Hendaye.

     

                                          

What a lovely place after the last marina .The people were really nice but there was a concrete factory opposite with an oil storage facility beside it all night a boat was loading ballast or something very heavy and noisy. 

This place by comparison is idyllic apart from the Spanish across the water holding some kind of drum festival with what sounded like bagpipes in the evening. Fortunately I could only hear the strains of cacophony. This is the view across the river Bidassoa to Spain the border between French and Spanish Basque regions.

More mundane tasks afoot -laundry day hopefully my neighbours don't mind my jocks hanging around. They might have minded my bottomless sailing trip on the way here yesterday, well if you can why not? the only observers would have been residents of Biarritz with telescopes and the big flat fish jumping out of the water, no idea what they were.

Today a friend from UK is arriving and hopefully up for a few longer trips along the Spanish north coast. Meeting up with a previous flat mate from London in San Sebastian tomorrow which was a plan from long ago. Only issue there is I think its a mooring buoy not a pontoon so dinghy trips ashore. 

An incident from Arcachon the other day .I dropped my

paddles in the water and one sank before I could recover it .Much effort to retrieve it failed but my decision was to return to the spot at low tide at 3AM and dive for it. My neighbour had offered me his bicycle to get round the other side .Torch in mouth with boat hook and face mask, off I go. Unfortunately the pontoon security gate was locked at that time so I climbed over with boat hook and snorkel to be be met by a jack booted security women. What the hell was she doing on the one of 45 pontoons at that time? Pigeon french explanation ensued in sheepish fashion .'I'm going swimming for my perdu paddle !' Amazingly it was just below the surface no swim required! Job done and she let me out with out return climb!