The Bay of Biscay

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After a week of howling winds we left Cameret-sur-Mer for the passage over the Bay of Biscay - It was worth the wait because you can't have a calmer sea than we got during the passage. Very enjoyable with long Atlantic swells in clear weather. We met Dolphins, Whales, experienced Mareel (milky sea effect) had beautiful sunsets and a full moon that illuminated the sea even at night. We met some resistance just before Gijón with a thunderstorm blocking us, we tried to wait out at sea but it came straight at us so we decided to go through instead and got to Gijón just before midnight.

Guernsey

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Guernsey is an island located in the English Channel owned by the British Crown (not part of the United Kingdom) but sharing some things with the United Kingdom such as defence, government and administrative functions. When the UK joined the European Union the situation became even more complicated. The United Kingdom negotiated an exception for the Channel Islands which basically gives them all the advantages of EU membership without the financial obligations. The islanders are full British citizens but not all are European citizens.

The environment and flora is very interesting for an island situated in the English Channel, felt a bit like stepping into Pirates of the Caribbean. It rises 100+ meters above sea level in certain places and the walkabouts along the coast is a good training session for anyone that wants to climb up and down steep hills in narrow passages.

Since the island is a tax haven plenty of fancy cars were spotted and strangely enough car influx were a real problem. We met an old man telling stories about historical events and he clearly got irritated when we talked about all the cars on the island. People seemed to have one car per person, so many houses had 3-4 cars parked outside. Quite funny to have so many cars on an island where you can’t really go anywhere.

We went out to dine one evening, walked quite a bit on the southeastern and south side of the island and managed to visit some history museums situated in Castle Cornet - a fort near the marina. In there we got to know some history before we left for Cameret-sur-Mer. The island has been inhabited since at least 6000 B.C. by neolithic people and the Celtic Britons arrived much later. There has been civil wars tearing it apart and during the second world war the germans occupied the island. 

We are now located in Cameret-sur-Mer, France waiting for better weather forecasts to make the passage over the Bay of Biscay.

 

 

 

 

One day trip to Paris!

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We got to Paris late at night - autumn signs were apparent with leaves covering the ground and people in machines working on removing them. We got half a day of sunshine and half a day of rain during our short visit which added to the overall experience. 

Unfortunately we were not able to visit The Louvre, Notre dame or climb the Eiffel Tower with our tight schedule - too many tourists this time of year it seems. The architecture, symbolism, city planning, and great food made the visit worthwhile even though we had to rush through town. 

The scenery changed abruptly when the tourists had to seek cover from the rain that swooped in - we acted quickly when we saw the dark clouds looming and managed to get seats at a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower before the restaurants filled up. 

We got back to the car late at night and drove back to Boulogne-sur-Mer in the darkest of nights - felt like a winter night due to the thick cloud cover.

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It’s been quite a task to be able to sightsee, take photographs, blog and manage everything else on land and at sea in this speed we’ve been keeping, but soon enough we will reach La Coruna, Spain and then our schedule will be much more relaxed. We are both longing for some calm days as both are a bit worn out now.

PS. The blog updates has been a bit slow lately because the WIFI in the marinas is not working properly.