Calais to St Valery Sur Somme

Monday morning 02:00 and we were up and ready to go. The Calais lock gate opened at 2:37 and I watched as Norma took Spectra out before handing over to Norma and Steve to complete the first shift and get us heading down the French coast towards Cap Griz Nez. A very clear night and shooting stars a plenty for the first watch, although they did spend their watch dodging ferries and a multitude of fishing boats all of which I am happy to say had gone away by the time I took over. Two hours later it was my turn to take over for the next 3 hour watch on my own before handing over to Andy and Sarah at 08:00. My watch consisted of light fog, lots of clouds and no shipping came anywhere close so not nearly as interesting as I spent three hours willing Old Grey nose lighthouse to get closer as we punched against nearly three knots of tide.

As the sun came up Andy and Sarah got up early for their shift and we had a good chat about life in general over a cup of tea, just about managing to put the world to rights before I went back to bed for a couple of hours. We reached the ATSO buoy outside Valery Sur Somme and dropped anchor by 1330. Out came the fishing rods as we had mackerel leaping out of the water all around us on the approach. Needless to say the sight of our fishing gear scared them all off, but we did spend a nice hour chilling in the sun as we waited for the tide to rise high enough for us to get into St Valery. At 1445 Norma called up the Capitainerie who confirmed that we had enough water to get in.

Only just! 1:30 hours later I moored Spectra up with a few more grey hairs to call my own. The entrance channel doubled back on itself completely at one stage and has at least three 90 degree turns along the way. The channel could not have been more than 20ft wide in parts and the depth sounder alarm beeped all the way in just to accompany my jangling nerves. It actually showed zero on more than one occasion.

Having said that, what a lovely port of call! The medieval town is immaculate, and the marina staff very friendly and helpful. We had a beer or three in the marina yacht club to celebrate our entry and a meal aboard. As the river seemed full of fish Steve and I decided to try out our fish trap overnight baited with the leftovers from dinner. We had great ideas for fried fish in the morning or even maybe a lobster or two but all we got for our efforts, minimal that they were, was a bag stuffed full of small hard shelled crabs (See pictures) and certainly nothing you would want to put in a cooking pot.

                  Andy and Steve investigate the nights catch                                                Lots of crabs and bare feet. Let the dancing begin

Onwards and upwards, after breakfast of more traditional fare and a thorough clean down of Spectra, we all piled onto the tourist steam train for a 1 hour trip around the estuary to Le Crotoy. So nothing new here then, get up have breakfast and a one hour commute on a train. But it was a Thomas the tank engine type of affair and you could stand out on the carriage foot plate and watch the world go by. Boyhood dreams of being a steam train driver fulfilled we headed back to the boat on a boring old diesel train.

The kids getting excited before the train ride                                                            Thomas Le Cistern Engine