La Rochelle

A few weeks in Les Sables then its off to La Rochelle to fit out Sephina at the local chandler, Thierry at Accastalidge Diffusion, with liferaft, safety  gear etc. as well as have equipment fitted by Pierre at Uchimata (watermaker, solar panels, additional batteries)

We had a nice downwind sail to La Rochelle and the new Sephina performed well, averaging 7.5 knots in the 15-20 knot breeze.

We plan on being in la Rochelle 4-6 weeks and doing some inland travel at the same time. It’s a beautiful town.

First week we rode over to La Siren to check out Eli Paperboy Reed doing a gig. It was a great show and well worth the hours ride to get there. Luckily they had a courtesy bus for us to hitch a ride back to the marina on (after Jen smooth talked the driver into breaking the rules and letting us take our bikes on the bus!)

The Sea Shepherd yacht Columbus was docked just along from us and they were preparing to head to Faroe Islands to try stop the grind (cull) of pilot whales that takes place there every year. Jen baked them some cupcakes and wished them well on their mission.

With the water maker installed we went for a sail to test it out and took the opportunity to fly our new parasailor as well. All went well, the water maker producing 65l/hr of fresh drinking water and just using 24A of power which is replaced by the solar panels in about 20 minutes

The parasailor worked great as well, sailing downwind at 6 knots in just 10 knots of breeze. We will look forward to using it a lot more when we are in trade wind conditions. They’re a very expensive sail, but fortunately our friends V and Char helped us organise and ship a used one from the Caribbean at about half the new price. Dealing with the French customs who wanted another 800 euro VAT/import duty was another story, but we eventually wore them down and they gave up on us.

Some complications with my Visa application meant we had to head back to the North of France to visit the immigration office. A bit of a pain but we made the most of the opportunity and visited Mami for a couple of nights while we were there, and caught up with Jens cousin on the way.

On the way back we stayed a night in the Liore Valley and visited Chenonceau Chateau which was amazingly beautiful, like a fairytale castle. The grounds were amazing and the farmhouse on the grounds supplies all the fresh cut flowers that adorn each room of the chateau and are changed daily. Jen said she could live here!

The Chateau has a lot of history. It was originally built in the 13th century, in the 1500’s Henri II gave it to his mistress Dianne as a gift (although it belonged to the crown and wasn’t actually his to give)

After the King died his widow Catherine snatched the Chateau back from Dianne and had her initials overlayed over Dianne's.

During the 2nd world war the French resistance smuggled people across the river through the castle as it marked the demarcation line of occupied France. The Germans had tanks permanently stationed and threatened to destroy the Chateau

The hall/ballroom that spans the river was also used as a hospital during WW1

Chenonceau Chateau was definitely a COOL place to visit ! We stayed next door in a nice hotel, had a great meal and swim the next day before heading back to la Rochelle.

 

All works completed and now it’s just waiting on a decent weather window to cross Biscay to Spain. Biscay has a formidable reputation for sailors and its prudent to sail it when the forecast is good for at least a few days.

Mami has a month of work so she decided to join us and flu home from Spain. Considering Mami has rarely left her home town of Violaines, never been on a fast train and only ever flown when Jen and I took her to Venice last year, this is a big deal!

Jen is stoked because she really wanted Mami to come spend some time on board Sephina and see how our sailing life is. Mami bought her long time friend Jack with her who also has rarely (or never) left the North of France. So we got to show Mami and Jack around la Rochelle for a few days while we planned our departure toward Spain.

 

And some crazy street artists..

……