Up fairly early. The man
who wants our berth came over again.
We have now worked out why they originally did not want us to stay more
than one night. They are moving
all the permanent berth holders onto the pontoon we are on while they replace
the old pontoons and put in new chains and ropes for the forward lines. Anyway, we will leave this morning.
However, first I must go out and buy another pair of shoes! I have to have something I can walk
around in when I get to Oslo. Just
a quarter of an hour on the high heels last night has made my knee feel weak
and uncomfortable. So it is
essential I have flat shoes. This
could have taken a long time, but I fall into a small shoe shop right
away. The first pair of shoes
pinched, but then I found a really comfortable pair in gold leather. Very Cote d’Azur! So I just get on and buy then.
Then off to the market to finding something for our fasting day
supper. The fish market has nice
looking small sea bream, so I buy a couple to grill with a load of veg.
Back to the boat and we make ready to leave. We have phoned the marina in Juan-les-Pins and reserved a
space so we have all the time in the world to get there. The wind is light and is coming from
the east (where we are headed, naturally). But we decide to take some long tacks and go via the Iles de
Lerins. And way hay, after a whole
week we are finally sailing!
Although it is only a force 3 we are going along very nicely doing up to
5 knots.
We decide to stop at the islands.
There is a channel between the two islands, Ste-Marguerite and
St-Honorat. The pilot says it is a
nice stop so we head towards there.
It really is lovely, but even on a Friday afternoon in mid-season it is
crowded. It reminds us a bit of
East Head in Chichester Harbour.
The anchorages cover more space than East Head, but not a lot. There is every sort of boat there
from ribs to super yachts. I
counted over 50 boats, not including the ribs. So we have a nice hour at anchor and then set off to Juan-les-Pins. We even get to sail all
the way there. Will wonders never
cease?
The Port Gallice in Juan-les-Pins is at the end of the town almost on
the Cap D’Antibes. It is well
organised and they meet us at the berth and help with our lines. The weather is lovely. It is coolish, but the sun is bright
and this port is protected from all winds, so it feels warmer than it is. We just laze in the cockpit in the sun
for a while. Then decide we must
get on with doing something.
So, Richard gets out the bicycles. I don’t think I have mentioned them. Richard has a Brompton folding bike that
I bought him some years ago. We have taken it on the boat every year since then
until last year when we thought we wouldn’t because we could not get it home
again. But he really wanted us to
have bikes on board. So he bought
me a second hand Brompton on E-bay and we brought both bikes down in the car
when we came a few weeks ago. The
problem is that I never liked cycling and I have more or less forgotten how to
ride a bike. Richard has made me
get on his bike from time to time and we did take a longish ride a few years
ago when we took the boat to Holland.
But I have no confidence and I am very wobbly. But we have the bikes so we took them out. We only rode around the marina. I started to get used to riding again,
but the road to town is busy, with no dedicated bike route, so we didn’t ride
out onto the road. Maybe next
time.
After trying out the bikes we decided to walk into town. We wanted to come here because we had a
family holiday here with my parents and the children when Colin was about 6
years old! We really liked the
town and remembered that it had a lovely beach. Well of course things have changed. It is much developed and
a lot of the sea front is now all private beaches and beach restaurants. But we did find the main public beach
and it is still nice. All very
nostalgic. We have sussed out the
shopping, which isn’t very good, but should keep us going.
We get back to the boat and make dinner. The fish is lovely.
After dinner it has cooled down and Richard has been looking for an
excuse to turn on the boat heater to see if it still works – which it
does. We have big plans for
tomorrow, but you will have to wait for then to read about it.
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