le weekend
Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Wed 23 Jun 2010 21:00
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Enjoyed our afternoon walk into the old town of
Pornic and despite the multitude of restaurants we ate on board.
Our chauffeur ( Yann) collected us at midday and
drove us the 100 miles through the Loire valley and its vine yards to Ian and
Angela's small farm where we enjoyed four days of " the good life".
    We had not seen them for about 6 years so there was
a lot of catching up to do. Despite expert tuition we failed our goat milking
examinations but spent a most enjoyable time assisting in minor tasks, walking
the dogs- lovely Field Spaniels- and generally getting in the way and disrupting
routine.
  There once
was a lonely goatherdWe saw plenty of bird life: black kite, black
tailed redstart and a kingfisher. On Sunday we had an excellent lunch out in
Voulay and on Saturday we had lunch in a small town and sampled the local wine
from "
Pissolet"
They take their wines seriously and even had vines planted on a
roundabout!
            We were sorry to leave but the weather was fair for
moving South so we left on Tuesday morning laden with goat's milk, cheese,
lettuce, raspberries, beetroot, walnuts and other goodies from the farm
including a bottle of Sloe Gin and a specially baked Christmas
Cake!
Back in Pornic we readied Moonbeam for sea and
walked along the coast to the lovely village of St.Marie sur Mer. Along the
shore there are some beautiful villas, some immaculate and some rather tired,
interspersed with small sandy coves.
The weather has now improved in that the days are
clearer and much hotter but to an extent we have now "run out of France! The
marinas in the Vendee region are we believe still closed to visitors and further
South the cruising is pretty uninteresting. The winds are basically Northerly if
rather light so it seems a good opportunity to head for Northern Spain! Our
slowly improving Franglais would have to wait for Martinique.
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