Week 18
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Went to the internet cafι to check on the winds and weather for the next few days as really need to think about moving on. The flow on the Rhone is just too fast for us so Darryl decided to find out about sailing around the coast. He spoke to Port Camargue where we would have to have the mast put back up and they could fit us in at 10.30 am tomorrow!! As much as we would loved to have stayed in St Gilles with our new friends (and had dinner with them again tonight) a decision had to be made and Darryl decided we would have to go for it. So, after some emotional goodbyes and a promise from Bernard and Pascal to come and visit us in Port St Louis, off we set. We called into the lock at St Gilles first just to see what the Petit Rhone was like as it was a perfectly calm day, sunshine and no wind. Sadly the Petit Rhone was flowing at 6km against us and as our little boat only goes at most 8km we would be moving so slowing it would take forever and there was not enough daylight. So, off in the other direction to Aigue Mortes with beautiful scenery along the way as the canal was like a millpond and the sunset was spectacular. We arrived in Aigue Mortes just after dark and tied up on a pontoon for the night.
Thursday 29 November 2007
Up at 6.30am as there is a swinging bridge at Grau du Roi at 8.00am which we needed to make in order to get out into the Mediterranean to get to Port Camargue. The boat was covered in ice when we got up! Made the bridge in plenty of time and off we set, our first time in our little boat in the Med! It was a very cold morning but a lovely sunrise. We arrived just across the bay in Port Camargue about 9.30am and slowly made our way through the vast marina apparently one of the biggest in the world it certainly seemed like it it went off in all directions. At 10.30am prompt the men arrived with the crane to lift the mast and by 10.57am exactly they had lifted the mast and helped put all the stays in place and left us to put on all the ropes, sails etc. By now it was a beautiful hot, sunny day. It took us the best part of the day to get everything back together so decided to stay put for the night and see what tomorrow would bring with the weather.
Friday 30 November 2007
Woke to a lovely calm day so decided to go out into the bay and try out the sails. Once out it was beautiful so decided to carry on towards Port St Louis and see how we did. By mid morning the wind got up to about 20 knots but we decided to carry on as we were making good time. The sea got a rather lumpy and a little uncomfortable (we both had to take sea sickness tablets!). Arrived at the entrance to Port St Louis about 6.00pm. Now, Port St Louis is just the most enormous port you could possibly imagine. The boats coming out and going in were huge and made us look like a little pin prick in the sea. Unfortunately the wind turned against us and we did not get to the Navy Service quay until about 8.45pm and we later discovered we had picked up a fishing line on the propeller which had slowed us down a bit too. But not to worry .. we made it we were absolutely shattered when we fell into bed that night!!
Saturday 1 December 2007
Slept in til about 9.00am and then went to check in. They could not lift the boat out of the water until Monday but we had plenty to be getting on with. We took down the sails we had just put up and secured all the ropes and started getting everything ready to be left for the winter.
Sunday 2 December
A lovely sunny day so we decided to go and explore. The town is about 15 mins bike ride away and very quaint and pretty with a little marina. There are a couple of supermarkets and a few little shops but not much else and the next largest town is over 40km away so no Christmas shopping for us doh! Had a nice lazy day which we both felt we deserved!
Monday 3 December 2007
We were booked to be lifted out at 11.00am and the 2 chaps arrived on time. One was in a particularly bad mood and kept shouting at the other. They lifted the boat out on with a tractor and a hydraulic lift, after a couple of attempts we had started to think they had never done this before! By midday we were successfully lifted out and in a cradle ready to start work. This is when we discovered the fishing line wrapped round the propeller! Started on the list of jobs which need to be done before leaving the boat for the winter its quite a list!
Tuesday 4 December Thursday 6 2007
Lots of work on the boat. Darryl started on cleaning off the old anti-fouling a thankless job that looks like it will take forever whilst Christine started cleaning the inside of the boat. On Thursday Christine sneaked off to the hairdresser to get herself tidied up for starting work next week! Darryl is now beardless again (thank goodness!!!!) and looking much better (well, Christine thinks so anyway!!).
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