Got up at 5:50. Readied the boat and left her at 8:00 🙁
Olivier is the owner of the well known stainless steel fabricator PRODINOX in La Grande Motte. He was so nice to drive us to the TGV station in Montpellier.
Traveling in France is completely different. We are going quietly 300km per hour, enjoy good WiFi (free) and have decent food onboard, all for a very reasonable price.
Early spring to summer last year the Admiral and I stayed in the marina of La Rochelle. Despite all the trouble we had there, we fell in love with the town. Coming back 14 months later felt like returning home. La Rochelle had really grown on us. We even drove by the Admiral’s hospital – hmmm!
La Rochelle is a very unique sea side town with remarkable history and a special seaside atmosphere influenced by 6 meter tides. The old port and marine activities are the center point of life in town. The marina has more than 4000 berth and 10 kilometers of floating docks. Many famous boatbuilders call La Rochelle their home: Amel, Dufour, Fountain Pajot or RM Yachts. If you want to see and learn more about La Rochelle follow this link: Wiki of La Rochelle
The visit was a spontaneous idea, inspired by their annual ‘Grand Pavois’ boat-show. We combined it with some business we had to do there. On our way, we took the scenic route going through the ‘Cevennes’, heading towards Limoges and then direct to La Rochelle. The trip was 4 hours longer than the normal autoroute via Toulouse. We enjoyed winding country roads most of the way (except for the last miles in the dark, when we took the autoroute).
Thierry from Accostillage Diffusion, aka Mare Magnum and the Captain
We visited some friends and our beloved chandlery Mare Magnum with Florence, Thierry and Olymp, who all greeted us like family. It felt good to be back!
Food was excellent. Our little stowaway Remy, representing our grandchildren, made excellent food choices for us.
We were astonished by the very high end food served at the temporary boat show restaurants. It was delicious, but hey, we are in France!
Very early Monday morning we hurried back to the boat since there was a strong wind forecast for Southern France.
Itching to get going, but our repairs, which began last September, are not finished as off yet. Hard to believe. We know. Repairs in France feel more like a Foxtrot:
You think you moved, but when you look back – not really!
One segment of electrical work was done last week and genuine new problems pop up. An Electrician worked on the essential seaworthiness list and several items were ticked off. But, when we used an electrical winch on Saturday, you get it, it failed for electrical reasons. And yes, the electrical winches had never failed us before.
We are not saying it’s not nice here, see the photo at the end, but we rather would be going somewhere.
There is one exception to the Foxtrot rule. That is a company called Thalassa Nautique whose owner Olivier Glenadet appears on time and works super diligently. More about his work in a separate post later.
We have to leave port on Feb 24 because the Capitanerie needs the space. Let’s hope the critical things are done by then.
Is it nice in La Grande Motte? Yes, if you are here voluntarily.
