So up at a reasonable time.
My weight is still terrible even after a fasting day.
We decide to try the nice looking shower facilities here at the
port. They have little self
contained bathrooms. Unluckily the
one I chose seems to have a problem.
The shower is only a dribble and the water is ice cold. So I have to go to Richard’s cubicle which
is just fine. Then Richard goes off
to the bakery to get breakfast.
Despite my dreadful weight we decide to have a French breakfast of
croissants and bread. We have only
had one other this trip so far.
Now that breakfast is over it is time to think about moving on. I am still worried about the boat in
front of us, but that problem is quickly solved when we see them go out on a
cruise with what looks like a class of school children. So we slip our mooring easily and off
we go. As we leave the port the
wooden gaffer is just on its way back, so we timed our departure well.
Again the winds are very light, but we only have about 6 miles to
go. So we put up the sails and
make a gentle pace out to sea for three miles to dump the holding tank and make
an appropriate tack to take us to port St Laurent where we have booked a berth
for a week while we go to Oslo. We
are sedately going along at about 3knots until we go about. We are always better on port tack and we
are now more on a reach so we are up to 5 knots. The sun is shinning brightly, although it is not that
warm. But we have a pleasant sail
to the port. We can just make out
the Alps. I forgot to mention in
my last posting that yesterday it was absolutely clear and we had a wonderful
view of snow capped Alpine peaks.
Today is not so clear, but still nice.
As we travel along there is another weather update on the radio. They are now forecasting a gale for
this afternoon. It is just as well
that we will be in port long before that.
We arrive at the harbour just after 1:30 and moor at the welcome pontoon
in front of the harbour office.
None of the ladies Richard dealt with in making our reservation are
there (it being lunchtime) and it takes the men there over half an hour to work
out that we have booked and are due to stay for a week. Eventually they find our details and
assign us a berth. It is a good
spot right near the toilets and the harbour office and all the other
facilities. There is not much here. No shops, bakeries or launderette. We shall have to go in to town for all
of that, which is about 2 km away.
But Richard does a recce and finds that there is an excellent bicycle
path right into town, so it looks like I will be on the bike tomorrow to do the
laundry.
We can’t hook up to the electricity on this pontoon and the marina does
not provide free adaptors. So
Richard goes off to the chandlery to buy an adaptor, which we will probably not
use again. This place is really
quite expensive. This trip to Oslo
is getting to be a rather bigger deal than originally envisioned. I sit out in the cockpit reading a
book. It is really hot and sunny,
but I can see really dark clouds coming.
At about 4:00pm the storm arrives.
The wind gets up. It is
blowing 33 knots here in the marina, so it must be bad at sea. Just as well we are tucked up safe and
sound. It also starts to
rain. Just showers, but it is
quite cool and blustery. This is
the first rain we have seen so I guess we can’t complain too much. I hope it gets better for tomorrow when
I have to get out on the bike!
When the weather has calmed down a bit we take a walk around the marina. The edge is just filled with
restaurants and bars. We first go
back to the chandlery. They
arrange for an electrician to come and see us tomorrow to look at our fuel gauge
and the gauge on the holding tank, neither of which is reading properly. He will come tomorrow morning. He can only help if the problem is
electrical. We shall see. On the
way back we stop for a drink at one of the bars. We seem to have hit the right spot. All the locals are here including the
staff from the chandlery. Back to
the boat and cook dinner on board.
Now trying hard to keep our eyes open. We haven’t done much today, but we are both tired.
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