27 June 2013 - Ile d'Yeu - N46 43.63 W02 20.78
ALKIRA
Charles & Maggie Bevis
Thu 27 Jun 2013 18:09
Tuesday 25th - Woke up to a beautiful day, clear blue skies and it was warm!!! We left the Golfe on the first of the ebb bound for ile Houat, where we anchored for lunch before continuing on to Pornic arriving at 20.30.
Pornic is an extremely pretty and buzzy little town, delightful architecture and very nice atmosphere. For once the town isn't deserted, awaiting the arrival of the owners of the holiday homes, there is a sense of a real community which makes a very pleasant change from some of the other ports we have visited and well worth a visit.
Wednesday 26th - left Pornic at 10.40 with more blue skies and no wind and arrived in Port Joinville, Ile d'Yeu at 16.00. The port filled up very quickly after our arrival and we found ourselves with two boats rafted outside us. We had showers and then walked into the town to find a restaurant for dinner. The houses all have a Mediterranean appearance with terracotta roofs, white washed walls and colourful shutters.
Not a very hilly island and plenty of places for hiring bikes, so definitely a god place to do some sightseeing. We have two folding bikes on board so we just needed to hire one for Ann.
Thursday turned out as Another good day, sunny and about 17 degrees. We cycled over to Port Meule, a small drying harbour on the south west coast with good views, lots of rocks to clamber over and the remains of an ancient fortification and a pretty little chapel on the hill. Spoiled ourselves again and decided to have lunch at the Bar de la Meule; a good decision and just lovely to sit outside in the sunshine. Cycled back to the town and bought bread and pâté, supper tonight will be something light!
Back in Port Joinville we Bumped into a couple of people we met in Vannes and also met up with a nice couple on a neighbouring boat who live very close to us in Lymington. We spent the remainder of the day reading and watching the comings and goings of quite a lot of yachts and motorboats. Charlie and Ann have discovered how flexible their necks can be! The marina is full this evening, goodness knows what it's like in the high season, quite a scramble for places I think.
Tomorrow we are moving on, probably to St Martin de Re, Ile de Re. Quite a long passage with arrival needed at approximately 7.30 pm in time for the lock at high water. The weather forecast looks good for the remainder of this week and also next week when we are due to tackle the Bay of Biscay en route to Spain.