30th June – Monday - Ile D’Yeu to Pornic

Just over 6 hours to sail the 33 miles.  The journey was very swelly, I steered most of the way.  The sea was still very roly from the previous few days wind, and the sea is not very deep in this area, which does not help.

We heard from Gordon and Louise on Camira today, they are going to come to Pornic tomorrow, yeah.

We had a walk into town just to get our land legs.  The walk (15-20 minutes) is every bit as pretty as defined in the pilot books. 

The town is overlooked by Blue Beards Castle, which is privately owned, so no nosey-ing.  Still it makes a lovely backdrop.  Lots of streets and backstreets full of small shops.

1st July – Tuesday

Gordon and Louise arrived on ‘Camira’ early in the morning and we went to their boat for a chat and a brew.  It is so good to see people we know.  They have been having the same experience so it was great to swap stories.

Another walk into town.  There are two supermarkets, a small Casino (up near the market place) and a large SuperU up the hill from the train station.

Gordon and Louise came to us for a drink or several.  They have been to places we haven’t and vice versa so we had loads to talk about.

 

2nd July – Wednesday

Walked to Sainte Marie sur Mer.  There is a lot of money around here, the houses are stunning.  We seem to always time the walks for when the shops are shut, so as we needed to replenish wine stocks for our visit to Camira, we walked back to Pornic town through a well kept golf course and stumbled across a stone megalith (like Stonehenge but smaller).  From one side it looked like a pile of old stones, but the other side revealed two entrance ways to two separate rooms, which apparently is very unusual.

We were invited back to Camira tonight and had a great night waxing lyrical, annoying the guy on the next boat, and generally having a lovely time.  Anyone who has been out with us will recognise Mick in the next picture in full flow.

3rd July – Thursday

Pain and Croissants were bought by Mick from the Pain Van.  During the season, a man arrives at the marina every day at 09.00 and sells bread, pastries and croissants from his van, lovely.

My request to go to the Market for my special day was probably not the best idea after a night of waxing lyrical.  All parties were a little delicate.  Nevertheless a good walk clears the mind.

The market is held on Thursdays and Sundays from 07.00 to 15.00 and was worth the walk.  The market hall is surrounded by stalls and more stalls flow down the surrounding streets too.  The food on offer was not really handover cure material so we had a quick skip round and promised to re-visit on Sunday.  Bought some macaroons as a treat.  Back to the boat to enjoy the sunshine.

Lots of lovely messages on text and Facebook.  Annette cleverly got me an electronic crochet book, so i have an excuse to find wool now. (Thanks xxxx)

Meal at the ‘Coeur & Creme’ restaurant on the harbour-side in town.  Great food and not silly money either.

Gordon and Louise popped round with a card (from them and 2nd mate Padstow the bear)  and we had a small drink to celebrate.

4th July – Friday

Lazy day, washing, made covers for windows.  Like mop caps to use as shades on the roof windows.  Made from an Aldi microfibre towel, which had not lived up to expectations.  Everything has to earn it’s living aboard.  If it not beautiful or useful (William Morris) it’s going, no passengers.

Just snoozing when a commotion occurs in front of our boat.  An old boat with four elderly French people had decided to park between ours and the one behind us.  It was quite windy and the old vessel was difficult to manoeuvre.  I was quickly hanging over the bow of our boat fending off their old, solid wood, Boom whilst Mick and another French man were trying to prevent them hitting the boat behinds us.  It would have made a great comedy sketch.  We find out, when all is calm and secured, that they are here temporarily waiting for the tide to rise so that they can go into the old harbour in the town centre.  Lucky us, they will soon be moving it.  However it was still windy when they decided to move on.  A speedy reverse turn across to the other pontoon and a loud bang indicating their connection with a motorboat.  Lots more loud French was heard and they lurched across to the front of our boat and stopped, precariously, once again.  We again helped to fend them off another British boat, while they went to assess any damage they may have caused.  They assessed there was no damage, and they departed tout suite, much to the joint sign of relief from the rest of us.

Very windy night, boat rocking and rolling on the pontoon.  It being the only drawback of this marina, the P1 visitors pontoon has great views of the sea, but is therefore quite exposed.  Still good for sea sickness training.

5th July – Saturday

Windy and Raining all day.  Trip to supermarket, Chicken Curry, first hot meal I have cooked for a while, its been wall to wall salads.

I popped to see Gordon and Louise and confirmed they would be leaving Monday also, having consulted the many weather forecasts.

A lot of time is spent consulting weather data.  We are using several weather forecast channels.  Meteoconsult which is French (but can be read in English) and gives good sea state information.  XCweather gives good information which is regularly updated.  The marina offices all post weather information too, which is handy when the wifi is poor.

6th July – Sunday

A more focused look around the market today.  Loads of stalls selling very tempting dishes.  We were won over by the man selling springs rolls 1 euro each.

We had decided to walk to the other side of the town and found a Carousel and a stall selling ‘Chichi’s’ which are long thin doughnuts which you can dunk in melted chocolate. (Churros in Madrid).  Made me smile alot, yum.

Long walk to walk off the Chichi’s.  Again some stunning houses with their own fishing huts.  They use these to fish normally but also to lower large nets into the water to lure the sea creatures onto.  It’s cheating if you ask me.

Gordon and Louise came for pre-dinner drinks as we all wanted to be able to sail the following day.  We have had a real break this week in Pornic and seeing Gordon and Louise again has really made it special.  We wish them the very best for their onward journey and hope to see them again sometime in the future. 

Pornic Marina has been great.  The marina office is well run and the boys on the boat were very helpful.  The charge went from 28 to 34 euros per night as the ‘Season’ began on the 1st of July.  The showers are clean and free, with covered plug sockets.  The wifi is available in the marina office.  The walk to the supermarket is a delight, and though approximately 20 minutes, we did not tire of it.  Pornic is a must-do stop over in this area.