Saint-Valery-en-Caux to Caen

When we arrived in Saint-Valery-en-Caux we were asked how many nights we would like to stay. 2 or maybe 3, I replied, whereupon I was told that the cost would be the same either way as the 3rd night is free.

Guess how many nights we stayed for then? Well you’re wrong, because the weather was so dire that we stayed for 5!

Our berth at Saint-Valery-en-Caux

All looks calm enough, but what's that coming over the wall in the distance?

It's becoming clearer now....

... Oh yes! We'll stay here a bit longer then

This is what the harbour entrance should look like at low water

But in the winter for 1 hour each day they "rinse it" by dumping huge quantities of water through sluices

Saint-Valery-en-Caux from way up a cliff!

Saint-Valery-en-Caux's shingle beach and cliffs

The military cemetery which contains the graves of 218 French and 206 British soldiers from June 1940

The Notre Dame de Bon Port Chapel with it's amazing stained glass windows. Built 1963

Costes and Bellonte monument in memory of the first successful Atlantic crossing by plane

Road to Les Penitents Cloister and Chapel

Saint-Valery-en-Caux is a nice enough place but a couple of days is enough to see the highlights. On the advice of the local harbour master we therefore took a bus and a train to visit Rouen, which was about 40 miles inland.

Our first experience of France’s public transport system was pretty positive on the whole. We had to share the bus (more like a coach actually) with one other person but put up with that. The train was on time, clean, spacious and gave a smooth ride too. There were even lots of staff on hand at Rouen station to provide assistance if required.

In hindsight, we should have smelled a rat. More on that later…..

We had a very pleasant day strolling around Rouen on one of my infamous walking tours. There was plenty to see, including several museums and art galleries – almost all of which we admired from the outside as you had to pay to go in! There were exceptions though. The Musee de la Ceramique was free (but closed because it was a Tuesday) and the Abbatiale Saint-Ouen, a massive but now deconsecrated church, hosted a free William Klein exhibition. We were delighted to view the latter as, by this time, it was not only freezing cold but also pouring with rain (the snow came later). My map was getting decidedly soggy!

Naturally I’d never heard of William Klein but I did have to concede that he’d taken some pretty good snaps. They weren’t all sharp though, and most were in black and white, but the faces captured were really expressive. With a little more work, this bloke could be good!

Rouen is, I believe, the furthest up the Seine towards Paris that a decent sized ship can get. We were quite surprised, therefore, to see how much of this strategically placed city had survived the second world war. It’s a really attractive place, as hopefully the pictures convey.

Tour Jeanne d'Arc. The poor lass was tortured here...

... before being burned here

She did get her own church though - this one replaced the one destroyed in 1944

The inset stained glass windows date from 1520-1530. They were removed from St Vincent's church before the WW2 bombings

View from the Abbatiale Saint-Ouen

Rouen was really pretty in parts....

Lots of half timbered houses...

A pretty stunning cathedral - Cathedrale Notre-Dame...

and a big clock - Gros-Horloge

 Anyway, the time had come to catch our train back to Yvetot where our bus to Saint-Valery-en-Caux would be waiting for us. Off we trotted back to the station in plenty of time and scanned the departures board to see which platform our 1603 train was due to depart from (it was actually just 1520 by the time we arrived at the station, but we’d already clocked up 6 miles or so according to my pedometer and were ready for a sit down in the warm).

Except our train wasn't on the departures board, which was when we found out why all those staff were on hand to provide assistance….

It turned out that the SNCF were on strike on the day we’d chosen to travel! The nice lady who answered my questions informed me that a skeleton service was in operation and the next train to Yvetot would therefore leave at 1720 and not 1603 as we’d expected. She smiled pleasantly as she told me that “we’re always on strike”. Hmph!

That left us with 2 hours to kill before our train – too long to just sit around in the station so I suggested that we walked to Rouen’s marina. Jo, with her enthusiasm well concealed it has to be said, trotted along beside me. To cut a long story short, it was a very long way and when we got close enough to see the masts in the marina there was a motorway and railway line between us and it! I did spot a way around but to carry on would have put us in danger of missing our train, so we turned and walked back to the station. Another 5 miles clocked up on the pedometer – through an unattractive part of town on a route to nowhere as it turned out! Jo was quite quiet…..

Once back at Yvetot we had nearly an hour to wait before the next available scheduled bus turned up – the last of the day as it happened, so it was lucky that we weren’t too late for that.

Back at Saint-Valery-en-Caux we saw that another British visitor had arrived (not hard to spot as there was previously only us and one other boat!) and, from their burgee, that they were members of the Cruising Association too. Shortly after making it back to our boat Shaun, Briar Rose’s skipper, introduced himself and he later joined us for a “store cupboard special” pasta dinner and wine. It was late when we started on the nibbles (dratted SNCF!!!) and substantially later by the time we retired, after a very enjoyable evening.

Shaun, as it turned out, was also heading to Honfleur via Fecamp the next day and he very kindly invited us aboard his yacht for dinner in Fecamp the following night. It has to be said – and with no disrespect to Jo - that his food rather overshadowed our “store cupboard special”! We were most impressed!

En route to Fecamp

We were chased by the Douane again, but I think they must have recognised us!

We only stayed the one night in Fecamp and, as the marina office was closed when we arrived and still closed when we left, this turned out to be a free one.

An 0730 departure saw us arriving at Honfleur about an hour before we could get into the Vieux Bassin, under the 1430 lifting bridge.

Exiting Fecamp

The lifting bridge that provides access to Honfleur's Vieux Bassin

Shaun arriving later the same day

Honfleur's Vieux Bassin. Cyclone is just right of centre

The other side of the Vieux Bassin taken from Cyclone at night

An Honfleur street

Another Honfleur street

There are many good things about cruising out of season – you have most places to yourself and the mooring fees are generally lower – but the downside is that, unlike Solent marinas, the harbour offices keep very limited opening hours. In Honfleur these were 0800-1200 Tuesday to Saturday and so, arriving at 1430, we were unable to get codes for the toilet and shower facilities until the following day. Me being me (sorry Ashley – I know you don’t approve of haggling!) I suggested that a discount would be in order on their - expensive by the standard we’d become used to - berthing fees, as we’d not had access to any facilities. I managed to secure a small discount of 3 euros - a minor victory, but a victory all the same!

Honfleur is a really attractive place and consequently very arty and touristy. It’s really quite an industry, with the port side restaurants working hard to keep up with the demands of the hungry tourists (not us obviously – I have my own chef!).

Being berthed right alongside the quay, you cannot escape the noise in the evenings but it’s all good natured and it’s nice to feel a part of the place.

However, all that noshing and boozing creates a lot of rubbish and mess, which is where the next stages of the “factory” come in. At some time between 0500 and 0600, the lorries arrive on the quay to empty the bins – including those containing the spent wine bottles. Then the mechanical road sweepers turn up and clean the place before, finally, more lorries bring fresh supplies of food and drink for the day and night ahead. It all runs like clockwork, but the “ticking” is rather loud!!

Honfleur's a great place to stay for a couple of nights, but we were ready to move on after that – maybe to somewhere quieter? We left Honfleur by way of the 0830 lifting bridge and sped down the Seine towards Ouistreham. Sped? Oh yes! You wouldn't want to get the tides wrong in the Seine (and thankfully we hadn’t) as, even though we were near to neap tides, we experienced over 4 knots of tide in our favour. Add that to our 5 knots through the water and we were travelling at a speed more typical of a displacement motor boat!

As it happened, everything was right for us to make really good progress to Ouistreham and, as a consequence, we spent 2 hours on the waiting pontoon awaiting access to the lock!

Ouistreham's lock. Difficult catching those vertical jackstays with a wind and tide behind!

Portsmouth to "Caen" - actually Ouistreham - ferry. A Transmanche competitor!

Once through the lock we motored to a rough quay near the infamous Pegasus bridge, where we waited a further hour for the scheduled bridge openings (there are 3 opening bridges in the Caen canal) which would enable us to travel the 8 miles to Caen.

Cyclone alongside, with Pegasus bridge in the background

Pegasus bridge opening for yachts to pass beneath

The final bridge that gives access to Caen's harbour

Caen was largely flattened in the Second World War, but some remarkable buildings have survived – notably much of the massive castle walls (William the Conqueror lived there – boo!!), some impressive churches and abbeys. 

Caen Chateau - a vast 5 hectare complex protected by 13 towers

Eglise Saint-Pierre with the Abbaye-aux-Hommes in the background

We stayed 2 nights at Caen, the first of which was a Saturday...

The youth of Caen party hard and the noise of the revellers eventually mingled with that of the market traders setting up their Sunday morning stalls. There was no security at the marina – not on the visitors’ pontoon in any case – and I found myself fully dressed at 0600 ready to repel boarders after hearing noise on our pontoon. Fortunately this wasn't required and the miscreants swiftly moved on. Not a nice situation though.

The Sunday market was remarkable for its size and the variety of produce on offer. Clearly the best fruit and veg is saved for the markets, as it’s much better than that available in the supermarkets.

But it doesn’t stop there. You can buy patisserie items, fish, meat, clothes, shoes, craft items, mattresses and even furniture! It’s clearly very popular as the whole place was packed.

Half a walking tour and a visit to the laverie automatique (launderette) and we were done. We’d seen enough of Caen and were ready to move on.

Large grain ship in the Caen Canal en route to Ouistreham

I'm writing this from Ouistreham marina, from where we intend to depart to Port-en-Bessin tomorrow (Tuesday 3rd May). It’s quiet here. Ahh!!

Ouistreham Port de Plaisance. Cyclone's under the flags

Thanks for reading.