Boulogne-sur-Mer to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme

We stayed in Boulogne-sur-Mer for 3 nights before heading for Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. We'd stopped in Boulogne-sur-Mer last year so used the time mainly to relax, do some washing and stock up on supplies. We did wander to the old town and some of the highlights of our walk are pictured below:

The ramp to exit the marina at low water. Not for the infirm!

The marina wasn't all that busy......

A gate to the old town

The belfry towering over the Mairie (town hall)

The entrance to the castle

The Somme estuary dries and we needed to be at the start of the approach channel 2 hours before high water to ensure that we'd be able to float up to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. Concious that we couldn't afford to miss this tidal gate, we set off (as usual it seems) in the dark at around 0620. Of course we made excellent progress(!) and so arrived too early at the approach channel, thinking we could have had another hour or so in bed.

It was a very smooth trip during which we glided over the water in virtual silence. We had a little bit of excitement though as the Douane (customs) vessel that we'd passed at anchor soon after leaving Boulogne-sur-Mer chased us down and "interrogated" us on the VHF. By "interrogated", I mean he asked us where we'd come from, where we were going, how many people were on board and what our home port was before politely wishing us a very pleasant summer. What a nice chap!

Dawn breaks just south of Boulogne-sur-Mer

The safe water mark indicating the start of the channel to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme

Our early arrival left us with the option of motoring around in circles for an hour or dropping the hook. We decided on the latter which was made a little more interesting by my rustiness, a minor issue with the windlass and the 2 knot current. I didn't want to let out too much chain as I knew I'd need to haul it all in again - potentially without the aid of the windlass - and I was therefore mighty impressed that our Rocna anchor held us in place, despite the current, with a scope (ratio of chain length to depth) of less than 2! When it came up it was pristine as it had dug into sand and not the mud we've got used to. Very nice!

When the time came, we crept cautiously over the sand following the well buoyed channel using the plan I'd downloaded from the port's website the night before. This enabled us to get in OK, although some of the buoys weren't quite where we expected to see them. It turned out that they'd been repositioned and a new plan produced to suit. Unfortunately this has yet to be uploaded to the port's website....

The Somme estuary has an important colony of some 80 seals - mainly the common type, but with a couple of grey ones thrown in for good measure. We were alerted to their presence by the tripper RIB that we saw a little way off, near to what we though were birds!

Seals (not birds!) in the Somme estuary taking a nap.

The channel. Look carefully and you should see a couple of buoys. We had to!

Our first glimpse of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme

The entry to the port

The port now visible ahead.

Saint-Valery-sur-Somme has a steam railway with trains linking it to Le Crotoy and Cayeux-sur-Mer. These run alongside the marina several times a day, giving us something to admire whilst lounging in the cockpit,

A steam train passes the marina

One of the trains

Saint-Valery-sur-Somme front with the access channel to the port

Part of the ramparts of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme's old town

Saint Valery was a bloke and not, as I'd incorrectly assumed, a girl. He is invoked often, in particular by sailors, gardeners, persons suffering from fever and those with bad eyesight. He had the gift of relieving sexual dysfunction as well and thanksgiving plaques representing phalluses and female genitalia were found in the chapel built in his memory! The chapel was rebuilt between 1876 and 1880 as the Saint Valery, or seamen's, chapel.

Inside the seamen's chapel

The chapel itself

It has to be said that the Somme estuary is very picturesque and particularly so at low water.

Le Crotoy pictured from Saint-Valery-sur-Somme

Looking out towards the sea - 5 miles away!

A street in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme's old town....

.... and another

An entrance to the old town

Now over the winter months I'd managed to put on about 1.5 stone and so, having spouted on about how healthy our sailing is, I thought it was time to do something about this. So it was that, after our 40 mile sail from Boulogne on Monday, we walked about 5 miles on Tuesday before getting our bikes out on Wednesday to cycle the 17 mile return journey to Le Crotoy. 

Our trusty steeds en route to Le Crotoy

Le Crotoy from afar...

... and its harbour closer to.

Le Crotoy beach - but it's a long way to the sea!

Impressed yet? No? Well on Thursday we followed this with a 13 mile return cycle ride to Le Hourdel for yet more views over the sands. And remember this is all on bikes that have tiny wheels and on which I regularly bang my knees on the handlebars because the bike's too small for me!

Le Hourdel port....

... and again

Le Hourdel fishing fleet and the light in the background

View over the sand from Le Hourdel. Spot the channel buoys if you can!

Friday marked the first day of the Fete de la Vapeur en Baie de Somme - the steam train fair. After a pedal up one of the few hills here to the Intermarche and back - rolling down the hill, each with a rucksack on our back and 2 bags slung over the handlebars, was the easiest we've ever got back from the shops without a car! - we wandered around the station admiring the many trains. A few of these are pictured below:

Train

Train

...er, train

Trains

Train

Replica of an 1882 steam launch

On Saturday and Sunday a Dixie band provided musical entertainment too. They were great, but we had to feel sorry for them as they shivered in their shirts and blew their hands to warm them between numbers!

Dixieland Combo

We also spotted these 2 old Citroens with, er, Le Sulky between them! I was amazed to see that they were front wheel drive with the engine being mounted back to front (gearbox at the front of the car). Whatever happened to Citroen's innovative days?

Old Citroens and Sulky!

It's now Sunday and, weather permitting, we intend to set off on Tuesday for Le Treport or Dieppe. We've stayed here a long time and really enjoyed it. It's a great place with friendly staff, very reasonable berthing rates (78 euros for a week in April!) and plenty to see and do. It's also debatable whether we could get out before Tuesday even if we wanted to, as the high tides aren't that high at the moment.

Just a couple more photos to go:

A Saint-Valery-sur-Somme back street

Le Calvaire des Marins. Sailors take their hats off as they pass this to ask for Christ's protection 

And finally, this is me retrieving the water hose from under our forward berth. Jo clearly considered the requirement for a photo to be more pressing than helping me get back out from the berth's jaws!

!

Thanks for reading.