Sailing with the Treleavens

Leaving Cadiz in Le Lavandou and flying north to the Cognac region was a very nice change from being on board. Thanks to Liz and Heinz, we enjoyed our stay at their beautiful home where they also grow their own grapes to produce 400 bottles of sauvignon blanc for private use .The wine is very drinkable especially as it has no additives and definitely no after effects. It was especially good with the local La  Rochelle mussels Heinz cooked, also in the wine.

We toured the Otard Cognac factory with our son Ian, who is also staying here, and now have an appreciation of how it takes years for cognac to mature. Funny how it took the Scots to develop Cognac by distilling bad grapes from the area instead of fermenting them into wine.
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Life wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t get on the water, so we hired canoes and paddled 10 kms down the Charente River/canal, opting to shot the many rapids instead of walking around the locks. Passing swans, vineyards, old stone homes and castles, and off course people on their house boat barges was certainly a different experience.  Between weeping willows we picked blackberries, haven’t done that since I was in NZ, totally wild with plenty
of flavour.

Before flying back we visited Bordeaux. Situated on the banks of the Gironde with the typical French architecture, you would swear you were in Paris. Ian visits the factory of CNB, a division of Beneteau where custom yachts are built. Was very exciting to be shown over a new 115ft super yacht they were just commissioning and the first of the new Lagoon 60ft and 50ft catamarans.

Fly, bus, train, bus, back to the boat, you certainly appreciate what you see from the water. Our train was cancelled due to bush fires, it¡Ã‡s very dry and with this wind I am not surprised they have a lot of fires in the area. They are having trouble controlling the fires which are deliberately lit as all the fire planes (we saw 10 sitting on the tarmac) have been grounded after an accident. All is well back at the boat and we have become quite attached to this quaint town. One week ago we where just sailing down the coast and had never heard of Le Lavandou and now we feel like locals. As it turns out we wouldn¡Ã‡t have sailed far as the confounded Mistral wind which blows from the north out of the Rhone valley had been blowing strongly all week.

As we have said before, we get a lot of knowledge from fellow sailors and locals. All of them talked about the Calanques between Marseille and Cassis. The Calanques are steep sided miniature fiords carved out of white limestone over the ages. Our pick was Calanque d¡Ã‡En Vau, long and narrow with a wonderful pebble beach at the end, 50 metre high cliffs all around with pine trees growing out of cracks in the rocks. It was 10 metres deep right up to the cliffs and the water was exceptionally clear and freezing cold. Fresh spring water flows into the bay from the bottom through the limestone. This is paradise and so was the glamour on visiting yachts.

With anchor down and a line ashore in one of the many rings, we thought we were snug for the night alongside several other yachts. Then the Mistral returned and yachts started to drag. As the bay was narrow and we had not let out much chain, we dragged as well.
We motored up to the opposite cliff and let out 50 metres and put a line ashore. With gusts of 40 knots we are often on our side and by day break we were the only yacht left. Ian loves this and dreamt all night he was going to Hobart while I stayed awake watching all the boats depart.

Travelling onto Marseille we stopped at several other Calanques. Calanque de Sormiou is famous for the discovery in 1991 of an underwater cave 36 metres below the surface with prehistoric paintings dating back to 20,000 BC.

Marseille, despite what people say, is a wonderful clean harbour and
interesting city. The local yacht club arranges a berth right in the heart of the old port and town. The town is vibrant with a mix of  people from all the past French colonies. Young Ian has now joined us again and will sail back up the coast with us.

Out to dinner now to sample the authentic Marseille Bouillabaisse (fish stew).

When we left the Mediterranean French coast to the last part of our voyage, we were never very sure if we were going to like this very populated and expensive area. To date we are loving it, and have not had the expense we expected. What has impressed us most is the clean clear water and beautiful bays to anchor in at night. You can go into the marinas if you want the busy night life or you can anchor off and dinghy ashore most of the time.

From Villefranche to here has been especially very good and has changed our plans for August. Instead of continuing west to Spain we are going only as far as Marseille and then sailing back along the coast to Monaco. Crossing 100 miles to Corsica, then to Sardinia for the 5th September Maxi World Champs as Ian is sailing on Maximus, the NZ maxi yacht presently racing in Europe.

One thing about being in your own boat, you are always free to change your plans and direction if you discover a special area.

Liz, Heinz and Young Ian left us in Cannes after a few days in St Tropez. This place certainly lives up to the reputation of every thing bigger than big, brighter than bright and glitzier than glitz. How a little fishing village, and still is, became this enormous attraction, is well worth a visit for more than one day. St Tropez harbour offers great anchorage as the marinas are often full. We anchored out all the time and it was no trouble taking the dingy ashore and being in the front row, even if it is only the inflatable dinghy. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that if we had stayed in the marina it was only E64 a night.

Speciality of the area is a cream puff called Tropezienne and then served with raspberries that taste like raspberries. Delicious.

From Saint Tropez ,we rounded the Cap de St Tropez to the glamour beaches and bars called Tahiti-Plaige, Bora Bora, Moorea, etc. The turquoise sea, golden sand, sun lounges, bars, restaurants, bikini shops, all on the beach, this is sophistication. A walk through the orange and white striped beach umbrellas with matching mattresses, Ian is in his element sitting at the bar, sun glasses on and head swinging not sure what to look at first. Lunch time and everyone is parading, there is even a casual fashion parade through the bar. I forgot my high heels, sand covered bare feet feel pretty good to me, and with my glass of rose wine, life is pretty good.  The brochure says that the most beautiful girls in France are here, they probably are but the brochure is old and so are some of them.

It is a beautiful day so we anchor off the bay of Briande and stay the night. Weed grass on the bottom has become of interest again and can be over a metre high. Coming into anchor you can see the bottom very clearly and sometimes it looks very rocky but it turns out to be different levels of weed. The morning brings a wind and Ian gets up to check if we are holding, only to see two other boats drift out to sea. One wakes up and returns, but the other one, who knows, they just kept going out to sea. Last night it
rained a little and the boat became unbelievably dirty, apparently its red dust from the Sahara that gets blown up into the atmosphere and comes down when it rains.

A mistral wind is forecast so we have to make the decision and head for a marina. Phoning ahead we find it is all booked out but in Le Lavandou they just said first in first served, so we quickly move and get a space. All tied up we wait for our first Mistral wind. It's hot, dry and dusty and will blow to 40 knots. Le Lavandou in the area of Provence gets its name from the lavender fields grown around here, a cute town with golden beaches.

For those that are hungry, lunch today was a huge bowl of mussels in a special wine sauce, a touch of curry and lots of French baguettes. The best we have had.

In the marina we catch up again with Roddy and Sue Stevens from England on their 10 metre motor sailer. After 20 years of coming here for summers they are selling their berth and boat. Now in their 70s it has been a fantastic time, but time to do other things. When in Elba, Italy, our yacht dragged anchor while we were not on board and Roddy boarded Cadiz and let out more anchor. Turned out we dropped the anchor on a sunken tarpaulin and it took only a little wind and off she went, just bad luck. Small world when we found them here in this marina.

Ian is changing oil, filters and what ever and loving the chandlery at the end of our pier. When the floor boards are up the men couldn't be happier and in between writing this I have to look at dirty filters, pump old oil and genuinely take an interest.

The mistral wind is going to continue for another 4 days, so we have decided to leave the Cadiz and fly to Cognac to stay with Liz and Heinz. They have a small vineyard so we are very much looking forward to time on land and drinking the local produce.

You hear a lot about the Mistral but this is the first wind we have had and really only blows hard once west of St Tropez and into the Rhone Delta past Marseille.