Position: 46:09:28N 01:09:10W

La Rochelle, Southern Brittany, France

We timed our arrival after a night sail to work with the tides because our berth would be through a lock that only opened for 2 hours before & after high tide.
This meant we had to motor the last 3 hours. 

The arrival at La Rochelle is impressive. As you come up to the Old Port you have two large castle turrets either side of the entrance which in the olden days was used to put a chain across so no one could leave without paying their port dues. 

The three marinas that make up La Rochelle combine to offer over 3,000 moorings for pleasure craft. Which makes the port one of the largest in Europe. Most yachts must berth at the new marina a km away from the town centre but there are only a few berths for our size yacht there. Neither do we fit in the Old Port but thankfully there is another port for long term vessels beside the Old Port.
However, the entrance is via a swing bridge and lock system. 
You have to radio ahead to have the swing bridge opened.  Again John used his skills learnt on the River Thames whilst waiting for locks – he had to keep the boat hovering in the same place while we waited. 
We were fortunate to get a lovely mooring on the main dock.

The town has that wonderful French feel to it. Beautiful old buildings, a great place to wander through arcades just like the St Lawrence Market in Toronto and the ‘Lanes’ in Brighton. 
‘Moules & Frite’s seemed to be the most popular thing on the dinner menu. Wow! There are so many moules!  

There is also a great Aquarium to visit.

Bob arrived from Canada the next day to help us across the Bay of Biscay and then down to the Med. The cavalry had arrived.

We had to wait for four long days for the correct weather pattern for the two/three day sail. Sailing the Bay of Biscay is one of the toughest seas to do and you certainly wouldn’t want to sail in a SW wind! Guess what the winds had been for the last few days!

Bob not only has ‘sailing skills’ but he also has ‘retrieval of objects from bilges skills’! I dropped a knife and by a quirk of fate it ended up 6’ down in the bilge keel! It had been there for a few weeks. Bob’s skill was due to his daughters always loosing  something in his own boat bilge and a speedy need to retrieve the said toy.  So, one hour later and a lot of duct tape later, the said knife was finally retrieved.
Innovation is not dead.

The passerelle was also treated to its first fitting and a new home was found for it in the sail locker.

La Rochelle has an amazing Fish & Meat market. This made provisioning for our trip easy and a delight. I made two meals up to save cooking at sea.

I can imagine worst places to have to hang around!