - yes, that was a fibreglass repair on the skeg, now completed and (we hope) good as new. And we will survive on last year's Ziplocs. And yes, do keep sending blog links. And you can always e-mail me on shark@thesea.co.uk .
Hopefully outboard motor now working - off to test it after trip to la Rochelle this morning. If you had wondered what the pace of sailing is - this is it. Meanwhile pic shows that Al has arrived. Also the crane wot did it.

Readers and comments

Apologies fore ignoring comments! I have only just worked out that I have to look for them. So to all you eagle eyes - yes, that was a fibreglass repair on the skeg, now completed and (we hope) good as new. And we will survive on last year's Ziplocs. And yes, do keep sending blog links. And you can always e-mail me on shark@thesea.co.uk .
Hopefully outboard motor now working - off to test it after trip to la Rochelle this morning. If you had wondered what the pace of sailing is - this is it. Meanwhile pic shows that Al has arrived. Also the crane wot did it.

The view from the top… and the bottom

Thursday, May 22, 2008
Still in Marans
The view from the top… and the bottom

Yes, I know, it seems like a long time and not going anywhere! But we expect a week or two sorting out annual maintenance things and dealing with the unexpected. And its probably true that we don’t advance at full throttle either. Last year we managed a short trip out to the Glennans Islands then went back into port for another round of fixing things and waiting for weather before getting away on the 2nd June. Well, there is a real prospect of leaving Marans in the next day or two if there are no more unexpected events. Al is just now calling the lock-keeper to find out if we can catch the lock tonight and wait on the other side until the morning.
Lots of boat owning is about bricollage – as I think I have said before. The toilet biz really came under the annual maintenance heading, It is a ‘Blakes Baby’. They cost around £1,000 when manufactured and are now made by hand, to order! It’s true you can buy a Lavac for less than £100.00, but you will spend a lot of time unblocking it. So the BB has been undergoing extensive annual maintenance. It was the renewal of the pipe that gave us real pain, since the cabinetwork surrounding the loo had not been assembled with a view to dis-assembly! So we have reached a compromise solution, and we will find out late this afternoon whether it has worked. Keep your fingers crossed or we will be keeping our legs crossed! There’s always the tried and tested method of ‘bucket and chuck it’.
More exciting, we are getting to the point of clearing the chart table, looking at the pilot books, and generally smelling the sea.
An added complication this year is that we are plagued by thoughts of buying a ruin. The little fermette that we saw last year has come back on the market today, and that has given us some pause as to whether we should be shelving the sailing and going to look at the fermette We’ve now decided against that, and are thinking that we will make this sailing trip combined with looking around a little further south (from Rochefort) and maybe also in Galicia if we can make it over to Spain. Now we have a plan, so that also makes it easier to get away. Last year’s plan was easy – we left Port le Foret with the intention of getting to La Rochelle. This year we were a bit vague – of course, a lot depends on the weather. So far this year is better than last year, with fairly moderate winds, quite warm, and only a few showers. Yesterday and the day before were warm and sunny – so much so that we had to work inside during the heat of the day. Like most French towns, Marans goes completely silent from about 1230 to 1345 and then slowly revs up. Even at its busiest, it’s quiet. During the day there’s the odd truck or tractor trundling by, and the doves, tweety birds and ducks; at night there’s a frog chorus.
OK – that’s it. Have to reorganise the car, complete a final pack on the boat, take the outboard motor apart, post the blog, have lunch…. Yes, it’s a nice life! We have a possible visit from Sarah S. and her new bloke – waiting to get a txt that says she’ll be in La Rochelle in half-an-hour and can she bring 3 extra people... we are not sure that she knows just how big (or small) the Snork Maiden is.

The view from the top… and the bottom

Thursday, May 22, 2008
Still in Marans
The view from the top… and the bottom

Yes, I know, it seems like a long time and not going anywhere! But we expect a week or two sorting out annual maintenance things and dealing with the unexpected. And its probably true that we don’t advance at full throttle either. Last year we managed a short trip out to the Glennans Islands then went back into port for another round of fixing things and waiting for weather before getting away on the 2nd June. Well, there is a real prospect of leaving Marans in the next day or two if there are no more unexpected events. Al is just now calling the lock-keeper to find out if we can catch the lock tonight and wait on the other side until the morning.
Lots of boat owning is about bricollage – as I think I have said before. The toilet biz really came under the annual maintenance heading, It is a ‘Blakes Baby’. They cost around £1,000 when manufactured and are now made by hand, to order! It’s true you can buy a Lavac for less than £100.00, but you will spend a lot of time unblocking it. So the BB has been undergoing extensive annual maintenance. It was the renewal of the pipe that gave us real pain, since the cabinetwork surrounding the loo had not been assembled with a view to dis-assembly! So we have reached a compromise solution, and we will find out late this afternoon whether it has worked. Keep your fingers crossed or we will be keeping our legs crossed! There’s always the tried and tested method of ‘bucket and chuck it’.
More exciting, we are getting to the point of clearing the chart table, looking at the pilot books, and generally smelling the sea.
An added complication this year is that we are plagued by thoughts of buying a ruin. The little fermette that we saw last year has come back on the market today, and that has given us some pause as to whether we should be shelving the sailing and going to look at the fermette We’ve now decided against that, and are thinking that we will make this sailing trip combined with looking around a little further south (from Rochefort) and maybe also in Galicia if we can make it over to Spain. Now we have a plan, so that also makes it easier to get away. Last year’s plan was easy – we left Port le Foret with the intention of getting to La Rochelle. This year we were a bit vague – of course, a lot depends on the weather. So far this year is better than last year, with fairly moderate winds, quite warm, and only a few showers. Yesterday and the day before were warm and sunny – so much so that we had to work inside during the heat of the day. Like most French towns, Marans goes completely silent from about 1230 to 1345 and then slowly revs up. Even at its busiest, it’s quiet. During the day there’s the odd truck or tractor trundling by, and the doves, tweety birds and ducks; at night there’s a frog chorus.
OK – that’s it. Have to reorganise the car, complete a final pack on the boat, take the outboard motor apart, post the blog, have lunch…. Yes, it’s a nice life! We have a possible visit from Sarah S. and her new bloke – waiting to get a txt that says she’ll be in La Rochelle in half-an-hour and can she bring 3 extra people... we are not sure that she knows just how big (or small) the Snork Maiden is.

Napoleonic Wars

Sunday, May 18, 2008
Café, Marans

Al here – I have invited him to write a guest (b)log and he’s thinking about it. That might take a while. The instruments are working, the boat is clean, only a couple more small jobs to do and we can go sailing soon. It is rumoured that the French fishermen are blockading the port, so that would be exciting. We can have a rerun of the Napoleonic Wars, starring the brave ship Snork Maiden. Yes, I’m reading Patrick O’Brien again!

Napoleonic Wars

Sunday, May 18, 2008
Café, Marans

Al here – I have invited him to write a guest (b)log and he’s thinking about it. That might take a while. The instruments are working, the boat is clean, only a couple more small jobs to do and we can go sailing soon. It is rumoured that the French fishermen are blockading the port, so that would be exciting. We can have a rerun of the Napoleonic Wars, starring the brave ship Snork Maiden. Yes, I’m reading Patrick O’Brien again!

Al, frogs and crocs

Saturday 17 May
Café, Marans

Al arrived Thursday lunchtime and it’s all been a bit mad since then! More socializing, less (b)log I suppose. My excuse right now is that I am waiting doe laundry to dry in the machine – it’s pretty showery today.
Picked Al up at the airport and we went into La Rochelle for lunch at Minimes marina, then shopping for boat bits and boat shoes. Take a deep breath, Sally – I bought some Crocs, and so did Al. They do work well as boat shoes. Mine are very pretty – lime green with a strap and a flower. Al Has classic ones with a crab!
Yesterday was a mad dash to be ready for the boat to go into the water before lunch. Managed to change fuel filter, dab on the rest of the anti-fouling and do a million other things before launch. We are sneakily on a pontoon that belongs to someone else. (Carol – it’s somewhere near where we went in.) It’s lovely down that end, with ducks, people fishing, lovely trees… and electricity AND water on hand. Paradise. Not really in any hurry to move, but we should aim to be away Monday or the Snork Maiden will get impatient. Once she smells the sea, she wants to go. I would like a little time to take the dinghy into the Marais Poitevin – the Green Venice, a network of canals with lots of birds and frogs.
Also been to the market again this morning. I just want to buy everything! There is also a very good café with an 11€ menu – salad, fish with rice and a crème brule yesterday. Maybe will just stay here and eat and read. Still, Espana calls.
Off to fit new compass, change the engine oil (having just got clean from last lot of filter changing and anti-fouling – next year I will bring my boiler suit) and have lunch – on boat today, otherwise will be knocked out for the afternoon.

Al, frogs and crocs

Al, frogs and crocs

Al, frogs and crocs

Saturday 17 May
Café, Marans

Al arrived Thursday lunchtime and it’s all been a bit mad since then! More socializing, less (b)log I suppose. My excuse right now is that I am waiting doe laundry to dry in the machine – it’s pretty showery today.
Picked Al up at the airport and we went into La Rochelle for lunch at Minimes marina, then shopping for boat bits and boat shoes. Take a deep breath, Sally – I bought some Crocs, and so did Al. They do work well as boat shoes. Mine are very pretty – lime green with a strap and a flower. Al Has classic ones with a crab!
Yesterday was a mad dash to be ready for the boat to go into the water before lunch. Managed to change fuel filter, dab on the rest of the anti-fouling and do a million other things before launch. We are sneakily on a pontoon that belongs to someone else. (Carol – it’s somewhere near where we went in.) It’s lovely down that end, with ducks, people fishing, lovely trees… and electricity AND water on hand. Paradise. Not really in any hurry to move, but we should aim to be away Monday or the Snork Maiden will get impatient. Once she smells the sea, she wants to go. I would like a little time to take the dinghy into the Marais Poitevin – the Green Venice, a network of canals with lots of birds and frogs.
Also been to the market again this morning. I just want to buy everything! There is also a very good café with an 11€ menu – salad, fish with rice and a crème brule yesterday. Maybe will just stay here and eat and read. Still, Espana calls.
Off to fit new compass, change the engine oil (having just got clean from last lot of filter changing and anti-fouling – next year I will bring my boiler suit) and have lunch – on boat today, otherwise will be knocked out for the afternoon.

What was Whitsun?

Monday, May 12, 2008
Aha – it’s what we used to call Whitsun, whatever that was…

It’s been busy in the boatyard and at the cafes today. This afternoon I decided to have a go at cleaning the hull. Tricky because a) no stepladder and b) hosepipe not long enough. Anyway, had to do the top bit hanging down from the deck and the lower part standing on a chair. Lugged a few buckets of water from the tap. Can’t clean the deck and cockpit until we can get a hose, so will have to wait until we are in the water – nice job for Al! I was going to service the winches today but got caught up with why the compass light didn’t work… took the compass apart but couldn’t work out how to change bulbs – seemed to be firmly stuck in there. I even resorted to the handbook, which said helpful things like ‘take out the old bulb and put in a new one’. Har! It’s important to have at least one compass light (better 2) so that you can see your direction at night. Otherwise you have to give it a shot with a torch every now and again. It’s OK on a starry night because you can follow a handy star – so long as you remember to check the course every half-hour or so and adjust, otherwise you’ll be off to the western edge of the world. We have talked about replacing the old compass with a more legible one; the old one is white-on-red and the front has gone very cloudy. We’ll look for a yellow on black version. Meanwhile I have tried soldering on a loose wire, and now I’m waiting for it to get dark so I can see if the light is working or not.
We are meant to be lifting the boat back in on Wednesday afternoon – hope we are ready. The yard (in the shape of Dominique and his rather limited son) has to finish work on the skeg, stick a piece of fibreglass back on inside the boat, change and reposition the primary fuel filter – I can do the rest, but it is difficult to do more than one job on the boat at once because it’s so small (and Dominique is so big.)
Al is coming out on Thursday – at lunchtime. Flybee from Birmingham to La Rochelle – a bit of a schlep and he has to leave very early. Maybe we’ll go into La Rochelle for lunch – we have a favorite restaurant at Minimes Marina and then we can go Ship Chandlery shopping for the new compass. The canal here at Marans is pretty full, although people are leaving. I think the earliest we might get away is Monday. Still have to rig the boat – although that can be done in half a day or less, so if the weather is good at the weekend, maybe we’ll go sooner.
There was a thunderstorm this afternoon while I was cleaning the hull. I kept thinking that one minute I’d be standing on a chair, listening to Zorba the Greek on the car stereo and polishing away, and the next I’d be struck by lightening and wake up with a personality transformation and the soles of my feet all black. The storm passed by some distance away and then the weather cleared completely and the evening is lovely. This area is all drained marsh (as you’ll know if you’ve been paying attention) and just now the landscape has that vibrant green of early summer. There’s a line of trees visible from the road to Challon (next village), running from Marans to the sea. The trees line the canal through which we will pass with Snork Maiden, to get the sea. There is a lock to go through, then we are less than 2 hours from La Rochelle There are reeds at the edge of the canal, and the drainage ditches, and some of them have yellow irises growing along the margins. I passed a house yesterday that had huge clumps of irises along the front fence, mainly shades of purple with some yellow ones growing in between. There are birds in the hedge at the back of the boat and they sing and coo all day – dawn and dusk best. I think that there is a pair of turtledoves – they have patterned wings like tortoiseshell, no collars and are much smaller than wood pigeons. And they coo. In the evenings there are frogs too – a big froggy chorus.
This is a popular place for camper vans. There’s no site, but they park up between the old grain silo and the canal. There’s a wastewater dump for them outside the shower block. People picnic, fish and generally hang out. Every town in France, and many villages, seem to have a camping ground or some place for campers.
Off to have an early night – need to be ready in case Dominique turns up early. You never know, and its embarrassing to be still in bed when someone comes knocking on the hull. Especially with the bathroom arrangements as they are – or aren’t.