On the move again!

At last . Eds recupation period went really well. Jane came down to visit and is now chauffering him between ports. I have a new crew member aboard ,Frenchman 20 yrs old which lightens the load . He's eager to sail so like myself for different reasons is frustrated (mine fuel bills!) by lack of wind Concarneau to Quiberon about 10 hrs again through tricky little passages of rock and lighthouses plus a vigorous current.All went swimmingly even berthing . 

Friday morning was departure from Quiberon marina  which was a lax affair  with refuel first , never a simple task with self pay, strange fuel nozzles and others waiting to fuel up This morning was lax departure with refuel first , never a simple matter but task achieved ; a few more dolphin sightings then  a post sunset anchoring in a tiny harbour on Ile d'yeu. 

Passed Frances newest turbine farm off St Nazaire causing the same problems here as at home!

So one interesting thing happened this morning  when peeing over the side in the anchorage I made a very psychedelic pattern in the water’s  phosphorescence. Brilliant , what an artiste. No photo as every one would have been in trouble ! 

Disaster strikes

 

So the depressing trauma alluded to earlier involves Eddy having a ruptured liver tumour removed the day after arriving in Audierne. Nightmare no buses, taxis not doing dogs 5 k's to the recommended vet! At this point my circumstances proved almost better than being land based. I went to the port office to see if I could borrow a car. Sebastian who spoke immaculate English said I couldn't use his because it was only days old drove me to the vets. Every one there was great and immediately set to Eddy. A woman in the waiting room Agnes offered to wait and take me back about a hour later! She for the next few days when I didn't walk drove me up for the constant checks on progress and decision making.I went to her house and joined her husband for fresh lobster one night. They have been great and he's a master mariner.The Vet Stephanie at Ti-Al-Leoned practice has been the best ever .On her own on Saturday she then operated ,found a big dog willing to give transfusion blood if required. Came out at 2AM to fiddle with Ed's drips ,back three times on Sunday it was always touch and go then in again Monday morning for next appraisal. The decision to let Ed's have a go at helping himself was taken and he's still here. That fact is massively due to a friends brother and wife inviting us to stay for two weeks so dog can recuperate. What a lovely place and so relaxing for me and more importantly dog, the perfect environment and thank god.

We have actually done some sailing during this time .A friend from UK ,David, Steve and his son Jamie helped me move the boat from Audierne to Concarneau .This took about 10 hours and was a perfect sea and wind until the latter dropped off and we motored for a few hours .The high lights of that trip were a racing pigeon landing on Davids head while he was at the helm and pods of dolphins around the boat for a while. Mooring was the usual stressful experience in a strange port with narrow fairways but all went well. Now its a case of seeing whether we can head south or have to rest for Ed's sake.

France and the hunt for new crew

 Having had a very easy time of admin in Roscoff we stayed the night and headed off to Brest.After a messy departure from the mooring the rest of the trip was smoothish with big swells, wind in the wrong direction and the auto helm starting to do its own thing. The first dolphins (porpoises) were spotted, light houses straddling rocks in the middle of nowhere and the night time passage round the Chanel du four were all interesting with by this time the engine running which was how we arrived in Brest in drizzle.This was the point at which my crew man was leaving and the search for new started.The auto helm was an issue that needed sorting ,bad when two aboard, no good when solo.After a 5 km walk to the other marina in Brest because buses do not take dogs which I found out after walking to the top of the hill ,the guys at Uship were brilliant and enabled me to rectify the issue. I subscribed to a French crewing webite which has proved forthcoming in leads yet to be taken but only because of my present trauma!

After a few days I decided to take my first full solo trip which involved departing Brest port and putting 8 tacks in along the narrow rocky shore line of the Goulet de Brest. Straight forward for some may be but hard work with dog as crew  even with only the genoa up .I did have to finish a couple of turns on the motor better than finishing on the rocks. Arrival at Camaret was welcome and what a lovely little port .I relaxed there for a couple of days then emboldened by my last solo effort decided to make for Audierne and pass through the Raz de Seine. The crux of this water way is not to do it in high winds over tide and ideally with the flow in your direction. I made the entrance point within minutes of projected slack tide .Not a hundred per cent sure it was the technical start of the race position but everything went smoothly and had both sails up, another first. Still had to motor though then navigate the narrow channel to the harbour where there were no moorings and minuscule gap between the hammer head pontoons and Starboard marker posts one which appeared in front of me far too close. Fortunately 9.30 pm is a good hour from darkness over here at this time of year. Finally rafted up against a friendly French boat then it just remained to get Ed's across their deck for his constitutional ( this issue arose in Roscoff as well ,)

 This was when the afore mentioned trauma started and is still proceeding hopefully to a positive conclusion.

The start of our travels to France

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My dog , a crew member called Mark and I departed from Chichester UK on 16th June 22 ,having sold the house and intending to live aboard in sunnier climes.

What with Covid and Brexit all plans have changed .My departure was delayed as Mark had Covid and Brexit the bain of all right minded people has caused endless issues. Eventually we were on our way.

First we headed towards Poole ,stayed for a night. left for Alderney the next day stayed for the night then moved to St Peter port Guernsey as a NE wind of gale strength was heading in. That was an interesting stay with a sill to the marina experiencing 4 plus meters of tidal range the pontoon ramps at low tide were angled at about 45 degrees! 

The next port of call was Roscoff. We needed to be there before a certain date to enable Ed's animal health certificate  to be valid .(arrive within 10 days of issue or go home ) why when its valid for 4 months and is more for re-entry to UK than anything?