I thought I would round off these pages with a recap of our cruise and some news on what we have planned for Moonshine.
If anyone actually is looking at this site then you will have realised that I have hardly ever blogged and any other content has dried up! I have kept up with Polar Steps, and I have entered most of our locations on these pages though.
As for any second career as a content creator I have come to the conclusion its definitely not for me. Sorry, can't be arsed! I do like sharing where we are and Polar Steps seems the best forum for that. Maybe I will switch to Instagram in the future, but for now the maps are good.
When I last blogged an outline plan I mentioned my own tooth problem. Since then I've been back to the UK and had it root canalled - so that was progress. Anna broke her arm, had it plastered and then on the same trip home the cast removed. We cut out some stops in order to get to La Rochelle quickly so Anna could spend time with her Mum in hospital and after getting her home - so that was another change to our plans. All in all we weathered these incidents very well I think.
One aspect that was new to us was cruising in August in France - wow its busy in the popular ports. Well, its busy everywhere. But on the island ports (Oleron, Re, Yeu) they really pack them in. We hardly rafted at all in France last year (maybe once) - but here its a regular occurence!
And the North Spanish coast was defitely worth a visit - but I'm not sure how quickly we will return. We loved San Sebastian, and had a really good stay in Getxo/Bilbao. But the coast is pretty un hospitable for sailing (regularly bigger seas and everything in the same direction with few places for fair weather sailors to anchor).
Finishing Off..
Given my lack of blogging etc this is probably going to be my last post on this site for a long time. So I might as well wrap up with some news...
We are currently in the southern Morbihan area and will head north some more. Unlike other years though we won't be sailing back to England!
Actually Anna and I will return (of course). But Moonshine will stay in France :) Lucky old Moonshine! We are placing her in a yard (hard standing) at La Trinite-sur-Mer which has spaces for annual berthing contracts. All the marinas on this coast are both a lot cheaper than the UK, nearer to this lovely sailing area, and they all have waiting lists! Except for having your boat out of the water at la Trinite. So that is our choice for now - we are on the waiting list for La Rochelle, but that could be around 2.5 years, so in the meantime we will base up here in the Morbihan. We have never stored her out of the water over the winter - so winterisinmg the boat is a new skill to learn, and I am hoping we can do more of the regulare maintenance ourselves to further reduce costs (antifouling and engine servicing).
We will see how it all goes. And who knows, sometime in the future I might even get around to blogging about it...