Wednesday, 31 May 2017

Slave to the Rhythm

Jan here, and its a while since I posted on the blog.

My over-riding sense of what has happened since I last posted is that quite a lot has changed in terms of our behaviour and routines alongside the more obvious places we visit and ever changing landscape.

Most significantly we have had a reality check and realised we are not on holiday!  As we came to the end of the second week and arrived in Belle Isle, the weather perked up no end and we suddenly felt in holiday mode and went for it. 

Yachts queuing to enter Belle Isle
After a few days some tension crept in (code for a few rows) and we realised that we needed to do a budget.  Yes, I hear you saying.........didn't you do a budget before you set off? Well yes we did at a very high level and in broad terms but we were working on mirroring our normal living behaviour not as though we were on holiday 24/7/365. It's tricky because when you are visiting new and exciting places, eating out and drinking in sociable surroundings is part of the experience. Unfortunately that comes at a cost and not on pension income.

I think we have been surprised at the cost of mooring in the marinas in France and it has definitely helped to make sense of what others have told us about heading to the Eastern Mediterranean where the charges and living costs are much more benign. Average cost per night of just parking is about 40 euro here for our boat.

Well thankfully we are now over that hump and are contentedly now eating and drinking on board more frequently as we would be doing at home.

I've chosen the title for this blog because now in week three we are getting used to actually living on the boat; which is very different to taking her for a spin to the Isle of Wight or a long weekend to Honfleur!  Now we are doing it for real, day in day out.

I think the most important lesson we have learned is that we have swapped a pretty large house for a small space. Viridian has lots of good storage and nooks and crannies we are still discovering but there is no way you can leave stuff lying around. Everything needs to go back in its place and everyone needs to know what 'the place' is.  So we have spent a lot of time working out what needs to go where, what needs to be handy and what we can probably dump!

We have also realised that keeping on top of the cleaning is pretty critical. To my shame I have not actually cleaned my own home since 1991.  I don't mean it was filthy.......just that I worked full time and chose to spend some of my hard earned cash on getting some help with the house. Now I wash up immediately after every meal and Greg has become so house proud you wouldn't recognise him.  Here is a picture of Greg vacuuming up crumbs after breakfast with the Dyson power turbo chargeable vac which I can thoroughly recommend...(and I would also really recommend the vac).

So apart from the domestic stuff we have seen some pretty great places and interesting things.

In Quiberon we encountered what we thought was a bit of racism and were turned away from a restaurant on a spurious reason...apparently a big party coming in for lunch...so we went elsewhere and when we cycled back past the restaurant there was no sign of any big party!

We then went on to Trinite sur Mer where things were really happening; there was a sailing competition for amazing trimarans and a regatta for old boats.  They were truly awesome. Here are a few pictures.
Spindrift 2
On the way out of the marina we spotted a guy being blasted up in the air on a high pressure water spout.  



Here are some of the old ships which we sailed amongst on our way to La Turballe.  



We arrived in L'Herbaudier and nearly crashed into Adrian on his yacht Ambience in very poor weather  conditions; it had been a terrible day with no visibility and pouring with rain.  There were moments when we felt we were starring in Waterworld so we were  a bit tense. 

Some terse comments were exchanged but all was smoothed over later once everyone had docked safely.  In fact we have bumped into Adrian and his crew again on our next stop in Port Joinville on the Ile de Yeu (couldn't find what it means in the dictionary so I'm thinking of it as the one eyed island!). 

Port Joinville got both of our votes... ..so we stayed a couple of days.  Firstly the marina charges were cheap, secondly the showers were new and clean and the toilets flushed very strongly and then behold  the supermarket was walking distance and we could use our bikes really easily.  We cycled 18 miles round the island which was absolutely beautiful and caused me to feel very self righteous if a bit saddle sore.  The Bromptons have proved to be a real asset.

Speaking of saddle sore, I don't think I have owned up to my non UDIs.  UDIs are known to us on our previous sailing holidays as Unidentified Drunken Injuries...bruises and cuts that just seem to appear! Well a few days ago I was going down the steps into the saloon after dinner on board and a few glasses of wine....with several things in my hands and I managed to fall, forward roll and then down the next set of steps ( we have a raised saloon) onto my back!  I am pretty sure that I have cracked a couple of ribs and I am bruised all over.  Here is a picture of one bruise..not saying exactly where it is.

Anyway hobbling about but being a bit more careful now as befitting a retiree not a young 'un! 

On our way to our port for this evening St Giles de Croix, we encountered a swarm? of jellyfish. they were so beautiful.  i tried to photograph them but they are strangely elusive.  Here is a feeble picture of one that I managed to capture. It isn't even one of the ones with long trailing legs which I was trying for!





Monday, 29 May 2017

Maintenance issues......

Friends warned me that the maintenance of Viridian was going to be a constant headache and a full-time job whilst we were travelling. As Jan will tell you I am not particularly handy (in fact, even I would have to confess that my DIY skills are quite poor) so I tried to get everything working before we left in order to postpone the moment when I first had to try to repair something on the boat. 

Well we left Portsmouth just over two weeks ago and already quite a few repairs are required. This afternoon we arrived in Port Joinville on Ile d'Yeu and I couldn't turn off the engine. I have to confess I was flummoxed, all I could think to do was turn off the fuel. After about 5 minutes that hadn't worked and our neighbours were beginning to grumble a bit about the diesel fumes contaminating their aperitifs and nibbles. Fortunately a local marine repair operation was nearby and still open, so they sent Patrice who solved the problem in all of 30 seconds (and for the very modest charge of E10) by pulling the engine cut-off switch. At least I will know where it is the next time that happens.....

Other issues,..pretty much whenever we plug in to the marina shore power we trip the RCD so we can't get any electricity. Apparently the French boxes are set at 6 amps, which isn't enough for anything very much. However I don't think I dare run the generator  to charge our batteries tonight and risk irritating our neighbours even more.

The air-conditioning has failed - but I think that is an airlock in the water intake and it may be solvable by yours truly - I will brave that task tomorrow. The water-maker won't work in spite of us spending ridiculous amounts to get it serviced - I will name and shame the firm who did the work if we don't get some help from them.

I think that's all for now, but it is probably enough to be getting on with


Tuesday, 23 May 2017

More warmth and colour

Well I am sure you will be happy to know that Drizzle is long gone back to his family and we have entered a much warmer and sunnier phase.

Since we last updated this blog in Roscoff we have been to L'Aber Wrac'h; Cameret; Loctudy; Concarneau; Port Trudy and we are now in Belle Isle. We have travelled a long way south and over the last few days we have dispensed with the thermals, the 'oilies,' the sea boots and finally today some small body parts became exposed to the sun and fresh air..... not all of the photos can be shared though! 

The first signs of colour came as we passed through the Raz de Seine - which can be quite dangerous if not entered at the right time. There is an amazing lighthouse there called La Vieille built ingeniously on some terrifying looking rocks. We saw a rainbow just as we were going through shining on a westerly cardinal. It was all quite biblical and coincided with me receiving a mail to say I had won the lottery, but it was only £2.50!





La Vielle
Since then we have had some very benign days in pretty towns like Concarneau. Concarneau is lovely and as a consequence quite favoured by tourists - but it was nice to sit and chill with a cider and watch the world go by for a bit after a few days of hard sailing.




On the way from Concarneu the wind was in the right direction so we decided to fly the spinnaker. It looked absolutely great and our speed increased significantly, but the wind strengthened to 15 knots and Greg got scared so we took it down.....



Yesterday evening we sat on board and watched loads of yachts piling into a very small harbour in Port Trudy on the Isle de Groix. Luckily we had arrived just in time to secure a mooring in the harbour rather than having to anchor because later it became a bit of a scramble with lots of rafting up; some boats up to 4 deep. 




When it became ridiculously crowded sadly a few yachts had to anchor off and use dinghies to get ashore.

When we arrived at Port Trudy the harbourmaster told us to raft up next to another boat - but they clearly didn't want us to moor there as their boat was brand spanking new. They told us they were leaving at 7.30am in an attempt to put us off, but undeterred we said OK and moored up anyway. This morning there was absolutely no wind but we all had to leave early because of the required 7.30 start. It was clear that our neighbours didn't really want to go at 7.30am, but honour was at stake - so all of us that had been rafted together overnight left the harbour and tried to sail. 



Since there was absolutely no wind at all, we all ended up drifting around for hours killing time until the tide rose and we had deep enough water to get into the marina at Belle Isle. Oh well, I suppose there are worse problems.

But we are here and it is belle!
Entering the Marina de Flot - Belle isle
Le Citadel - Belle Ile

Thursday, 18 May 2017

'Grey Out'

Today was the maritime equivalent of a skiing white out. We woke up to rain, mist, and low cloud; everything was flat and grey. The sea was flat because there wasn't any wind at all.  We were travelling from Treguier to Roscoff and as a result had to motor most of the way.

Leaving Treguier - visibility not great!
To think last Wednesday I was delivering a projected four year business plan to a Board of Directors and yet this Wednesday I had two new jobs.

Job one was Lobster Pot Spotter. No......we were not poaching lobsters for our supper.  My job was to spot them before we hit them and got the rope tangled round our propellor. There are several challenges that I had to face to be good at this job in these particular conditions. Firstly it requires good eyesight (fail one), or glasses that you can see out of i.e. not covered in rain drops (fail 2) and thirdly motivation (I did try to look enthusiastic so only partial fail 3). As luck would have it we didn't hit any so I received a commendation for my diligence!

A lobster pot near miss....
My second job was Bimini Emptier. For our non-sailing friends the Bimini is the navy blue canopy that shelters us from the elements. It is particularly useful in both wet conditions and hot sunshine. It is designed so that a person of normal height can still see ahead and steer the boat. Unfortunately I am not a person of normal height and I could not see anything unless I put my head round the corner of the shelter and got a face full of driving rain.  I only found this amusing for a few minutes of the 7 hour journey today.  There was a fleeting moment when I considered popping down below and swapping my Dubarry sailing boots for a pair of high wedges but then sense prevailed!



To aid me in emptying the rainwater off the top of the Bimini every few minutes (Life of Pi and Waterworld survival movies came to mind) we decided to play some relaxing music so I selected The Swell Season starting with 'Low Rising' in honour of the flat sea and then Tom McRae 'For the Restless' ...nothing to do with my new employment conditions I assure you. By the time we had had Tom on loop a couple of times Greg was feeling depressed, even the normally chipper blue ensign was looking a bit dejected....so we had to change to a bit of Van Morrison! 

A somewhat bedraggled ensign
Just after lunch we adopted a pet. It was a giant moth that had had quite enough of the rain and decided to hitch a lift under our cover.  I named him Drizzle.  He was still looking bleakly over the side when we approached Roscoff... I know how he felt!
Drizzle contemplating Roscoff

Tuesday, 16 May 2017

A lot has happened.....

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted and I haven't had much time to write - but today we are moored up in Treguier, a pretty little Brittany town, and we are planning to have a rest and stay here for the day. I therefore have time to give you a bit of a catch up, so apologies if this is a bit of a long one....

Finally we have left - and if you are planning something similar I should warn you that the last few days are the most difficult. It was really stressful..... and the toughest part wasn't leaving our home of 14 years; re-housing the children or the cat, it was getting rid of the possessions we had accumulated over the past 30 years. We ended up getting a 16 yard skip (which is huge - as big as a fair-sized room!!) and we filled it to overflowing. Jan alluded in her post to the "discussions" we had on this subject so I won't bore you with any more details. Suffice to say I am pleasantly surprised that we are actually together here on the boat rather than glaring at one another from opposite sides of the divorce court!

We left Port Solent very early on Saturday morning and the first nervous moment occurred within minutes. The tide was low (and ebbing) and 25 metres from the marina our depth was showing as zero. If we had run aground at that point we would have had to wait an hour for the tide to fall, then another hour (at least) for the tide to rise again to the level at which we could get down the river. Not a very auspicious start to our adventure. Well we motored forward very slowly,.. and although we slowed a little at one point as the keel grazed the mud, we made it (and I surreptitiously breathed a sigh of relief). 


Leaving Portsmouth
We were heading South across The Channel to Cherbourg and as is usual when sailing.....the wind was coming from precisely where we wanted to go. We really just wanted to get there so the purist in me took a back seat and we took the pragmatic decision, we gave up on the idea of sailing and cranked up the motor. The passage took 12 hours with no problems other than that I lost our good bucket overboard. I was trying to get some salt water to wash down the decks - its good for the teak and will kill the mould that has accumulated over the winter months. Unfortunately the bucket lanyard wasn't tied on securely (not one of my knots I am sure) so we motored on whilst the bucket quickly and quietly sank to a watery grave.

Entering Cherbourg
In Cherbourg as a reward for finally leaving we treated ourselves to supper at one of our favourite restaurants Le Pily. If you are ever in Cherbourg I would strongly recommend that you visit. They have 1 Michelin Star; the food is exceptional and compared with England it is very reasonably priced.





From Cherbourg we were going to St. Helier in Jersey and once again the wind was bang on the nose,... so once again we were motoring. I was a bit nervous because we had to pass through the Alderney Race and conditions there can be pretty ugly. 

Cap de la Hague
The tide runs at up to 7 knots round Cap de la Hague (and we can only motor at 7 knots) so if you get the timing wrong and you are motoring against the tide you are stuck there for quite a while. On the other hand, if you go with the tide but the wind is against the tide then the overfalls and waves that develop are vicious - you have to pass through at slack water.


We met some quite steep waves when we first entered the race and I was beginning to get a bit concerned, but as my tide tables predicted the tide slackened and the wave height decreased. Phew, breathe another sigh of relief!  

From St. Helier we left the following morning for Treguier, a pretty town in Brittany. Fortunately the wind was kind to us and we could sail most of the way.





We arrived after an uneventful passage and found another nice restaurant for supper. Le 5 was amazing value, with an excellent 3 course meal for E30! 

The best terrine de foie gras I have ever eaten!




We are spending the day here in Treguire, doing boat chores; sending e-mails and chilling. 


Tomorrow we are off to Roscoff....



Saturday, 13 May 2017

Final madness.....

Well this is the first time I am posting on the blog and I am pleased to say that I can report that Greg and I have not had a single cross word or row during the 12 hour crossing from Port Solent to Cherbourg. 

Why is this worthy of comment I hear you asking? Well the truth is, we have been rowing at an extreme level for the past month. The stress of dismantling my nest of 30 years, battling with Greg's desire to just go (he ordered a 16 yard skip and was very gung ho about its contents!) I have been clinging to my memories and memorabilia like a limpet on a rock. The final day before we set off was epic. Today in the calm and relaxing atmosphere of the waves, the sea and the sky I found myself reflecting on what actually transpired.

There are some of you who will be receiving weird parcels on Monday. Jenny Cowell you will receive a parcel that looks like a leg of lamb wrapped in a black bin liner. It is actually a bundle of leather remnants and two pairs of lederhosen from our Austrian phase. Why have you received them... because you told me you were planning to make animals from leather ( and I believed you!) and you told me how to clean suede but I forgot the instructions so I've sent them to you for restoration. Sue Johne will have received a belated birthday present. Abi Veevers will have received two books, in separate envelopes with no message but only because they got left behind from the charity shop run and I couldn't bear for them to go on the skip. We only had small envelopes left as Greg had already thrown the whole of the office filing cabinet on the skip. Chris Scott I returned that book you loaned to me 12 years ago. 

And then in the midst of the chaos of packing I made Greg go to the post office with all of this stuff. Actually I'm amazed that didn't create a bigger row. 

My blood pressure did however rise off the scale when the new tenant Alan pitched up in the hope of finding some calm because he was rowing with his wife at their end of things. Alan and Greg then proceeded to compare notes on the unreasonableness of their partners packing and retention habits... when I saw them doing a high five and man hug I went ballistic! So leaving my lovely Thicket Meadows was extremely traumatic. I have had several wobbly and tearful moments of sadness, anger and now joy. As we were crossing the channel today, the sun was out and all of the stress behind us; Lou Reed came on the playlist singing Perfect Day and I cried with happiness. It has been traumatic and doubt filled but now we are actually off...I know its right for both of us at this point in our lives.

Sunday, 7 May 2017

Packing my paramotor

I fly a paramotor - a paraglider with a motor; and Jan and I have had some long "discussions" about it and whether it has a place on board Viridian.



Obviously I want to take it; unfortunately Jan is somewhat less enthusiastic. I don't think the problem is that she is worried about whether I crash and hurt myself, it's more that it takes up some space that could more usefully be allocated to something (anything) else.

I think it will be wonderful to fly around some of the places that we visit, here is a video of a recent flight by the river. 




Anyway we have finally agreed that I can dismantle it and store it in the front cabin whilst we are alone on the boat. Here is some time-lapse footage of me breaking down the paramotor - as you can see it ends up quite small



When we have guests on board I will find somewhere ashore to store it. I thought that was a pretty good compromise.

Anyway, although it must be said that I have had one or two mishaps as I have been learning to fly, I am now getting a bit more proficient and a bit more confident - so you can look forward to some video footage from the air.

Friday, 5 May 2017

Getting rid of stuff is hard!

Since we now have a departure date we have started to try and get rid of some of our stuff, but I must warn you that it is hard,...very hard. 

At the moment we live (and have lived for 14 years) in a 4 bedroomed house. Over these years we have accumulated what now seems like a huge amount of stuff, but we are about to move to a smallish boat so there is a vast amount of our belongings that simply won't fit. What do we do with it?

Storage is horribly expensive - i was shocked. You will find that for most furniture if you are travelling for more than a couple of years, then the storage cost will be more than the cost to replace the item with new. We have tried to find friends who have the space to look after our more precious or valuable items, but what to do with the rest?









Well we have no time left (we are leaving next week) so we have decided to give everything away or throw it away. We have laid all our things out and our friends have been invited round to take what they want tomorrow - after that everything goes on the skip. It's a stressful experience because whilst its quite cathartic to get rid of redundant rubbish, its quite traumatic to throw away things that you like and you think are valuable but you have no room to store. 

Jan and I have already almost come to blows about what is worth storing and what should be thrown, no doubt there will be more serious discussion later on in the night. We will get there.....