John & Julia

The heatwave unfortunately was just ending as we set off, and we went to Portland instead of Alderney as we won't sit in a NE there again, and we thought that if the weather held, we would go onto the West Country. It didn't, so after a day in Portland we headed South as planned to the Guernsey and Northern France. In Portland we had a great Saturday evening with Paul and Hannah and Lester and Sharon.

Sunday was a rough crossing to St. Peter Port, but we got a finger pontoon and stayed there through Monday. Tuesday, we set off south and had very poor visibility all the way down to Paimpol. We moored alongside Argo at Paimpol, who are just opposite us on A pontoon in Haslar! We enjoyed Paimpol, and then headed to Perros-Guirec for the weekend. It was much bigger than we expected but we learned to like it. As we were going to be sailing on our wedding anniversary (18 years ) on the Sunday, we made the Saturday our celebration day. We cycled round to Ploumenach, and had a slap up lunch there at Des Rochers.

Then, Sunday we had a wet and yuk day going back up for an overnight on the pontoons outside at St. Peter Port. The wind was strong and it rained. We stayed indoors for this trip! Just as we were a few miles off Guernsey, we were caught in the worst thunder storm I have ever been in. Visibility went down to zero, and the wind howled, and the lightning was very very close. The pontoons were full of people sheltering from the weather and it was chaos especially the way the French "park" their boats.

Next morning we headed to Carteret where we met our Area 15 buddies Bachuus and Skoolie 2. The weather was sunshine and showers. The following day we had booked the train to the local market, but the weather was appalling - raining cats and dogs - we were all in oilies, but still had a great day out. Wednesday, we all left us heading North and home and the others South as they were just starting their holiday.

The sun finally came out for our few days in Cherbourg and it was great. We sunbathed on the really hot day, shopped in Carrefour, and went on the bus to St. Vaast and enjoyed a lovely Cote de Boeuf for two in our favourite restaurant Pantagruel. The fish restaurant Au Tire Bouchon was also good as was La Cale.

The crossing back on Sunday was perfect, sunny and downhill. We flew the chute all the way from Cherbourg to Ventnor. See the photos tab for all the pictures