Finally. We are on our way down to S/Y Melody. Sailing trip ahead – this year from Les Sables d’Olonne in France to Algarve coast in Portugal. It feels good to come down to Paris and feel the French atmosphere. Good food in every corner and a cheerful “Bonjour” as you meet people. I just love this part of Europe. The weather is nice and we stay in Montparnasse district in south Paris that gives us close contact to the Montparnasse Station as well as some nice neighbourhood to take a walk.

Early the next morning after breakfast and enter the train. The timeless feeling of train stations fills me with travel excitement. It is classic travel with no boundaries although we step on the extremely fast and efficient French TGV-trains.

As we arrive in Les Sables d’Olonne, we take a taxi to the Port Olona marina where we find the boat and step aboard. It feels wonderful to get the relaxing feeling of the second home and this is a nice city to start the summer sailing. After preparing the most basic things, we take a walk along the channel and take the electric ferry over to the centre of town. Here the restaurants are packed with people and even if the season has not started yet, we are not able to get a table at my favourite – Fleur du Thym. But the town is full of restaurants so we take a sea food restaurant at the beach and have a dinner as the sun sets over the old town instead. That works too 🙂

The next morning we leave Les Sables d’Olonne exactly 10 years after we picked up Melody as new. It feels very nice 10 years to look back on. And there is a row of new Lagoons waithing for their owners to sail away.

First stop is last years favourite island – Ile de Ré. We have a nice sail down to this island south-east of Les Sables d’Olonne and enter the port at Saint-Martin de Ré in perfect tide. We get a nice sport just outside the fortification wall and go into town to explore. It is a beautiful town and we decide to stay two nights and rent bikes and bike to the north part of the island instead of moving to Ars-de-Ré that we have not been to.

The road to Ars-de-Ré is winding and go along the coast and through the salt fields. Here they put salt water to dry to a higher concentration of salt and then skim the top to get Fleur-de-Sel. The economy of these islands besides tourism are oysters, salt and wine growing destined for wine and cognac. Ars-de-Ré is a sleepy town and we decide to go to the last end of the island where it should be possible to climb the lighthouse tower. It is an impressive tower and climbing its stairs takes its tolls but is awarded with a nice view over the ocean and the island. We get back into town just as the rains starts falling again and we sit at a restaurant and watch the rain fall over the old harbour.

Our plan is to visit Ile d’Oleron next day and due to tidal considerations, we leave Ile-de-Ré early in the morning and set sail south-east towards the bridge from La Rochelle over to the island. It is a beautiful day and with decent wind so we reach Saint-Denis d’Oleron just at the right time when the inlet is still possible to navigate. This is a sleepy small town and we take a quick walk over the town, visit the church and buy some groceries.

After that we take a walk after the shores with sandy beaches, WW2 bunkers as well as tidal ponds for fishing. I am curious of this northernmost part with its lighthouse so I put on my running shoes and go for a run. I have a fascination of these giant constructions that have been sitting there for centuries, guiding seafarers and taken care of by committed keepers in harsh conditions. The map is somewhat confusing so the time back from the lighthouse becomes significantly longer than expected so a shower and being treated with mussels at a harbour restaurant felt good.

The next morning we move to Boyardville and reach it in good tide. The harbour master came running since he did not think that we could get in, but I convinced him that an entrance of 7 meters is enough. He looked very sceptic when we squeezed ourselves into the inner harbour with very small margins on each side. I told him that the trick is to grease the hulls, have a bit of speed and a lot of self-confidence. We expected this to be a larger city, but it turned out to be about the same size. It turned out to be the same size and we wander along before we rent bikes and do a biking trip to the cities inland. It is a beautiful landscape and we get some nice views. We also visit the Ile d’Oleron vinery and taste their wines and their Cognac. After a nice long bike trip, we return to the boat and have a great dinner at the boat as the evening sun is beaming down on us.

Birgittas vacation starts to come to it’s end and we decide to take the last stop on the cruise in Rochefort. This is one of the major naval centres of imperial France and located up the Charante river that gives this region its name. But first we go out to take a look at the Fort Boyard some 2M outside Boyardville. This fort was the most fort ever built in France and was expected to guard the entrance to Rochefort. It is a very strange building in the middle of the ocean. As it was completed in 1860’s the weapon technology has advanced to a stage so it had no purpose and was transformed to a prison. Now it serves as a stage for the Fort Boyard TV shows – in Sweden “Fångarna på Fortet”. The Ile d’Aix next to the fort shows up to be a nice little island.

Rochefort is very nice city and we wander along the nice streets and take a tour at the naval museum before having a nice dinner down at the docks.

In the early morning as we need to wait for the high water I jump into my running shoes and the run is magic by the Charante river with slight fog hanging over the low water river bed.

Our last stop and where we put the boat to rest for some weeks is La Rochelle. A beautiful old city surrounding the harbour with two towers watching the entrance. We take a walk through the city and have a nice dinner in old town. We put the boat in the huge Les Minimes marina with over 3000 (!) berths. Next day, we stroll around in the city and enjoy the sights and visit some marina shops and the next day it is time to depart to Bordeaux.