Wednesday 22 June 2016

22 June Bloscon Roscoff

Well folks, after 1999 nautical miles and a second English Channel crossing under our belts, we headed into Bloscon Roscoff marina in Northern Brittany, feeling proud of ourselves for our adventures and very happy to be back home in La Belle France. To celebrate, we opened Yvonne and Bertie's kind gift of a very nice bottle of red wine and toasted our success.


It is ops normal to be berthed at the fuel quay as we're large on our beam as well as in length, but this marina is modern and efficient, so we have electricity and not too far to go to the conveniences of the showers and the restaurants.

This photo was taken earlier in the day before the Onassis of motor boats moored up behind us and overshadowed us, but we still get our share of onlookers and people taking photos and even one cheeky chappie reaching in and moving our tiller to cop a feel, so to speak ! The nerve of the man!
If you admire the beautiful rosy pink sunset and then zoom in the photo to see us and the huge motor boat behind, you might be able to tell that it still has all its packaging and that the anchor is still encased in bubble wrap. Not very sea-worthy methinks!

Our friends Miles and Tracey Goff came for a visit today as they were spending a weeks holiday close by in their cottage, so we did our tour guide bit and we caught up over nibbles and alcohol, as is the Lawson rule. They helped shift the boat up the pontoon to make room for the new boat and then we headed off to the old port for a look around and lunch.

It was a 15 minute walk back to the marina and we timed it perfectly in order for the heavens to open and drench us all in seconds. Miles, Tracey and I were ill prepared for wet weather so we had to duck into someone's doorway to hide from the downpour while Mr Lawson, who was properly dressed for the weather, just laughed and took photos...

Our plans are to be up early, circa 7am (yikes) and head off to Brest, which is a short passage of 50 or 60 nautical miles. John has done his tidal calculations because there will be up to 5kts of tidal stream around Le Conquet, so lets hope he's got his timings correct. Fingers crossed for fair winds and following seas....

2 comments:

  1. Welcome back safe and sound! Been through there many times on one of those big ships. Being a "small boat" sailor as well, when I'm on bridge watches going through The Channel I'm always so worried about little guys making their crossings. Pacing back and forth from RADAR, to bridge wing, to the other bridge wing, to the ECDIS, to the chart table, and about 5 cups of coffee over 4-hours, you are worked! But you made your crossing being just as alert and attentive, very good watchstanding seamanship for you two. Hope any post shake-down work that Marsaudon needs to do for "Bitter Sharp" goes smoothly. Happy cruising for the last little bit. Cheers.

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  2. Thank you for your kind words. We wish you well with your future plans and hope you find the same happy experiences.

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