The Bay of Biscay

We had decided to take advantage of the stationary high pressure system out in the Atlantic which was giving us a few days of northerly winds. We planned to leave Sunday having used our stay five nights get a sixth free card we had been given on first arriving. Our free night also gave us a chance for a bit of a blowout at a local restaurant, we had spotted the restaurant earlier in the week it stood out because of a notice of closure pinned next to the menu, the proprietors were about to retire. It seemed a good chance to sample some good food. I had a fishy starter and Lynne was shown by the waiter how to make a " moules spoon " with a fork and shell.

We had a few beers afterwards in the 'Vintage Bar' and we were still up in the morning at nine o'clock!

We slipped out of the Marina into very light winds, there was enough however to allow the "Aries " self steering gear to steer the boat. This is a quite remarkable contraption that steers just using the power of the wind and water. The wind vane is trimmed to be edge on to the wind, this then falls over as the wind comes onto one face or the other, this sideways movement then turns a rudder, the rudder then is pushed sideways by the water flow and pulls the tiller lines thus turning the boats rudder bringing the boat back on course and bringing the wind vane back to vertical..........simples!

It was important to us that we got into passage mode, which means conserving our batteries, the Aries uses no power at all. As we had 200+ miles to cover, or two days and nights at sea, we needed electricity to power our instruments and lights and as Dark Tarn is primarily a sailing vessel and very Eco-friendly, anything that conserved our battery power is to be welcomed. Of course we had also taken the precaution of filling our diesel and water tanks as well.

The wind continued to be light but we were making slow but steady progress.

As night fell the wind began to fill in and was soon blowing a good force 5, at this point we really should have reefed, in fact we should have done it before it got dark as the early part of the night was moonless and pitchy black, this made any sail handling or moving on deck quite tricky especially with the building waves and swell, so we were avoiding the issue hoping that the wind would abate. It didn't. It increased to a good force 6 or what's sometimes referred to as " a yachtsmans gale" Dark Tarn was behaving well, haring along at great speed, doing 8 knots consistently and I saw 9.5 a couple of times, Lynne swears it touched 11 knots at one point!

Fun as it was to be charging along at great speed in a rising wind with waves building as well it was getting a little dangerous so we began to think of what to do. Of course we had left everything too late but after one abortive attempt at dropping the mainsail which left Lynne looking a little worried and me a little stressed, we started the engine to keep the boat head to wind while some frantic gymnastics and lots of shouting finally saw the powerful mainsail dropped and stowed away completely, no more problematic reefing for us! The Genoa alone would be our sail for the next 130 miles and as we were still doing 6-7 knots we were making good progress.

We started to share watches, three hours ' on' and Three ' off'. When it's a little rough Lynnes favourite place to keep watch is our little watch mans chair at the top of the companionway.

From here Lynne can see all around through the doghouse windows and can monitor any other large shipping using AIS on the plotter to her left. It is also warmer than being in the cockpit. The seas increased in size and a considerable swell was building from the North west, when the wind direction changed to a North East direction this made the swell patterns very confused and the boat was being thrown around considerably, too much in fact for either of us to get any sleep. In the morning the situation looked a little better but there was still a lot of swell running after all this is the Bay of Biscay!

Dawn broke with a series of steep grey seas running up our stern.

However on the bright side was that the sun was coming out. We continued watches all the next day and Dark Tarn continued to march inexorably south towards the Spanish coastline a hundred miles away. A grinding sound was coming from the area of the mast and rather than risk a close inspection ( which would have meant raising Lynne, we don't go forward in rough conditions unless we are both on deck ) I had persuaded myself after listening intently below that it was the spinnaker pole that was badly stowed and grinding on the mast, this was again a mistake on my part. We discovered this when with about 50 miles to go we decided to raise the mainsail. The mainsail was fine but the boom vang which is a telescopic strut under the boom which holds it up had sheared away from the mast, two bolts and six rivets had failed, at first I had shouted at Lynne as she had inadvertently gybed during the sail raising manoeuvre, however it seemed on reflection that this was merely the last straw that broke the camels back, and further inspection revealed the rivets to be under length, I silently cursed the Scottish rigger at Largs who had put us at risk by his shoddy workmanship.

I had a bit of a think after effecting a bodged repair and while studying the pilot found out chosen destination Santander to be less than ideal in present circumstances so changed course by a mere 15 degrees to make our new destination Bilbao, same distance but it seemed a more sheltered option and possibly easier to arrange repairs.

Lynne and I were discussing options in the cockpit when we had a visitor.

A tiny, slightly bedraggled and obviously very tired bird landed on deck. He then proceeded to inspect everything including me by landing on my shoulder. He was obviously having trouble with the heaving deck and then chose to try the Aries tiller lines.

When these moved he very comically appeared to promenade around the deck as if he was taking a constitutional.

 Finally after sampling a few breadcrumbs he retired to his new cabin by the liferaft where he stayed until we anchored in Bilbao eight hours later. As the anchor chain noisily clattered over the bow rollers he flew out surprising us both and with a trill trill he flew off towards land a few hundred metres away. 

As we approached Bilbao in the dark, on yet another moonless night the wind finally dropped off and we had to resort to the engine for the last 20 miles. These seemed interminable whether it was because we were tired I don't know but luckily some more visitors enlivened the wee small hours. I first noticed some phosphorescence bombs going off over the side of the boat, these look like bright sparkling depth charges, a quick check revealed the cause, there were two Dolphins sitting and surfing under the bow and they were kicking off phospherecense trails under the water, quite stunning and beautiful. I attempted to video them, I have no real hopes of capturing that moment but if it is usable I'll post it here.

We discovered the harbour at Bilbao was rather bigger and more complicated than we had anticipated but that could also have been just how tired we were. We anchored by the yacht club and between two marinas in the inner harbour, Gatxo is its proper name part of the port of Bilbao and perfectly sheltered. After a quick rum we turned in.

The morning revealed what the night had hidden.

We were anchored just below the famous transporter bridge ( well famous if you like bridges I do ) almost in the heart of the city.

Definitely in the heart of the docks as in the few hours we had been sleeping two enormous cruise liners had berthed.

The repairs could wait we were still a bit sleep deprived and we had a whole city to explore and a new language to learn!

Richard Coeur de Lion

I had decided to take advantage of the Marinas bike loan facility and elected to ride a circular route to the nearest town of any size Talmont-Saint-Hilaire. Lynne declined to accompany me, which turned out to be a clever move on her part as the initial part of the journey was along main roads with heavy traffic. Not something Lynne is fond of, It also proved to be a surprisingly long way!

The town is famous, (I use the term loosely), for being linked to Richard the Lionheart, who was prince of Talmont among his many other titles. So there is a castle or Chateau de Talmont in the centre of town.

The castle is liberally decorated with ' three lions ' there is a fabulous view out over the town which I am guessing would be even better from the battlements.

It seems rather dilapidated on first inspection but is in a very good position strategically being on a hill, the rest of the town is nestled in a natural dip, all roads out of town lead uphill as I was to discover.

It is possible to visit the castle for a small cost and in the high season there are usually displays of jousting ,falconry etc. unfortunately I didn't have the time to spare, being expected back for lunch having been to the Boulangerie on my way back. However I did have time to admire the castle from the outside and also to wonder at the miniature Cog in the canal in town.

Only a proper sailing nerd would be aware that this was a reasonably authentic if much smaller scale replica of a medieval sailing ship, a Cog, usually used for trade and carrying cargo, this would have been very similar to the ships the Normans would have used to invade England in 1066.

All to soon it was time to consult the map and find my way back, I climbed out of town and headed for the small village of La Guilletre near to where the oyster farmers on the estuaire de payre were based and where I had enjoyed oysters for lunch the day before. I soon intercepted cycle path no 4 and was  crossing the salt marshes back towards Bourgenay. There are lots of Heron, white Egrets and even the occasional Kingfisher to be seen............

I called in at the Boulangerie and was back in time for lunch, as I grabbed my stuff for a shower Lynne was just emerging from the showers herself and after we had eaten we decided to go for a walk to investigate getting the bus to Talmont -Saint-Hilaire for a better look around. This proved to be rather problamatic so I suggested we could possibly walk there tomorrow. Meanwhile we had happened on some large groups of cyclists who were obviously doing an organised ride of some description following some blue and yellow arrows, having nothing better to do we followed on foot.

Once again we were surprised to find a whole new world just off the beaten track and we spent a very enjoyable afternoon exploring yet more delightful countryside.

The photo above is of a restored ruin of a windmill, the vines in the foreground were heavy with grapes.

We were only occasionally disturbed by groups of cyclists, however we got a little tired of nodding and going through the pleasantries of " bonjour " to groups of twenty or more as we stood aside!

Good French practise though, eventually we rejoined route 4 that I had cycled that morning and returned to town. A very enjoyable day.

Push bikes and oysters

The following day as we visited the marina office to pay for another night, our nice lady again reminded us that we were welcome to borrow bikes if we wished, I did, but to be honest Lynne wasn't over keen. She hadn't sat on a bicycle in 40+ years and didn't like roads or traffic at all. However I persuaded her that the abundance of cycle paths would mean we could avoid roads pretty much entirely so we asked to borrow two for the day. We had a quick trial run to the boulangerie in the village before eating our breakfast of coffee and croissants back on the boat. I had planned to visit the other side of the river we had discovered the other day as I was keen to see the oyster production close up.

The cycle paths leave the village and after a bit of the ubiquitous pine forest begins to meander through very attractive salt marshes.

The countryside was really beautiful and it was a part of France we don't get to see that often, being as it were " coast bound "

The paths are very well signposted and easy to follow, however they are quite popular and Lynne wasn't yet feeling totally confident on her new conveyance and a couple of times rather shaky and wobbly bits were evident particularly when meeting other cyclists head on in a narrow section or on one of the many bends and meanders.

After 5 or 6 miles of lovely cycling we came to the estuaire du Payre and the home of the Huitre farmers.

We had lunch under some shady trees as in typical fashion the restaurant side of the establishment was closed for lunch. 

We wandered down to the river and walked along the dunes and found a nice spot to sunbathe for an hour or two and went back for a second luncheon of Huitres.

Lynne wasn't sure if oysters were her thing so contented herself with a beer, I had elected to try a mixture of sizes thus I had a couple of no 4s a couple of no 3s and a number 1 and finally a ' pied au Cheval' which is a truly impressive size of oyster.

They were all delicious, the big question and still unanswered in my mind is lemon juice or vinegar?

I believe melted butter is nice but I've never tried it, sounds scrummy though......

As I eat my oysters I could see in the river the oyster beds from whence they came, I believe that oysters taste of the area they come from and a cognecenti can tell just by the taste the particular river or estuary they originate. I can't do that, they taste of sea, subtle hints of all kinds of flavours but all sea to me...... We finished our drinks and my second lunch and headed back towards the marina.

I think I may have been a little over ambitious for Lynnes first bike ride in a lifetime she was very saddle sore towards the end and I had to stop at a cafe for a restorative coffee before we finally got back to Dark Tarn!

But I had had a fantastic day!

Isle D'Yeu to Bourgenay

The morning we had planned to leave Isle d'Yeu was very grey indeed, nonetheless we set off in high hopes into the grey sea covered by a grey sky and tried our best to sail without too much success. We tried full sail, we tried main and gennaker, in the end we motor sailed again as the wind was less than 4 knots most of the time.

We had planned to go to a little place on the coast called Bourgenay, it was a relatively new marina built in 1984 along with a holiday development. We thought it would be a little quieter than Sables d' Olonne. Hour after hour we ploughed through the water heading towards the lighthouse at Les Barges

Eventually it came into view as the visibility cleared, we continued up the coast for another 7 miles until we located the fairway buoy marking the seaward end of the approach channel to the artificial marina.

Thus ended a very uneventful sail of about 33 miles.

The lady in the marina office had already found us a berth Lynne doing her usual sterling job on the radio. A very pleasant and helpful woman she gave us a map and other information and informed us that there would be a substantial reduction in rates as from tomorrow if we wished to stay longer than one night due to it being September the 1st, we could also claim a free night if we stayed for 5 nights.

We decided to look around.

We had not had any high hopes for Bougenay it really only being a convenient half way stop between Isle d'Yeu and La Rochelle, however once again the fates were about to surprise us......

In the morning I woke first and with our friendly ladies map in hand set off to find the boulangerie, as I climbed the hill behind the marina buildings I saw what looked like a vision of Disneyland.

Surmounted by what I now know to be the Star of the Sea, it is Notre Dame de Bougenaise, we think it's a convent. It is certainly a spectacular building. Later I returned with Lynne and we went inside the small chapel.

We also went below to the crypt, Lynne wasn't too sure about this, I am not sure what she was expecting to find, however once the lights were on it was really interesting, there was a tomb of the sister of St Louis.

As we walked about the grounds we were surprised to see a boating lake with small pedalos on it.

Also what appeared to be a model village, remenicent of Port Merion in Wales. We would explore this further later that day. We continued on into the small village and further towards the beach.

This turned out to be a spectacular sweep of sand and some impressive dunes.

We walked away from the road and car park discovering a small river where we sunbathed for an hour or two.

We walked back through the pine forests almost getting lost in the myriad of trails within.

As we got back to the village we decided to investigate the model village. We new there was a holiday development and golf course but we had no idea how extensive it was, it had shops and a piazza, a petting zoo and open air theatre as well as the aforementioned boating lake.

The fairytale castle in the background is the Notre Dame de Bourgenay we had visited earlier.

Bourgenay was turning out to be very surprising! We decided we had better stay another day and after eating we decided to take the cliff path west along the coast and watch the sunset, the cliff path although on top of a cliff obviously was mainly sand and the ubiquitous pine trees, really very lovely and as we walked along a perfect viewing platform to watch the sunset presented itself.

Isle d'Yeu continued

August 30th was a very significant day for us, it was a Sunday and seemingly everyone on the Isle d' Yeu was leaving. There was a queue at the ferry terminal and a walk up the hill to the church revealed a solitary cat wandering the streets, along with two English sailors obviously. It suddenly dawned on us that it was the end of the French school holidays.

Mystery solved, the previous evening we had spent in a bar by the docks called Le Navigator watching a punk band great evening and huge fun but I'm afraid we were a bit the worse for wear on Sunday morning.

We had been trying to get a look inside the church but it always seemed locked.

But not today, we went inside not knowing what to expect. It was rather plainly decorated but with some lovely relief sculptures depicting the 12 stations of the cross.

The rest of the church seemed in Keeping with a small island, however there was a rather grand organ with either Dolphins or sharks as decoration.

I you look closely they up at the top on either side of the central pipes. 

We wandered back to the boat and fell into a long conversation with a couple of English yachtsmen who were on their way to the Gironde and thus into the French inland waterway system. Our plan was to head towards La Rochelle, the obvious first stopping point would be where our new friends were heading, namely Sables d' Ollone.

We planned however to stop at a place called Bourgeney, which seemed easier to enter and leave and also promised not to be crowded with British yachties...........