Going Inland!

Going inland!

We jumped on the fast train to Paris and somehow managed to get 1^st Class seats cheaper than economy so had a very comfortable ride through the French countryside (which is not unlike NZ countryside) and up to Paris.

                              1^st class seats and you spent the time asleep?

            

After spending a bit of time sorting out how the Underground Rail system works there, we arrived at our Hotel, which was pretty close to downtown Paris and the Notre Dam.

The Underground system works well here and for just over 3 euro you can get on and off and go anywhere.

We found the best way to see Paris and its sights was to jump on an Open Top Bus and get the commentary that goes with it. This, we used as a Research Trip to work out where we wanted to spend some time.

Going up the Eiffel tower was an experience with having to wait in line two hours before we got to the base entry. We chose to climb the two lower stages and are glad we did.  You get to see more of the construction methods they used back then, of which has stood the test of time. The view from the top was worth the wait, Paris is beautiful and we spent Shellys 50^th birthday there.

We saw Sharna, our daughter off as she was heading back to London, then back to NZ from there, and it was a bit sad to see her go as it will be a while before we see any one of the family again.

                        At the Train Station in Paris with our Daughter Sharna

                     

Paris was extremely tidy and there were so many eateries to choose from.

I loved the Man Made Beach on the side of the River in downtown Paris where people have to pay for their site. All the fun of the beach, but with no water to swim in?

Bit like a Pub with no Beer isn’t it?

                                                    Man made beach

                                               A keen Starter at the Bottom

                                                     

From Paris we jumped on another Train and headed for London where we stayed in The Russell Square Hotel, which was designed by the same Architect that designed the interior for the Titanic. The layout, especially the Stairway was pretty much identical to the Ship. I wandered through the Hotel exploring the old majestic ballrooms and formal Dinner rooms that seldom get used nowadays, but you could picture how elegant it must have been in its day.

We jumped on an open top Bus here as well, but it was no where near as good as the ones in Paris and Malta with poor commentary and half the time we had no idea where we were!

We crossed off all the things to see, including walking across and sitting on the London Bridge, as the road was closed for a local Bike Race that was on at the time.

Fooling with Mrs Brown in the Underground, yeah all right -she’s got better legs than me Ok

We joined the masses that waited to see the Changing of the Guard, only for it to be cancelled at the last moment.

Once again it was good to see Paris and London but I was looking forward to getting back on the boat, away from the crowds and back on the water. We flew back to Nice from London and caught the bus back around to Cannes.

Once back, we had left the keys to the Boat with the local Hanse Agent and they had replaced the VHF/AIS splitter and the Multi Charge controller for us under Warranty, so now all Electronics are working (touch wood, tapping the wooden table here!)

                                                    Cannes Beach

                         The prestigious Carlton Hotel where all the Stars stay!

                                                          

Leaving the Marina at Cannes was like trying to cross the Auckland Motorway at peak hour on a push bike with Super Yachts and Ferries trying to back in, exit or both, and the wash outside the Marina was like a washing machine. We headed back to the same anchorage we’d stayed at on the way in, just inside one of the two islands off Cannes. Once past the shallow passage between the Island and the mainland that had the shallow alarm going off, and dodging the little kids from the sailing schools, it was good to be back sitting at anchor, kicking back and having a swim in the warm waters.

On the way south we stopped at St Tropez where we anchored for the night. During the night the wind shifted 60 degrees and came up. We were awoken by a loud bang as another boat had drifted and hit us. By the time I got to the cockpit, there was a French boat trying to come on board, and while I was trying to fend him off, check for damage and wake up, I looked up to see him motoring off into the night. Cheers mate!!
The wind got worse and at 2.30 in the morning, we had to move and made the decision to motor across the bay to a more sheltered anchorage. It wasn’t easy, with by now 40 knot winds and water coming horizontal across the boat. I found a Sandy spot and in 8 meters let out 85 meters of Chain to make sure we held our place. There we sat for two days before the wind calmed down. Once again, the weather sites had not predicted the strength and direction correctly, something that is really apparent in the Med with wind that comes out of nowhere.

The damage from the boat hitting us luckily was minimal with about a 20c size chip and a small scratch. After that night, we have our Fenders out every time we are at anchor.

We made our way down the French coast, stopping at little anchorages along the way. One of the nicest ones were Six-Fours off Port Du Brusc.

This was close to the Island of Ile des Embiez that was owned by Paul Ricard. He was a local Industrialist, who rose to fame with his unique drink that he concocted in his bedroom. Ricards went on to be one of the leading Breweries in the world and even built his own Racetrack that Formula One has used. He bought the two islands here and aside from manufacturing his Brew from here and employing many locals whom he made share holders in the business, made them into great places with Marinas and Aquatic research Centers.  He was a fascinating man with a can-do attitude.

We spent a few days here waiting for the Westerly to stop and a predicted Northerly to kick in that would give us a good point of sail to cross the Bay of Leon and down to Roses in Spain.

It was predicted for Wednesday the 20^th, so after an early night we set sail at 3 am that morning. To start with, it was still Westerly and we had to sail at 20 degrees down off our Course but after 2-3 hrs it did start to go to the North and I could bring her back onto the Lay Line. We could ease the sheets a bit and were making good progress at over 9 knots. The whole leg of 126 N Miles took just on 16 Hours and we averaged 8 knots, which I was pretty happy about and Falshator is proving to be a fast passage maker.

Spain!

We got into a Bay just around the corner from Roses, which is on the Eastern side of Spain just south of the French Border and picked up a mooring belonging to the local Restaurant there. It was around 8.30 at night and we just sat back and cracked open a Beer and the tender from the Restaurant was there beside us asking if we wanted a lift to the Restaurant,- much as we loved the promptness of the service, we were pretty beat and communicated as best we could-Thanks, but No thanks, Tomorrow.

                                          On the Restaurant mooring

                                  The Restaurant Tender doing a roaring Trade

                   We had to wait outside the Restaurant for a Table, it was that busy!

                                                             

We motored round the corner to Roses Marina and low and behold, someone actually answered the VHF and we were showed to our Berth.

We stayed there for 3 days, having a good look around before going out and anchoring for another two days, it was a pretty cool place to hang out at with Kids everywhere all around us on Yachts, Windsurfers and Paddle Boards and plenty to do ashore.

I had to get some Dental work done here after an accident with a Bungy Cord and a Block on the Boat taking on my mouth,  and the Mouth/teeth coming off second best. None the less, it was all fixed up in 15 mins and 60 euro, the same work in NZ would probably have been a couple of sessions and closer to $1000!

First impressions of the Spanish are they are friendly and happy people and will do whatever they can to help you out, once they have worked out how to understand you, haha.

                  Pouring down at Roses- I think this is the 3^rd time we’d seen rain in the Med

           One of the beach Bars at Roses, complete with the locals playing their games next door

                                                      The Local Brew!!

We are at present in a Beautiful bay just south of Roses where there are people stacked 10 rows back on the beach and the Bay is full of all manner of Boats. We are leaving in a couple of days heading for Barcelona where I’m hoping to get the replacement Sat Station for the Sat Phone delivered.

The Sat Station accommodates the Sat Phone into it and has an external aerial attached to enable better Satellite fix’s and Wi-Fi to our Laptop whilst at Sea. This is where I’m hoping to get my Weather reports from, but its taken me a couple of weeks to work out that it was faulty and the supplier have come to the party to replace it. It all means pulling out the wiring that took me ages to run through the boat, pack it up and send it back, but it has to be done. Here’s hoping the replacement works!!