I thought I would jot down our thoughts for cruising in France.  Not putting anything you can get in a Pilot/Almanac – only stuff we thought we could have done with knowing before setting out

Berthing

Marina berthing in July/August has varied from 16 euro to 40 euros a night.  (We are 11.5 m, and “became” 11.48m once we found that the price increase point was at 11.5m).

Visitors buoys ~12 euros.

Marina berthing costs typically include electricity and water, but do not include showers, which are typically 2 euros for a token.

Hence we shower on board as this is far easier, nicer and cheaper than trekking up to the shower block.   Suggest fitting an immersion heater for those times when you have used all the water from the calorifier (given electricity is inclusive) – we wish we had for the times when we’ve spent more than a day in one place without using the engine.

Internet

As of August 08, it didn’t appear possible to get a pay-as-you-go 3G dongle in France unless you were resident.  So your choices are:

• Use a blackberry/equivalent with smaller download sizes on a UK contract
• Use a 3G card on a UK contract
• Use the local wifi hotspot.

Most marinas have a wifi hotspot; many of the Northern marinas are with the same company, Netabord, which means that you can continue to use any credit at the next marina.  They were 6 euro for 2hrs; 14 euro for 24 hrs. 

Note that wifi reception is pretty poor when you are down on a pontoon, so consider getting some sort of aerial.  I wouldn’t personally bother fitting this in a permanent position on the boat – I would have it loose so I could move it around until I got the best signal.  You may have some luck in picking up a free hotspot this way also.

Costs

Pretty much everything is the same price, or slightly more expensive, than in the UK.  This was disappointing but is a result of the strong euro/weak pound, and the fact that it is high season.

Food

You can obviously get most things in France!

One thing we have done, which hasn’t killed us yet, is to pick our own mussels straight off the rocks at Low Water, and have moules marinieres back on the boat.  Pick the biggest mussels you can find, to give the tiddlers a chance.

Things we wished we’d brought more of:

Tetleys tea bags

Marmite

Tins of curry (for the transat, not for France!)

Gas

Camping Gaz is everywhere but no signs of any Propane.  We started with 3 x 3.9kg Propane bottles (orange).  Two bottles have lasted us about 7 weeks.  We only use gas for cooking, not for the fridge or anything else, but we do often heat up water for washing up.  

When we run out, we will probably have to buy a butane Camping Gaz bottle & regulator which is a bit of a pain.