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....