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.

The curse of Eastbourne...... and so to Boulogne-sur-Mer

Well the first part of the title's probably a bit strong but, like last year, we did spend longer in Eastbourne than intended on account of the weather.

This was a mixed blessing, however, as we shared 2 very enjoyable evenings in the company of Phil and Katrina, the Australians we'd met in Brighton. They're on their way to the Baltic in Restless Spirit and we wish them an enjoyable trip.

Finally on Friday the weather smiled on us and we risked touching bottom (oh er missus) by leaving as close to low water as possible so that we'd get a favourable tide towards Boulogne.

Leaving Eastbourne, closely followed by Restless Spirit

The wreck of SS Barnhill just outside the harbour entrance

Restless Spirit en route to Dover and thence Breskens

We made good progress although we had to motor sail the first half of the trip due to the light winds. The shipping lanes weren't especially busy and we arrived at Boulogne around 1700 - which immediately became 1800 as we had to adjust our watches to reflect French summer time.

Boulogne's inner harbour entrance

Harbour wall with the Naval Memorial in the distance

The Naval Memorial's a bit easier to spot here

We explored the old town and walked up to the Naval Memorial last year (believe it or not, it took us ages to find it!). The Memorial commemorates the sailors who served with the French navy in the first and second world wars and who have no other grave than the sea.

So why Boulogne and not London then? Well, it was Jo who'd suggested London and ultimately it was her decision to put it off again and thereby avoid the dogleg and expense. Maybe we'll get there if/when we sail around the UK at some point in the future?

The plan is to spend a couple of days or so in Boulogne before heading south to St. Valery-sur-Somme. This looks interesting as the Somme estuary has no water in it for much of the time and the marina is some 5 miles from the sea. We'll be checking the tides carefully and seeking local advice before heading in there!

It's a small world....

Our renowned dedication to detailed planning and sheer hard graft ensured that, with 6 months advance knowledge of our intended departure date and no jobs to go to we, er..., weren't ready. Still, it's unlucky to leave on a Friday and to do so on Friday 1st April would surely be pushing it!

So it was on Saturday 2nd April that our friends and neighbours Janet and Geoff kindly dropped us off at Chichester marina from where we set sail for Brighton.

Leaving Chichester Harbour

This was one of those trips where the wind direction was such that we couldn't steer our desired course - when we changed our course, the wind changed direction too! Welcome back to the realities of sailing...

So it was 8 hours of tacking later that we finally reached Brighton - a bit chilled, truth be told, as rain had replaced the sun we'd started off with.

Brighton Marina

So why the reference to a small world? Well, on only the second day of this year's cruise, I saw a familiar looking boat tying up to a nearby pontoon. On board were Mike and Kate who we'd last seen in Laboe on the Kieler fjord! It was great to catch up with them and we had an enjoyable evening at the nearby Wetherspoon's discussing what we'd each been up to since we last met.

On our return to our respective vessels, they realised that the boat tying up across the pontoon from them belonged to two Australian friends of theirs. We all retired to Mike and Kate's boat where we learned that the Australians - Phil and Katrina of Restless Spirit - had sailed from their home country 3 years ago and made their way here via Brazil, the Caribbean, Bermuda and the Azores - oh, and they'd circumnavigated the UK and Ireland for good measure too! This year they're heading to the Baltic where they intend to visit Russia and the Baltic states amongst other countries. Sure puts our little jaunts into perspective.

So it truly is a small world and yes Nigel, I know you wouldn't want to paint it!

We're now tied up in Eastbourne, after an 0600 departure from Brighton, deliberating over our next move. We had intended to go to London - and still might - but, then again, it is a bit out of the way and very expensive. Mike and Kate spent £80 a night to moor their 12.5m yacht in St. Katherine's dock (by Tower bridge) and it must therefore cost £60+ a night for our smaller boat.

Beachy Head

Eastbourne 

Entering Eastbourne lock

An Eastbourne resident

So we may yet cross to Boulogne instead......

Decisions, decisions!

Another season, another trip......

It's nearly summer again! Well, as far as south coast marinas are concerned it is.

Summer berthing rates begin on 1st April and that's our cue to vacate our winter berth at Chichester and set off for pastures new(ish).

Why "ish"? Well the places we visited last year were virtually all new to us, but this year we intend to take a more relaxed approach and sail slowly along the French coast. We'll therefore be visiting many places we've seen before - at least in the early stages of our trip.

We don't know how far we'll get this year and we're really not bothered. When we near October we plan to look for somewhere to leave Cyclone for the winter months and return home. All being well, we'll start again in 2017 from where we left off.

Before we cross the channel we plan to sail up the Thames to London. This was something we meant to do last year, but we just ran out of time.

Last year we weren't actually all that organised. We'd failed to decorate as much of our house as planned and our preparation work was all a bit last minute.

Whereas......

This year we're not at all organised. We've failed to decorate as much of our house as planned and our preparation work is nowhere near as advanced as it was this time last year!

We've replaced Cyclone's standing rigging and serviced her engine but that's about it. She's been in the water all winter and we've yet to put her sails back on. We've spent a day scrubbing above and below decks but there's plenty more to be done yet.

We've got maybe 5 days left (once visits to parents have been taken into account) to get Cyclone ready to go, pack, sort charts & pilot books, victual etc. etc.

But then, as I recall saying last year, we've got passports, EHICs and debit cards. Everything will be fine.....