It nearly all ended in tragedy

Never have we both been so ready to return to LJ.  The nonsense with our roofs continues as does the ridiculousness of the attitude of some of the residents of Marchwood who claim to be adults, suffice it to say we have both had enough and longed to be back on board. We had no READ MORE

Reason No 3 why the blog stopped

We said goodbye to Mr John Moore. John married Nina’s mother, Maleta in 1986 and to Nina he was her Dad.     John travelled the world and experienced enough for two lives and adventures that we could only dream of.   In his younger days John was an avid sailor, racing flying forties in Stranraer and READ MORE

Problem No 2 why the Blog stopped

For the past 14 years, Nina has been suffering back pain and discomfort which as the years rolled by the pain got worse and our ability to enjoy anything outdoors was reduced to nothing more than ½km from the car, on a good day.     Whilst residents of Surrey, she constantly battled to even be allowed READ MORE

The end of 2024

From Pornic we bounced north into the waves and wind, as per usual, and arrived at Penerf.  This was a new harbour for us and the entrance was not the easiest with shallows and oddly placed buoys, which added to the fun.    But once in, we were treated to a stunning sunset accompanied with the READ MORE

My Knighthood is suspended

Having waved the family goodbye we returned back to the chaos of Ile’d Yeu with its familiar summer multi-rafting mayhem.  That said, we got lucky this time. As we entered the marina, a boat had just departed from a peaceful pontoon at the far end and the Capitainere let us have it! We settled down READ MORE

Wedding Bells

At some stage we would have to start our return north. Whilst travelling south this summer, the wind continuously blew on the nose (story of our life) so returning north is going to be great?  We waved goodbye to Royan and the wind turned 180° and so we beasted our way back to La Rochelle! READ MORE

A glass of wine

Port Médoc is on the west side of the Gironde and on the Bordeaux peninsular right in the heart of the Medoc wine region.    It took a gruelling hour of sailing to traverse the river which hardly warranted lifting the fenders, standards are again in freefall! This area is undoubtably a major wine region with READ MORE

Royan twinned with Gosport

Rochefort to Royan is only 19 miles by road. There is a bridge between the mainland and the île d’Oléron, but it is too low for LJ’s mast to pass under, so we had to take the long way round and circumnavigate the island which clocked up 70 miles instead!  The ridiculousness of this 8 READ MORE

Sightseeing

Arriving back at Rochefort with the car for a few days inland sightseeing was top of the agenda.   To make the best use of it, we headed to île Madame and then, a cultural tour to Cognac. île Madame has a history which for many years was conveniently forgotten by the French.  This is an READ MORE

My new best friend.

We were due home in the next few weeks for appointments which were imperative and with Spain on a back burner for now, we made our way to Rochefort who agreed to take us for a month at a reasonable price.  It was time to investigate that dreadful noise, similar to that of dying animal, READ MORE