I didn’t write up the blog last night because we
had no internet access. On Sunday
morning we set out quite early from Port Pin Roland and headed east to Le
Lavandou, about 25 miles. We fondly remembered the
place from when we used to holiday in this part of the world with the children
before we bought the house in Dinan.
The weather was bright but there was no wind to speak of (never went
above 5 knots) and what there was, was on the nose. So we never even opened the sail bag on the main and just
motored the 20 miles to port. The
books told us that there is a visitor pontoon and we found it without problem,
but it was completely full. On one
side there were four sailboats of about our size. On the other side two huge boats had used up the whole
pontoon especially with long lines.
We thought about rafting up to one of the large boats, which was a Brit,
but in the end we just perched on the fuel pontoon to await mooring
instructions. This was the first
mooring of the season and was pretty ragged. I didn’t jump off and even with the help of the Brit on the
large boat, we struggled. We hope
to get better at this.
Richard comes back from the Harbour Office with
instructions to moor stern to at the other end of the marina. So off we go to find our space. It is a bit of a shock when we get
there. We are supposed to cram
ourselves between two moored boats.
Firstly I can’t see how we will fit between them and secondly, I can’t
visualize how we will turn in the short space between the pontoons. But Richard does a really wonderful job
and gets us in with no problem. I
push one of the boats aside as we slowly slide in. The other boat has its owners on board and they are very
helpful.
Then comes my bit to pick up the line at the
pontoon and walk it forward until I come to the front line attached to a chain
on the bottom of the harbour, to keep us forward. I pick up this disgusting line covered in shells and some
sort of gelatinous growth only to find that it runs under the boat next door
and there is no way I can use it hold us forward. Then the nice man from the boat on the other side climbs
over to the empty boat and takes ones of its lines off and hands it to me! It seems that the boat owner has used
two forward lines on his boat, leaving none for us. I have no idea how we would have worked out what to do if it
hadn’t been for the helpful neighbour.
So we are safely tied up and decide to go and look
at the town. We are not very
impressed. I don’t think much has
been done to the place since we were here maybe 30 years ago! It is looking rather tired and down and
heel. I think the same can be said
for the marina. It is rated fairly
highly in the Cruising Association materials, but it is very basic. We can’t attach to the water, so we
can’t fill up or wash the boat. We
do have electricity. The toilet
block is out of the ark and when we go to shower the water is barely
tepid. I must remember to shower
on board if I am not impressed with facilities. The French seem very haphazard about such things in marinas.
On board I cook dinner - Moules. I bought some vacuum packed mussels on
Saturday and they claim they will be good for today. They taste OK, if a bit salty, but after eating them both
Richard and I get a minor case of the runs, so maybe I’d better not buy those
again.
On Monday morning we are keen to move on. Richard originally planned for us to go
to Cavalaire sur Mer, another place we used to visit. But it is only 9 miles away, and not so exciting. So instead we head to St. Tropez, again about 25 miles away. Today the wind has picked up a little
and had it been in the direction predicted by the weather forecast we might
have been able to sail. But of
course, it was directly on the nose.
Easterlies are not the usual winds here, but we get them. Don’t holiday with us, we always bring
the wrong weather! So again we
have to motor all the way. With
the wind in our faces it feels rather cold (despite being very sunny) and we find we need to wear our
fleeces. Well, at least we didn’t
bring them for no reason.
On the way we pass other old haunts. On our delayed honeymoon in September
1969, we stayed in a cute room, cum flat right near the beach in
Cavalaire. We are pretty sure we
recognized the beach it was on as we sailed past. It was also fun to sail along past Pamplonne and Tahiti beaches
outside St Tropez itself.
So now we sail into the town itself. I am very pessimistic about getting a berth. The books all talk about booking on
line, but Richard is sure it won’t be a problem. We find the Harbour Office and the reception pontoon and
this time get moored up. As we
finish someone comes out of the office and immediately allocates us a
berth. It is not in the old
Harbour, but we did not expect that.
Only big super yachts seem to go there. But the new harbour is only around the corner and we manage
to moor well, stern to. I even get
the right rope for the forward line - eventually.
The sun is shining and it is quite warm. We should have been washing the boat,
but we can’t because we don’t seem to have the right end on our hose to connect
to the water supply. Similarly,
the electricity socket is too big for our plug. So we change out of our grungy sailing clothes and go to
sign in and see what we can do about water and electricity. They are very friendly in the
office. We get an adaptor for the
electricity on loan free of charge.
They do have adaptors for the water, but none which will fit our
hose. So we wind up in the
chandlery and buy a connector that looks like it will do the job.
Back to the boat and yes, the electricity works and
Richard has figured out how to connect to the water. We think we had a suitable connector all along, but we only
invested 6 Euros in the new one, so what the hell.
Back to the town. It is buzzing.
Many more people here than I expected. Also there are dozens of Harley Davidsons all parked on the
harbour front. We find a sign
which says there is to be a Harley convention here in a couple of days, so that
explains all the bikes.
We are on a fasting day today. We have to get our weight down as both
of us have ballooned over the winter.
So we can’t really have a nice drink, but we cannot resist sitting in
the sun in Senequier, the café on the harbour front. We just have Perrier, but it is ever so
nice. This is much better, and it
really is a life ambition fulfilled.
I am sure that when Richard first took me here in 1969 he said someday
we would bring our own boat here, and now we have!
After a long walk around the town it is back to the
boat where we finally give the decks a good clean and scrub. The job isn’t perfect, but it is a vast
improvement. Then to the showers,
much better than yesterday, but even after charging £40 per night to stay here
you have to buy a 2 Euro token to make the shower work! And they close the block down at
7:00pm!
Dinner on board and then another stroll around
town. It is much quieter now. We think we have found a place to eat
tomorrow. We shall see.
We are both shattered, and it is time for bed.
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