Wed 8th still in Ile De Yeu
Wed 8th
Found out yesterday when checking email etc that a couple we had met in Ardglass (David & Jeannette on Grey Dove) are not having much good luck lately. They arrived in Ardglass just after us (catamaran – motoring – no mast), I was still busy tidying up after getting into the marina and didn’t pay much attention – thought it was ‘work in progress’!! It turns out that their mast & boat parted company just south of Isle of Man. However, more mis-fortune follows and …. well you can read the rest on their blog at www.yotblog.com check the index of entries and look for Grey Dove. We wish them well and hope that things start improving for them soon.
There have been two crew meetings today:
1 – someone ( the Boat Beast is getting the blame so far) thinks it’s funny when we are at sea in large waves to make a noise like a duck and a smell like there’s something decomposing in the bilge. The captain has decreed that it is not funny and must not be repeated…
2 – similar problem but this time after omelettes ashore (the BB wasn’t there so can’t be blamed); the omelette may have been made with a bad oeuf (French for egg I think?) – anyway there was a baddy oeufful smell onboard and the captain has decreed that omelettes should be avoided from now on…
Found out yesterday when checking email etc that a couple we had met in Ardglass (David & Jeannette on Grey Dove) are not having much good luck lately. They arrived in Ardglass just after us (catamaran – motoring – no mast), I was still busy tidying up after getting into the marina and didn’t pay much attention – thought it was ‘work in progress’!! It turns out that their mast & boat parted company just south of Isle of Man. However, more mis-fortune follows and …. well you can read the rest on their blog at www.yotblog.com check the index of entries and look for Grey Dove. We wish them well and hope that things start improving for them soon.
There have been two crew meetings today:
1 – someone ( the Boat Beast is getting the blame so far) thinks it’s funny when we are at sea in large waves to make a noise like a duck and a smell like there’s something decomposing in the bilge. The captain has decreed that it is not funny and must not be repeated…
2 – similar problem but this time after omelettes ashore (the BB wasn’t there so can’t be blamed); the omelette may have been made with a bad oeuf (French for egg I think?) – anyway there was a baddy oeufful smell onboard and the captain has decreed that omelettes should be avoided from now on…
Update 7th Aug From Ile De Yeu
Sat 4th Aug
After making use of the gratis WiFi access at Café Steven in the ‘arty’ sector of Camaret on Friday night and another night on the buoy we left at about 9:30 French time (1 hour ahead of UK time although its on the same longitude ???). We headed for Iles de Glenan which the pilot book described as ‘the closest to the Caribbean you could get in S Brittany’… every man & his boat was there to greet us ( and greet we did) we were hard pushed to get an anchorage never mind anywhere near the shore, the water was not crystal clear as described. So we parked where we could and left the next morning for Belle Ile.
Sun 5th
Moved from Ile de Glenan to Belle Ile but that was absolutely mobbed when we got there and no suitable anchorage so we continued on down to Ile Houat (about another 2 hours). The anchorage was good holding (just as well with 28 knots overnight) but again very busy, nothing worth visiting ashore so move on next day.
Mon 6th
Had a good although lumpy sail down to Ile de Yeu and arrived about 7:30 local time. The pilot book recommended phoning ahead to reserve a place so we did – ‘we have many places, just come, it’s OK’ . When we arrived a boat met us to say that the marina was full and to raft up outside (next to the ferry jetty). We were 4th boat out on a row of 6 and there were 7 other rows like it. Just as well we didn’t go anywhere though because all of a sudden the word is ‘we can’t stay here – nobody can..’ . So we all have to move into the fishing boat harbour – absolute mayhem and no room for a rowing boat by the time everyone had finished. Best bit is we all do it again in the morning to get into the marina after the morning leavers have left. Tested the driving skills, and not a great deal of fun in a long keel boat – OK for those with modern boats & bow thrusters.
Tues 7th
We need to catch up with laundry, showers, shopping, email etc so will stay at least today and maybe tomorrow. Updating this from a lovely little (but v. busy) town & island , photo's next time.
After making use of the gratis WiFi access at Café Steven in the ‘arty’ sector of Camaret on Friday night and another night on the buoy we left at about 9:30 French time (1 hour ahead of UK time although its on the same longitude ???). We headed for Iles de Glenan which the pilot book described as ‘the closest to the Caribbean you could get in S Brittany’… every man & his boat was there to greet us ( and greet we did) we were hard pushed to get an anchorage never mind anywhere near the shore, the water was not crystal clear as described. So we parked where we could and left the next morning for Belle Ile.
Sun 5th
Moved from Ile de Glenan to Belle Ile but that was absolutely mobbed when we got there and no suitable anchorage so we continued on down to Ile Houat (about another 2 hours). The anchorage was good holding (just as well with 28 knots overnight) but again very busy, nothing worth visiting ashore so move on next day.
Mon 6th
Had a good although lumpy sail down to Ile de Yeu and arrived about 7:30 local time. The pilot book recommended phoning ahead to reserve a place so we did – ‘we have many places, just come, it’s OK’ . When we arrived a boat met us to say that the marina was full and to raft up outside (next to the ferry jetty). We were 4th boat out on a row of 6 and there were 7 other rows like it. Just as well we didn’t go anywhere though because all of a sudden the word is ‘we can’t stay here – nobody can..’ . So we all have to move into the fishing boat harbour – absolute mayhem and no room for a rowing boat by the time everyone had finished. Best bit is we all do it again in the morning to get into the marina after the morning leavers have left. Tested the driving skills, and not a great deal of fun in a long keel boat – OK for those with modern boats & bow thrusters.
Tues 7th
We need to catch up with laundry, showers, shopping, email etc so will stay at least today and maybe tomorrow. Updating this from a lovely little (but v. busy) town & island , photo's next time.
3rd Aug (Update from Camaret)
Fri 27th
More of Padstow and a chance to update the web diary with some pictures via the WiFi access in the Old Ship pub (they only ask that you make a contribution to the Lifeboat fund). On Saturday we got ready to leave by catching up with laundry, showers, and topping up with diesel and fresh water; after which we moved out of the harbour to a buoy in the bay ready for an early morning start to the Scillies.
Sun 29th July
We left at 5:30am to head south , the wind was not very good and we had to use the motor most of the way to make a decent speed. However, we arrived in the Scillies and dropped the anchor at one of the un-inhabited islands (Great Ganilly). What a difference – from one extreme to the other! From being in the goldfish-bowl of Padstow where people are sitting on the harbour wall above the boat, swinging their legs over your head and looking at you as though we’re part of a ‘Big Brother’ show to the absolute peace and quiet of being the only boat at anchor and the only loud noise is the sound of the fish jumping….. Blisssss
Next day – Monday – we moved the short distance to Hugh Town on St Mary’s and picked up a visitor mooring so that we would be closer to the shops and be able to stock up for the planned passage across to La Coruna. One problem was that the weather window that we were going to wait for in the Scillies seemed to be here waiting already -- waiting ready for us to cross -- try to explain that to the crew ‘ we may be leaving tomorrow ‘. Well; we went to the shops and stocked for the siege of the sea but it was noticed that there was some apprehension – time to have a crew meeting…
The outcome of the meeting was that as we had already discussed and agreed that if the weather was too bad to cross directly to N Spain then we would do a shorter hop to France and continue down the coast south. There had been no chance to prepare (mentally) for the crossing and it was not worth causing extra stress in rushing straight to Spain. ( I think that Bill Bligh should have had more crew discussions – but then Pitcairn would not have children with freckles & ginger hair..)
Tues 31st
12:00 (ish) left Hugh Town to cross the English Channel to somewhere near Brest and ended up going into Lampaul bay on Ile D’Ouessant. The overnight trip across was a good sail and because we knew it would be busy with shipping we decided to stay up together and just take turns at cat-napping. The main plan to cross the main shipping Traffic Separation Scheme in daylight worked but there were still a lot of ships to be aware of during the night. Arrived at about 14:30 BST on Wednesday 1st August ( or 3:30pm French time).
Thurs 2nd Aug
Left from Ile D’Ouessant at about 9:30 BST to Camaret which has a bit more in the way of shops etc. Talk about in at the deep end though – our ears (or brain) haven’t yet changed to picking up the French language but we try to slow things down by explaining in pigeon French that we are sorry but we don’t speak very good French – we are from Scotland (with a smile). And the Auld Alliance is remembered and most people make an exception for us.
Fri 3rd
A day at the shops and looking at the charts & pilot books to work out some options for the next legs.
More of Padstow and a chance to update the web diary with some pictures via the WiFi access in the Old Ship pub (they only ask that you make a contribution to the Lifeboat fund). On Saturday we got ready to leave by catching up with laundry, showers, and topping up with diesel and fresh water; after which we moved out of the harbour to a buoy in the bay ready for an early morning start to the Scillies.
Sun 29th July
We left at 5:30am to head south , the wind was not very good and we had to use the motor most of the way to make a decent speed. However, we arrived in the Scillies and dropped the anchor at one of the un-inhabited islands (Great Ganilly). What a difference – from one extreme to the other! From being in the goldfish-bowl of Padstow where people are sitting on the harbour wall above the boat, swinging their legs over your head and looking at you as though we’re part of a ‘Big Brother’ show to the absolute peace and quiet of being the only boat at anchor and the only loud noise is the sound of the fish jumping….. Blisssss
Next day – Monday – we moved the short distance to Hugh Town on St Mary’s and picked up a visitor mooring so that we would be closer to the shops and be able to stock up for the planned passage across to La Coruna. One problem was that the weather window that we were going to wait for in the Scillies seemed to be here waiting already -- waiting ready for us to cross -- try to explain that to the crew ‘ we may be leaving tomorrow ‘. Well; we went to the shops and stocked for the siege of the sea but it was noticed that there was some apprehension – time to have a crew meeting…
The outcome of the meeting was that as we had already discussed and agreed that if the weather was too bad to cross directly to N Spain then we would do a shorter hop to France and continue down the coast south. There had been no chance to prepare (mentally) for the crossing and it was not worth causing extra stress in rushing straight to Spain. ( I think that Bill Bligh should have had more crew discussions – but then Pitcairn would not have children with freckles & ginger hair..)
Tues 31st
12:00 (ish) left Hugh Town to cross the English Channel to somewhere near Brest and ended up going into Lampaul bay on Ile D’Ouessant. The overnight trip across was a good sail and because we knew it would be busy with shipping we decided to stay up together and just take turns at cat-napping. The main plan to cross the main shipping Traffic Separation Scheme in daylight worked but there were still a lot of ships to be aware of during the night. Arrived at about 14:30 BST on Wednesday 1st August ( or 3:30pm French time).
Thurs 2nd Aug
Left from Ile D’Ouessant at about 9:30 BST to Camaret which has a bit more in the way of shops etc. Talk about in at the deep end though – our ears (or brain) haven’t yet changed to picking up the French language but we try to slow things down by explaining in pigeon French that we are sorry but we don’t speak very good French – we are from Scotland (with a smile). And the Auld Alliance is remembered and most people make an exception for us.
Fri 3rd
A day at the shops and looking at the charts & pilot books to work out some options for the next legs.
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