This will be our last entry on this blog, as the connection is very good here in this marina.

We are both of the opinion that we are doing the right thing in returning to UK and it has been an adventure we won't forget and we will have photos to add to our memories. There have been some laughs along the way and we have met some really nice folks, seen some good 'parking' and some awful 'parking'. We have improved immensely ourselves in this respect as well.

We want to thank everyone who has read our blog and written comments which we have greatly appreciated…..so thanks to all of you too.

We are making for our first tidal gate of the Raz du Sein and leaving this marina at about 6am but it will be a long day as we won't arrive in Brest until about 6pm that night. We will have to wait until the bad weather forecast over the weekend has passed so we can make our last tidal gate and the onward trip to Plymouth; which will take us about 30 hours.

We will then be in Plymouth Yacht Haven.

Today we had a long talk about what we have done and where we are going. For about a week there has been a number of issues that have caused us to carefully consider what we are doing. Among these is a non serious but slightly worrying medical issue with me (Graham). Time and distance travelled so far means we will not make Portugal before having to return in Sept. We have researched wintering in La Rochelle or Rochefort and have not really liked what we have found out (weather/location/difficulties in getting the yacht hauled out for the Christmas period/It’s in France!). In addition there are other issues that we have had to consider but will not bore you with.
As a consequence we have decided to return to UK and reassess what we want to do after the wedding. This has been a difficult day but we feel it is the right thing to do. As a result we left the Isle d’Yeu this morning and have returned to Pornichet. We will be returning as quickly as time and weather allows but would hope to be back in Plymouth around the end of August.

We did finally do more sailing than motoring (although I have quite enjoyed the motoring, apparently thats not what we are supposed to be doing!) on this leg to this island and so good was it (at one point 7knots) we had to do some playing around outside the entrance so enable us to have enough water under our keel as at the entrance there is a very shallow bit and we wanted to make sure we didn’t go aground if we miscalculated the turn into the marina which is very tight. this is also a holiday destination and there are 3 ferry types going in and out at the same entrance so we were both a little nervous.

We had phone the marina the day before to book a berth and were told we would be met and escorted and we were but not to a pontoon as they had all been filled so we had to raft up and were shown who to and a very nice couple kindly took our lines and we were in. The couple were very nice and spoke better English than we do French and told us this marina in their summer very busy.....no kidding sherlock! Well as the afternoon progressed it got worser and worser (thanks Homer Simpson!), we were rafted too as well as were all the boats in this small pontoon area and in places there were four boats rafted up. We knew that the morning could be a bit hairy with boats leaving etc and the Skipper was having serious thoughts about coming here....

We have registered with the Marina Office and told them we would like to stay for maybe a week and she (in very good English) told us the boat boy would sort us out in the morning. So we found the Tourist information place, and the supermarkets and then back to the boat for tea, but the situation of rafting even more boats was not so amusing as they completely filled the space and the thought of moving anywhere was quite daunting. Tea....we couldn’t be bothered so I made chicken rolls to keep us going. The skipper went to the shower blocks......yea, toilet seats! seperate cubicles but everyone all into together again, and very very clean (score 4 for this lot). Off to bed to worry about how we are going to move and where they are going to put us.

The dustbin men arrived at 6.45am so thats me awake and I went off to the facilities myself. All well and the movement of boats started at 8.15amish with the help of ‘the boat boy’ and by 10.00 we were in our new berth on the opposite side of the main pontoon on a finger berth and the boat boy did help us but pushed our nose around so far as though we were going out completely, so after a brief conversation in which he said he had forgotten we were staying, he apologised as we did for not being quite as clear as we thought, he pushed our nose back into the space. Again our lines were taken by two gentlemen and we were in.

The skipper is now very happy and he has had about 5 cuppas to celebrate and is now reading Sundays Telegraph in the sun on deck and I can get some lunch before we go and explore.

The concert was very good (no doubt the Skipper would say brilliant...each to their own). It started out as a pianist and a drummer doing improvisation and for me just making a racket, then they were joined by 4 saxophonists and a base guitar player and more improvisational stuff and by the fourth piece I was beginning to doubt the leaflet we had found in the Tourist Office having any music I would know as advertised, buuuuuut they came good and played Glen Miller tunes, Dizzy Gillespie and the lady playing the piano was also the singer and she was very good until she song Honeysuckle Rose! All in all it was good and the calibre of playing was excellent.

So we promised ourselves we would have a last day in Pornichet and enjoy fish and chips again on Monday night and have a latte (my first coffee since leaving UK in a cafe/restaurant). Again it was lovely although not quite the latte from Costa and I shall stick to Cola or Oranginas till we see a Costa or even Starbucks!

So early start and off to the L’Île d’Yue for our next adventure which we have been led to believe is very beautiful and well worth a visit before our next hop to La Rochelle were we are thinking of staying this part of our adventure in before Tristan and Emily get married.

Okay we found a big supermarket - Intermarche Super only 10 minutes from the Tourist Office. The Launderette is behind the market hall and we found a shop selling Fish and Chips as we know it, wrapped in greaseproof newspaper!

The wifi in the marina is not good at all and on the boat none existent, so we have found an Irish pub (St James) serving good cold draught Guinness, free wifi and its opposite the chippy too - no man (or blogger) could be happier.

The market here on Wednesday (missed it) and Saturday is the best one we’ve seen yet and today Sunday there was a car boot type sale in the large car park (just up your street Pete (Sams Pete that is)).

We are going to a Jazz concert tonight in the Eglise Notre Dame des Dunes which as they (Pornic Sax Septet) seem to be playing Glen Miller, Duke Ellington and Dizzie Gillespie we should know a few more than we did at the last concert. More on this at next blog.

The picture of the Skipper below tells a story no artist could paint (and probably children shouldn’t be subject to either - are they trunks or undies...only Marks & Spencers will know for sure!) It was very hot on our next crossing from Port Haliguen to our next marina of Pornichet, and he said he needed to improve the colour of his body!!!!!! There was very little wind and although we did put the main sail up for about hour we didn’t gain anything from it. The wind is determined has eluded us on most of our trips up to this point.

Lovely motoring and as we turned the corner to give us a view of our next port of call - a 5 mile stretch of sandy beach covered with ants (well that’s what they looked like from the boat)stretched out on the port side and what we thought could be masts turned out to be several blocks of flats (or even a hotel) we haven’t walked that far along the beach to find out; and in this heat probably won’t either.

We are moored on a hammerhead as per Reeds description and an easy place for us to turn around and motor out when we leave...no-one around to give us any directions as to where we should go (arriving at lunchtime means everyone is off duty!). We tied up and paid a visit to the marina office, where the staff were very helpful. Graham came back to tell me the facilities were disappointing - 2 loos and 1 shower! However when we both went for our usual stroll to find (a) a Maison de la Presse (paper shop selling English papers a must for the Skipper) (b) Tourist Office and (c) Launderette (none on site) we passed a large block containing Mens loos, Ladies loos and a together shower block. Extra wide loos, still no seats but comfortable (point score of 4!), so I am happy and its not a trudge either, another added bonus.

The first grocery type shop was a SPAR, not as we know it but close enough and the paper shop a few doors away and Tourist Office on opposite side of the road. Happiness is a Daily Telegraph; clean, quite sanitary block and a good berth and here we have it all.