So, on my return to the UK, there are a number of issues to understand and address. Among these, why does my propeller anode last less than a month before disappearing? A call to Bruntons to put them on the spot suggested, from their demeanour, that it is not a unique problem and it would seem that the anode degrades from the fixing points which are close to the thinner periphery. The suggested ‘fix’ is to antifoul the anode around the screw area so the screw integrity is more likely to survive the degradation. I have ordered some more (at nearly £40 a pop!) and I will liberally treat them before my next visit. I will report back in due course.

I went to look at the replacement new water tank and it is MASSIVE.

Full of water it will weigh ¼ ton !

I have arranged for it to be shipped to Baie des Anges, I don’t think it would fit in ‘The roller skate’ (my Hyundai i10).

The mission to replace the port side water tank which exploded in Barcelona is daunting and a huge cloud on my horizon at the moment. I will have to lift the saloon seating area floor and the keel box surround on the port side. I will then have to remove two AC units and tank braces. I will then have to drain and disconnect the diesel tank and remove it. This should then allow the removal and replacement of the buggered water tank……

With the diesel tank removed, I should be able to locate the source of the diesel seepage. I have obtained from Tek Tanks, a set of sealing washers and I have bought some ‘blow bubble’ liquid so, I should be able to block the apertures and pressurise the tank to locate any leaks.

Flights are booked for mid-October so, fingers crossed – I will report back.

Having replaced the prop anode in Ibiza and tightened the screws with as much force as I could muster, imagine my disappointment when having a dip, to see that the anode was missing again ! So, the mission was to replace it with one of my spares before the prolonged period in Baie des Anges. So anchoring between the islands of Sainte Marguerite and Sainte Hororat off Cannes seemed a good opportunity using my ‘Heath Robinson’ diving gear. The idea was good and late morning there was still space but it soon filled with literally hundreds of boats playing dodgems so, as soon as our mission was completed, we weighed and made our way out of the ‘mad house’ towards our final 2018 wintering destination.

I had taken my old Jeanneau into Baie des Anges 6 years ago from where Andrew very kindly sold it for me. Andrew once again ‘came up trumps’ organising a berth for the winter which is no mean feat on this popular coast where places are coveted and very difficult to come by. Initially mooring on the fuel berth as directed, we were ushered into a superb position between two large power boats.

Unfortunately, we touched the bottom at extremely low speed in the fairway so another lesson learned; always lift the keel when entering a new marina for the first time. Hopefully there will be no harm done and we are ‘chuffed’ with the location with sufficient depth on the berth to fully lower the keel and thus ‘relax’ the systems and with room each side for no fender contact. Being here for some time, we fitted our heavy duty sprung mooring warps together with stern spring lines.

The beach here is less than 200m away from the mooring and with the adjacent beach bar; Paula is all set to stay on for the next ten days with her friends arriving for a holiday.

Since leaving Port Solent in Portsmouth Harbour on the 21^st of May, Hejira has logged 2157 miles and I have returned home twice, leaving Hejira in Vilamoura for a couple of weeks and Marseille for 13 days. Since passing into the Med, we have enjoyed very little sailing which has been disappointing and, on reflection, we could have sailed more had we not been on a schedule which didn’t allow for lower speeds – this may be a lesson for the future as I have been prone to making ambitious plans and I will be reflecting on this while formulating my itinerary for the coming years…

During the course of the passage, Hejira has ‘suffered’ four incidents, three minor and one major. I was unexpectedly caught by a big gust when mooring in Chipiona emerging from behind a large power boat and made un-fendered contact with the pontoon. When picking up a mooring buoy on the bow while going stern to the quay in Carry le Rouet, the ‘Hook and Moor’ device didn’t deploy which was just embarrassing and hitting the bottom entering Baie des Anges was a bit stupid. The big incident was also self-inflicted when I burst the water tank in Barcelona and this will haunt my winter as I dismantle the interior to gain access to replace the tank. On the up side, these incidents have all taught lessons and hopefully, by ‘confessing’ here, readers will avoid committing similar offences.

For the record, the places visited on this cruise form the UK are listed as follows:-

Port Solent, Studland Bay, Portland, Dartmouth, Salcombe, Plymouth, Muros, Bayonna, Vianna do Castello, Porto, Cascais, Lagos, Vilamoura, Chipiona, Rota, Gibraltar, Estepona, Puerto Banus, Benalmadena, Almerimar, Alicante, Moraira, St.Antonio – Ibiza, Cala Benirras – Ibiza, St. Elm – Mallorca, Barcelona, Arenys-sur-Mer, Cala SaTuna, Cadaques, St. Ciprien, Cap D’Agde, Saintes Maries, Carry le Rouet, Marseilles, Isle le Frioul, La Ciotat, Toulon, Rade D’Hyeres, Cavalaire sur Mer, Port Grimaud, St.Raphael, Cannes, The Lerins Islands, & Baie des Anges.

Prices have ranged from free to exorbitant with the excellent Cruising Association ‘Captain’s Mate’ app giving useful background information. Bureaucracy has been very varied with Spain and Portugal demanding to copy passports and France mostly interested in the registration document and insurance.

All in all it has been a very satisfying summer cruise although I have largely missed the scorching weather back home. I have to express a resounding ‘thank you’ to all of my crew, I hope they have enjoyed the experience as much as I have !

Stephen writes:-

La Voyage et termine .  Yesterday I was mugged by Mal de mer as number Six insisted I lick the hull clean after he had replaced the anode. One error he forgot to mention in his `confessions` was when he  dropped his Allen key into the depths which he then spent  some time diving down to find (unsurprisingly unsuccessful).  How many members of the `crew` have been `entertained` by `the cat` he has kept a secret so how about # Herjirascar?

We have had mainly wind free weather if not a wind free skipper and the temperature has usually been around the 30c mark so we are well topped up with vitamin D. The fishing has been unsuccessful so I am considering fishing in the marina for mullet (not that you should ever eat one) just to marginally reduce my shame.

Now we are moored up in `The Bay of Angels` having said goodbye to Cannes yesterday( a lovely place with a great marina) and another few billion pounds worth of Gin Palaces one of which is rentable at a modest 380K per week. It has been a very educational passage and how busy the waters were was a revelation.

St. Raphael should have been a delightful stop over and apart from being in a goldfish bowl with every mouthful of our dinner inspected by the passing throng, it was looking good – until… When approaching midnight, the disco struck up seemingly 2 metres from our mooring! We simply closed the hatches, pulled the curtains and with the alcohol and AC doing their job, we had a good night’s sleep. Stephen and Mary suffered however and had yet another interrupted sleep deprived night.

Having booked a berth in Cannes for the night, we expected to be positioned on the outer visitor pontoon which suffers the wash of all the passing traffic. You can imagine my relief (given the above) when we followed the rib into the most tucked away and tranquil position on a new concrete dock in the heart of the Port and we were helped to moor.

The reception in the Capitainerie was nothing short of stunning. We were given (by a very pretty and enthusiastic lady) our passes, a discount card for shops and restaurants, a goody bag containing maps, free tourist tokens, washing stuff and a pair of slippers. We were given free tokens for the laundry machines, wi-fi codes, and free use of electric bicycles. Water and electricity on the berth were also provided of course. The new adjacent facilities block contained the cleanest toilets and showers (with whole body air blowers!), vending machines, computer terminals, laundry, book swap and a still and sparkling water dispenser. All this in the heart of the lovely town and for 46 Euros for the night which is one of the cheapest since leaving the UK. Contrast this with 121 Euros in Puerto Banus – without electricity or water, 70 Euros for a mooring buoy in Cadaques and 40 Euros for a lumpy mooring buoy in Cavalaire sur Mer.

We previously spent a night in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol which claimed to be the ‘Best Marina in the World’! Let me tell you that Port de Cannes is 100 times better !!!

As the afternoon progressed, the tender from a monster motor yacht came in a couple of berths down from us. They clearly had a problem with their engines, two 627HP outboards  (yes really, 2 x 627hp !!!) and borrowed an adjustable spanner. When the problem was sorted, the revving of the engine was not popular on the dock but they very kindly gave us two bottles of wine for our troubles.

Stephen googled the wines and we clearly did very well out of the transaction and could have bought a socket set for the short loan of the adjustable !

Stephen writes:-

So Cannes does live up to its reputation and is well worth a visit. Number six is very happy as there is not a big white ball in sight and he still thinks he is not a number but a free man (don`t tell Paula!). The fish have still had the upper hand so tonight`s meal will be Lamb Shanks not French fish. I realise I have yet to post a limerick  so I shall be prepared to see what I can find to rhyme with Nick and Shanks. We have had a great day and tomorrow will have a relaxing day and hopefully I can catch some fish.

Hope springs eternal

Reluctantly leaving Port Grimaud, we made our way through the manic St. Tropez bay under engine alone in less than 1 knot of wind. We had managed to secure a berth with the very polite and efficient staff in the Vieux Port at St. Raphael which had been recommended. On our approach, the port didn’t look at all ‘vieux’ as the pristine concrete breakwater and buildings must have been very recently constructed. We took our allocated berth between monster yachts and wondered if they had miss-read our length as thirty, not thirteen metres and braced ourselves for a commensurate fee.

The berthing staff could not have been more accommodating and the fee was on the cheaper end of our experience on this expensive coast. We made a trip to the Cathedral and the old City and under-sea archaeology museum then settled down to what must be the usual experience for our larger neighbours – that is being ‘gawped at’ by the throngs of passing humanity.

Stephen writes:-

Despite the white balls following us we outran them across the bay to St Rafael so number Six is free and keeps saying “I am not a bumbler” but Dear reader we all know the easiest person to fool is oneself. The berthing crew were the most helpful with the slime lines and we are next to two very impressive boats who seem very keen to share their musical tastes with us, so I am very tempted to share some Country music with them despite number Six`s horror. I think “It ain`t my fault” by the Brothers Osbourne would be most appropriate…

Ever since I spent a summer month in Grimaud with a French ‘pen pal’, I have been fascinated by Port Grimaud. In 1969, (when I was 15 and fell in love with Chantal…)  it was still under construction and, it wasn’t finished until 1980. Since then, I have visited several times in various yachts and I always find the place absolutely captivating. Although newly constructed and probably considered by the architectural cognoscenti as an unforgivable pastiche, to my mind it has been designed with tremendous care ensuring (probably at great expense) that every property is individual with varying roof lines, avoiding straight lines and incorporating slips, docks and enchanting bridges. The colours are all pastel with shutters and not an air conditioner in sight. It has a focal square and ‘Eglise’ with numerous restaurants and shops which thrive because there is a vast camp site behind the adjacent beach and the holidaymakers pour into the development to spend their money. On previous occasions I have ‘anchored off’ or been moored in the outer basin but this time, we were escorted into the very heart of the place, following the Capitainerie launch along the maize of canals to a central berth.

We even spotted Harry and Megan waving from a balcony.

Stephen Writes:-

Port Grimaud is the French equivalent of Portmeirion and well worth a visit but beware buying `vegetable crisps’ and humus in the market because they are over 50 euro per kg!! I was surprised that the Master or number Six as I will now call him was not pursued by great white balls despite my best attempt to warn Le Capitainerie about his past employment.

The French fish have defeated me again despite number Six slowing us down  but we shall not give up (even if I have to sneak off to the fish market tomorrow before anyone else is awake) so dear reader please keep this a secret.