La Rochelle and beyond – heading back Northwards
Saturday 11th – Thursday 16th July
Days 49 – 54
Saturday evening : the temperature is still an amazing 30˚+++ as we strolled out to find a bar for the Football World Cup with the match between England and Norway set to start at 2300 French time.
There was a real busy – buzzy feel around La Rochelle as this was the first day of a 5 day festival around Bastille Day on Tuesday. The medieval towers were lit with Red, White and Blue and everyone was out, with plenty of bars, restaurants and stalls to catch the passing trade.
We located an Irish bar (“to be sure”) which had the most important thing: Air Con – how cool (literally) was that!? Stuart and Nina joined us, as did many others who were wanting to catch the action, including some Norwegians in our bar. The Norwegians scored first, then England did…. Then the tussle and by full time it was still one each, which means the match goes into a 30 minute extra time. Thankfully England scored a second goal soon into this time and defended well, so England were the victors.
I was so grateful to crawl into my bed – 0200!
Sunday dawned just as hot and sunny and temperatures reached 41˚. We took our dinghy across to the sanitaires (3 minutes) at the Port Office (rather than walking for 15 mins in heat, and back). We tied up on the Port pontoon, climbed the ladder up the wall and thought no more about it. The showers were OK, except they were hot with no ability to turn them down to cold (!) so we came out clean, but much the same temperature… Then suddenly the Port guy was there, telling us off for using their landing pontoon, shouting and wagging his finger at us – oooh la la – he was in a bit of a state!
It was too hot to explore, although we went to find a supermarket for a bit of shopping – mostly liquid refreshment and suddenly our fridge was full! I did a bit of hand washing (washing machine facilities are not always easily available) and this was a good day to do it, as the clothes dried in a jiffy. People came and went on the various tripper boats moored near us and all the time in the background was music and the bustle of the place.
We were looking forward to our friends Steve and Monica coming to join us. Their house is about an hour and a half away near Parthenay (inland) and they were keen to link up with us (and we with them). They found an overnight car park so to spend the evening / overnight together, and also Stuart and Nina joined us for a drink and a meal. Before we went out, we had to pay Ernest Le Glacier a visit. We first encountered his ice-cream shops about 17 years ago on a visit to La Rochelle to see our friend Antonia. His shops sell the most tantalising array of ice-creams and sorbets, as you can see from the list – I chose the pear (poivre) and bergamont orange sorbets in a cup. Incidentally, the spoon you have to eat it with is made out of biscuit!
Stuart and Nina had told use that one of the Vendée Globe boats had come into their basin, so we went to inspect “Respire” – don’t you think that the mast looks on the backward slant? But what a machine? – just incredible!
After a drink, we found a restaurant (out of the sun, although my dress was sticking to me for sure) and we settled down to an evening of delicious cuisine: Sea Bream on a bed of mashed sweet potato and a Café Gourmand for dessert for me.
The evening had a late ending, sitting on Boni with Steve and Monica, ensuring that we didn’t de-hydrate (I’m not sure the gin evaporated though)!
This was the hottest I had ever been in bed – no need for any covers – lying there impossible to cool down with the sweat soaking into the pillows – unreal!
Monday dawned equally hot; after a breakfast bought from the local Boulangerie of crosissants, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins and a chouquette, we said our farewells to Monica and Steve and we went into town to find the market place and have a little around.
The architecture is stunning – they have all their important buildings right in the centre here – the Hotel de Ville, Palais de Justice and so on; there are many, many shops here in La Rochele, a mixture of big names like Yves Saint Laurent, Rolex, Omega, Cartier, Dior as well as very nice fashion and home accessories – very smart, very stylish.
After a coffee, we watched an acrobat in the street and then got back to Boni; it was time to pack up and go as the tide was rising and we were off to Le Bourgenay on our way back north.
There was a NW wind blowing 8 – 10 knots, eminently suitable for a sail (at last). Infact, out to sea, it was more like 13 – 15 knots and we were over-pressed, so put in a reef in the main and had only half the Genoa out. (If you have too much sail up on Boni, she starts rounding up towards the wind and gets out of control). The wind didn’t last the trip though and after a couple hours the wind ebbed away and we motor-sailed into Bourngenay.
The long visitors pontoon was pretty empty, but the Port dory man cam and asked us to move up as close as possible to the next boat (we didn’t) and no more boats came in. One of the Gendarmerie vessels was in port with us.
On Tuesday our objective was St Gilles-Croix-en-Vie and it was important to arrive a couple of hours after low water. The first prize today was the sighting of dolphins! As soon as they were there, then they were gone – not even enough time to grab the camera. Even if I had the camera in my hand – dolphins are notoriously difficult to photograph. However, there were about 3 of them and they were big, so definitely dolphins, not porpoises. We are on spring tides (the biggest, fastest tides) so there is not much water at low tide. As we entered into the long approaching harbour wall to the proper harbour we overtook another boat – similar to ours – an Oceanis 351 – so a meter longer. The helms lady was screaming at us; she seemed very stressed that we had overtaken her (although she was going very slowly)! The tide was flowing in fast to St Gilles and we wanted to re-fuel at the fuel berth, before berthing. This can be a bit of a caper, and today was no different as there was a sailing boat already fuelling. The port dory lady had greeted us and we explained we needed fuel and we would have to wait, so we circled around. Soon, Madam Stress arrived and started shouting for us to get out of her way! Yes, and did I say the tide was flowing fast? No? Well, it was, so you have to use your engine wisely. Madam Stress wasn’t taking any prisoners… and she wasn’t being very clear about what she wanted to do as she was in such a state – I almost thought it was a case of Turettes… Finally, she got past us, the Dory lady in hot pursuit to get her berthed and we went to the now vacated fuel berth.
Today is an important day for France – it is 14th July, which is Bastille Day – a national holiday and festival in France, commemorating the storming of the Bastille (a major Parisian medieval armoury, fortress and political prison) on 14th July, 1789, which is a major event within the French revolution. We wandered into town and there was a definite festive atmosphere with a community band and dancers on the front.
Busy, so we found a quieter spot for a refreshing drink. Today was also important for France as they were playing Spain in the world cup… It was interesting to note that during the match, very few people were about. Sadly for the French, Spain won (quite rightly, as they were the better team); but a bit of a dampener for the French. Les Artifice (fireworks) were let off at 2300 from the beach in a brilliant display.
Our evening meals!
Wednesday dawned grey with the sound of thunder in the air….
…. we didn’t want to be late leaving as the tide was on the ebb (going out), so a 0915 departure was good. Bob skillfully sprung off from the bow, reversing swiftly into the flow and we were off! Heading out to sea, past the southerly cardinal (danger to the north) and a good wind to sail in the general direction of Ile-D’Yeu.
Despite not being able to make the course we really wanted, we were able to have a really good sail – full sail up utilising the 8 knot NW wind, which translated to 5 – 6 knots of speed over the ground. Of course, it meant that we would have to tack (go in a zig-zag pattern to reach Port Joinville on D’Yeu). Here Bob & Izzy are taking it in turns to steer the boat (Izzy is our self-steering girl).
After about 4 hours, with only about 30 minutes to go, we took in the sails and motored up & into the Port. The pontoons here are not my favourites… no cleats – just hoops – which are a pain to be honest as you have to thread (your usually long mooring rope) through the hoop and back to your boats’ cleat. Otherwise, you tie a bowline onto the hoop and then attach it to you boat.
The good thing was that it was substantially cooler (although as soon as you get into port, the temperature does seem to rise a few degrees). After a salad lunch I had a “rest”, or as my dad would have called it a “zizzzz” – the last three late nights had caught up with me. My slumbers were eventually disturbed by some banging. This was Bob investigating our bilge pump. Could I help please? Well, of course, just let me wake up first!
We dismantled the pump and took the whole thing off. Could I blow down this pipe? Hmmm – didn’t look too attractive, however, with a good wipe off, I put my lips around it and blew, and blew, and blew – it wasn’t clear, that was for sure. After checking that the manual pump worked, which it did, we abandoned the project for now – to be continued (can’t wait)!
We got the bikes out (which is a bit of a mission, but totally worth it) and cycled into town; called by a chandlery to see if we could get some gas (Gas bottle no. 1 had run out a few days ago) and the man there recommended a place. We went to the fish shop for some Crevettes and Merlan (which is whiting) for supper and to the super market for a few things too. After our fishy supper we went to the bar where they were showing the football: England vs Argentina. Oh dear – what a disappointment! We lost and the Argentinians went through to the final which is on Sunday.
Port Joinville is a very busy port – a container ship arrives at least once a week and ferry boats are in and out every day! Otherwise a helicopter flies over and there are a couple of tractors which seem to race up and down the harbour wall delivering boat trailers…
Thursday 16th July – we woke to no wind and much cooler temperatures – 21˚- phew!
Today we cycled to the northwest of the Île-D’Yeu and then back inland to the Grand Phare, which we paid a visit to. It is interesting to see that this lighthouse is not built on a rock or out at sea, but about half a mile inland. What a sensible thing to do – you can build it easily, have accommodation around it and nowadays it is also accessible to the tourists who would like to have a look.
The original lighthouse was built in 1828, however, it was bombed in WWII by the Germans in 1944, as was the other lighthouse on the island. It was rebuilt and finished in 1950, it’s 42m tall with 198 steps (that’s the gym workout done for the day!) – hence it’s rather modern look. Bob wasn’t too keen on going up – but he did make it to the top. The spiral staircase that takes you there is made from marble slabs and you are greeted at the top by the most fantastic views; it was automated in 1980 the Fresnel light can be seen 27 miles away!
The views from the top were stunning!
It was a shame that there was nowhere to have a drink there (these guys are missing a trick), but we swigged on our bottle of water, jumped back on the bikes to visit the old Citadel, which is rather hidden in a wooded area. There was an “exposition” (display, with some information about the place) – but it was all totally in French – je ne comprends pas!
After a bit of hand washing, we had some Soupe-de-Poisson for lunch – then some chill time (and time for me to write this!)
Beautiful flowers on this island! 
