Basque Country

Suspended car ferry
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

A tiring voyage from France to Spain - we left la Rochelle at 8pm and arrived in a place called Pasajes at 5am two days later, having hand steered all the way in two hour shifts. It’s hard to imagine the 30-odd day Atlantic crossing like that but people assure us that ‘you get used to it after a couple of days’.
If we thought we had landed in Spain, we were mistaken – everywhere the walls are daubed with graffiti in support of ETA and independence. Professional-looking signs proclaim that ‘You are not in France or Spain, you are in the Basque Country’ and so we made sure to fly the Basque flag along with our Spanish courtesy one in recognition.
The countryside is immediately different – very green and hilly compared to the low-lying beaches along the French coast. Little villages are wedged between the cliffs and built around fishing harbours and sandy beaches. Fish is on the menu everywhere, from posh restaurants to backstreet bars where they serve platefuls of bitesize nibbles called ‘pintxos’. We tried these one night and I found myself eating baby eels in roasted red peppers – actually very tasty.
We have stopped at several small places – Pasajes, San Sebastian (very pretty), Orio, and Getaria. Today we arrived in Bilbao and motored right up the river as far as we could go, the riverside is an amazing mix of shipyards, scrapheaps, pretty hills, fancy housing and abandoned buildings. The most amazing of all was the car and foot ferry that crosses the river suspended beneath a suspension bridge – see photo.
We have arrived in the middle of a whole week of fiesta and the city was accordingly pretty hectic. Whole streets were dedicated to children’s entertainment and music stages and market stalls took up several more. The streets of the old town were heaving, groups of drunken blokes milling about amidst tables of alfresco diners.
We are still getting used to the later Spanish timetable after strict French hours. We arrived at the Guggenheim museum too late to make a visit to worthwhile (20 minutes before closing) but the guy on the counter told us if we came back between 11pm and 2am we could tour the museum while listening to a jazz concert in the hallway!

Island life

We had a 'day off' to explore the south coast of the Ile d'Yeu, staying in a lovely beachside anchorage which turned out to be our rolliest night for ages. The following day we sailed back to the mainland, to Sables d'Olonnes, the starting point for the Vendee Globe races. We were slowly overtaken by a large yacht which sailed alongside for some time, during which we had a brief shouted conversation. On arrival at Sables d'Olonnes, we searched out the yacht, went to say hi and discovered that the 'navigateur', who had shouted over in English, was none other than Vendee Globe competitor Raphael Dinelli (the one who Pete Goss rescued in the Southern Ocean).
The next morning, we were intrigued to see a small gaffer hoisting colourful bunting. They were off 5 miles down the coast to a 'fete de la mer', so we decided to join in the fun. Sailing slowly in the light breeze, we arrived just too late. A big group of sailing boats was dispersing after having thrown wreaths overboard for those lost at sea. We spent the night with some of them in the new marina of Bourgenay, where we were treated to a rescue dog demonstration and a late night firework display. Our new found friends on the little gaffer also managed to get us a free berth for the night!
From there, we had a good sail hard on the wind down to the Ile de Ré, where we locked into the wet dock and caught up with friends who were holidaying in a campsite on the island. The weather has been amazing, consistently hot and sunny for the last couple of weeks, long may it last...

Back in salty water

How many boats can you get in one lock!
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

On our return trip from Redon, we stopped at a little village called Rieux, where we had been recommended a good cheap restaurant, only to find it was closed for the whole month of August. Instead we made use of the cheap electric to put our washing machine to work. With a fresh breeze and temperatures up to 35°, it took minutes for stuff to dry.
We exited the Vilaine the the only lock, where we jostled for space with another 30-odd boats. Amazingly, most boats were squeezed in and we passed through unscathed amidst the carefully controlled chaos.
We have been astounded by the sheer number of boats out sailing along the French coast. On all our trips, there has been a whole line of white sails stretching out in front and behind us. Our red sails must still stand out, judging by the number of boats that whizz out to have a look and take pictures. To Dave's neverending delight!
From la Vilaine, we have done two day-hops, to the fishing port of le Croisic, and to the beautiful island of Ile d'Yeu. It's getting more touristy as we go, we arrived yesterday to huge crowds of people on the dockside awaiting a ferry back to the mainland. These ferries are slightly bigger than Sea Dream, Dave counted twelve 50-man liferafts on each side of one big ferry. Work that out!

Caves in Morgat

Caves in Morgat
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We ended up spending nearly a week in Douarnenez waiting for the wind to stop blowing from the south. We caught up on lots of jobs on board and enjoyed a trip to the circus (ethics may have been a bit questionable with lions, tigers, camels, even performing dogs and cats..)
We had our first visitor from the UK, Chloe, who joined us at the holiday town of Morgat, with its lovely sandy beach and deep caves in the rock face. She joined us for the trip through the Raz de Sein, which didn’t live up to its fearsome reputation. The wind died before we got there and we motored round the headland in an oily-smooth sea. We spent a pleasant evening in the little fishing harbour of Audierne, dining at a waterfront restaurant and watching yachts getting caught on the shallow sand bar at the entrance of the river.
After that, we have been blessed with perfect sailing weather – winds from behind, average force 4. We are now in the Vilaine river, having coast-hopped our way down. The first stop was Benodet, a beautiful river reminiscent of Dartmouth but with an overwhelming number of boats packed into marinas at the entrance. Further up was much more tranquil with fantastic waterside properties, almost castles.
At Lorient, we crossed paths with a big sailing fleet, ‘La Route de l’Amitié’, some 150 boats, mostly French, (some British) doing a tour of Finistère, including some old Breton fishing boats. We got chatting to one of the organisers, whose crew included a man who knew a man who keeps his (junk-rigged) boat on the Exe and who knew us. It’s a small world!
Next stop was the Morbihan, a sort of inland lake full of little islands where we spent a couple of days. Being tidal, the current can get quite fierce in places. Our speed topped 10 knots going with the tide, but against it we found ourselves sailing nicely through the water but actually going backwards! We met up with old friends here who we originally met seven years ago travelling through the French canals in Sea Dream. It was lovely to catch up with each other and our respective new bigger boats.
We passed through a lock to enter the canalised Viliane river, where the first stop was la Roche Bernard, where our friends keep their boat. Today, we have come some 15 miles up river to the town of Redon, a journey which brought back memories of our canal trips in Sea Dream.
So far we have not been charged for mooring anywhere since we left England, the sun is shining here, life is pretty good!