IRELAND TO THE MEDITERRANEAN, Part 1

That's the history lessons over, our girls have arrived back from France by ferry from Le Havre and it was time to consult the tea leaves, cards or even wet our thumb and stick it in the air to see what the weather held in store for us so we could be on our way, time was getting short for us to reach our winter moorings in Dunkirk due to the capricious weather.
Actually we use the UK government weather site to check surface pressure predictions and the best free site we've found so far from the many claiming to be the best is meteofrance.com.
The predictions are the worst case scenario and it's never let us down so far.
We planned to leave Gosport and cruise to Eastbourne to catch a favourable tide to speed our progress with our secondary ports of Shoreham with it's tempting Spanish bar with Tapas snacks, San Miguel and Estrella Damm beer on draught alongside the small marina there, it's a small commercial port accessed by a sea lock but we wanted to avoid restrictions so ruled it out.
Brighton marina is a super marina, a wee bit out of town but has great facilities, Brighton's regarded as the gay capital of the South of England and as an old fashioned WASP that ruled it out for me.
Eastbourne was within a hard days cruising so we opted for that despite having a sea lock.
Eastbourne is known as 'the retirement capital of the South' with it's soft climate and genteel atmosphere with house prices far less than Brighton making it suitable for pensioners.
The marina is part of an out of town development on reclaimed land with the usual tower blocks of flats, for us it had no atmosphere at all, a couple of yuppie upmarket restaurants but a surprisingly good 'chippie' (fish & chip shop) hidden away around the back. Since I was last there some fishing boats have began to work out of there which helps but I'm sure the well heeled locals will soon be complaining of the noise and smell.
As we had good weather the following day we were only staying only one night anyway.
Photo of chalky cliffs so typical of this coastline.
In Victorian times there was a passion for building piers out into the sea for people to stroll along as it was thought the ozone sea air beneficial.
If you came from an industrial area you can understand why it was so popular, many had amusements lining the sides and other had small theatre's. Blackpool pier in Lancashire North West England is probably the best known in the UK.

Our last English port on our journey to the Mediterranean is Dover, Dover is the busiest seaport in Great Britain with a ship movement at least every 15 minutes.
As the closest port to France these are obviously ferry movements but cruise ships regularly call and for a private cruiser passing it's a handy stopover with London only 40 minutes away by train.
Surprisingly the charges for cruisers are reasonable (except for lift outs) and the staff very helpful and friendly.
The port of course is commercial but if you approach from the west and make for Granville dock which has lock gates to hold the water level and is very secure.
Everyone has heard of the White Cliffs of Dover but they hold a fascinating secret, they are riddled with tunnels. These tunnels formed a labyrinth of command bunkers, lookout posts, electronic eavesdropping and gun posts dating back to WW2, as the closest port to France and bearing in mind that the 2 countries were at war for a 100 years you can understand why.
It's castle is considered one of the best preserved in Britain.
On the esplanade just beside Granville dock is a cracker of a ships chandlers dating back to 1860 called Sharp & Enright, it's staff are very knowledgeable and you can almost smell the hemp and tar from a bygone age, nowadays they have every screw, bolt, geegaw, doodad and thingy you could ever want for a ship.
I came out more knowledgeable and lighter in the wallet.
As the last chance to visit an English pub we of course visited several as any sailor visiting a port would do and found ourselves in a pub run by a company called Weatherspoon's, this company have a chain of pubs in Britain and Ireland with the simple format of supplying a wide range of the usual beers at keen price but also 'pub grub', gourmet eating it is not but for an economy meal including a free drink it ideal for sailors on a budget.
Yep ! you guessed it, we were again caught for a week of bad weather but it's not the worst place to be stuck if you go rooting around the outskirts it's surprisingly large with all the support services of a big seaport.

On our way from Eastbourne to Dover we passed this austere looking nuclear power station, it may be austere but it sure beats the hell out of the ugly, inefficient windfarms that are sprouting up all over the place destroying the scenery.
Our last English port on our journey to the Mediterranean is Dover, Dover is the busiest seaport in Great Britain with a ship movement at least every 15 minutes.
As the closest port to France these are obviously ferry movements but cruise ships regularly call and for a private cruiser passing it's a handy stopover with London only 40 minutes away by train.
Surprisingly the charges for cruisers are reasonable (except for lift outs) and the staff very helpful and friendly.
The port of course is commercial but if you approach from the west and make for Granville dock which has lock gates to hold the water level and is very secure.
Everyone has heard of the White Cliffs of Dover but they hold a fascinating secret, they are riddled with tunnels. These tunnels formed a labyrinth of command bunkers, lookout posts, electronic eavesdropping and gun posts dating back to WW2, as the closest port to France and bearing in mind that the 2 countries were at war for a 100 years you can understand why.
It's castle is considered one of the best preserved in Britain.
On the esplanade just beside Granville dock is a cracker of a ships chandlers dating back to 1860 called Sharp & Enright, it's staff are very knowledgeable and you can almost smell the hemp and tar from a bygone age, nowadays they have every screw, bolt, geegaw, doodad and thingy you could ever want for a ship.
I came out more knowledgeable and a good bit lighter in the wallet.
As the last chance to visit an English pub we of course visited several as any sailor visiting a port would do and found ourselves in a pub run by a company called Weatherspoon's, this company have a chain of pubs in Britain and Ireland with the simple format of supplying a wide range of the usual beers at keen price but also 'pub grub', gourmet eating it is not, but for an economy meal including a free drink it's ideal for sailors on a budget.
Yep ! you guessed it, we were again caught for a week of bad weather but it's not the worst place to be stuck if you go rooting around the outskirts it's surprisingly large with all the support services you would expect of a big seaport.
As you can see from the photo there's also a nice beach which is very popular with families.
Dover ferry company's do cheap day return tickets and many people go over for a day out and return stocked up with cheap booze as the wine and spirits are much cheaper in France due to taxes.
The Western entrance of the port gives access to Granville dock for passing cruisers.

I mentioned in the previous post a photo of Hinckley pint nuclear power station which I omitted by mistake. apologies.

One of the most noticeable things in Dover is the lack of British and Irish trucks making deliveries and collections to Europe via the ferries
The British government has taxed it's trucking industry so heavily that they are unable to compete on a level playing field with the former USSR satellite countries who have joined the European Union losing jobs and tax revenue of not only the trucking industry, but all it's support services too.
If a British/Irish truck goes to Europe it must pay a daily 'Vignette' to use the roads in addition to any motorways tolls, if a Romanian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czechoslovakian or Croatian truck comes to Britain they pay no tolls at all other than bridge tolls. the police don't stop them or check any papers and neither do the transport ministry.
Trucks are cheaper to buy there and their drivers are paid incredibly low wages.
So much for European Union, it's a disaster of a relationship for Great Britain and a far cry from the free trading agreement we signed up for in the first place.
illegal immigrants roam the streets and crime is increasing.
Sadly, that's the downside of Dover, despite that Dover is for all that a very nice place to visit.

As any sane person would do we were waiting for favourable conditions for leaving Dover and the passage across the English channel, it can be a bit daunting but with careful planning it should present no problem.


We calculated tides, tidal flow and available daylight hours to complete the passage in daylight, we're completely equipped for night passages and I'm perfectly happy to cruise at night but teethmarks on the dashboard tell another story from the lady crew member.
We waited a week for the rough seas to subside before getting a good weather synopsis for the following day and left at 11am to punch the last hour of the ebb tide and use slack water before picking up a favourable tide to help us up along the French coast.
The English channel is in simple terms a marine motorway, there are two defined lanes, one going South West West, a central reservation and another lane going North East East for large ships. Wee guys like us must cross these shipping lanes at right angles in the same way that you cross a street and can navigate outside of the main ship channels as they wish, except for the sandbanks and occasional shipwreck of course.
The sea fog forecast was spot on but the sun just couldn't quite break through and burn it off, it's difficult to take photo's in the fog !
Placing our faith in maps, compass, Garmin 72 and Mark 1 eyeball we had an interesting cruise across and navigated the sandbanks that litter the French coast safely to Dunkirk.
Why Dunkirk ? firstly it offered a safe mooring in an inner secure locked marina, secondly if you read the news at all you can't have failed to see the immigrant hordes in Calais, although Calais is a shorter crossing with a marina I wasn't keen on seeing my pride & joy stolen, packed with illegal immigrants and back on it's way back to England and wrecked on a remote shoreline after it occupants have scrambled ashore and issued the only English they'll ever learn 'We wish to claim asylum and I would like a house and some money'.
I digress, we arrived in Dunkirk just as dusk was falling and tied up with relief at our waiting jetty in the marina Grand Large,, unfortunately it was also the seagulls home and apparent toilet, the local fishermen simply throw over board any unsaleable small fish and the jetty piles and harbour walls abound with mussels and oysters so these guys have a feast and they're nearly as incontinent as those in Brixham.
The local pilot boat station is also there and a couple of 800 horsepower engines without silencers cracking off tend to interrupt your slumbers but if you enter a working seaport these are the things that are just part and parcel of everyday life and breath life into a port.
There are 3 tidal marina's when you enter Dunkirk, the Grand Large is the first to port, the Yacht club Mer Du Nord is on your starboard with it's own clubhouse/restaurant/bar and the municipal marina which is really for locals and inshore fishermen.
A further 2 marina's in the inner port are accessed through sea locks and by contacting Dunkirk VTS by VHF you can access the Bassin du Marine by passing under two lifting bridges.
A further lock takes you into the canal system and we'll deal with that in the next adventure.

Having organized our winter berth (hivernage) here in Dunkirk (Dunquerke) I decided it was time to sort out our vibration problems once and for all before we left 'Snow Mouse' tucked up for the cold winter months.
We lifted her out, replaced 3 engine mounts, withdrew the shaft, renewed bearings and discovered the PO had overtightened the stuffing box seal, over time this had worn a groove in the prop shaft, fortunately we were able to turn the shaft end for end and with a new PSS shaft seal eliminate any repeat, then we put everything back together taking great care to align engine and shaft.
The following photo's are self explanatory, look at the brown overheating marks on the old stuffing seal we removed some old systems used grease to lubricate the seal, others used water and later industrial steam packing impregnated with PTFE was used. The fitting of a PSS seal eliminates any need for it at all by using a stainless steel rotor against a fixed ceramic face. I've used one on my other boat for years without any leaks or drips
The first photo shows why you should use the correct stainless steel bolts when fitting boarding steps.
We didn't re anti foul because the hull is actually treated with 'Coppercoat', ie the gelcoat is impregnated with copper to stop anti fouling.
As you may know the sailing ships of yore used copper sheathing to stop the dreaded Teredo worm boring into the wooden hulls, 'Coppercoat' is simply a new method on an old proven theme.
Note also the 'fencing' and hole in the rudder, the fencing (horizontal blades) helps to grip the water flow over the face of the rudder and improves manoeuvrability at slow speeds, the hole in the rudder allows the shaft to be removed without dismantling the rudder assembly.
Sunrise over the boatyard.

In Dunkirk there are 2 ports, one is industrial with an enormous factory as well as the ferry terminal and has all tide access, there's also access to the inland waterways system for large barges.
The other port is accessed by a sea lock which maintains depth in the port and is used by repair yards, warehousing sheds, the private boat marina and maritime museum.
Sadly this inner port is little used due to the trade unions greed, pure and simple.
Stevedores here were well paid and had early retirement with good pensions but they were continually on strike for yet more, the crafty burghers in Belgium and Holland sent them a lot of money 'In support of their French trade union brothers', this only encouraged the unions who thought they were on a roll.
Of course the ships went elsewhere to unload their cargoes, the docks and all the surrounding support services lost it's beating heart and went into steep decline.
Where did the all ships go ?
Why Belgium and Holland of course !
The 2 barges are, the large one lying low in the water is loaded with 1,350 tonnes of aggregates, it's generator engine is larger than my main engine..
The smaller barge is a 'Freycinet' gauge barge and would carry 350 tonnes when loaded.
The term 'Freycinet' refers to a French transport minister in the late 1800's who had the foresight to standardise all the canal locks at 40 metres long by 5 metres wide and barges were built to 'Freycinet standard' 39.5 metres long and 4.8 wide bringing commercial sense to the hitherto confusion of canal and barge sizes throughout the system, eliminating costly transhipment of cargoes.
Coming soon.
Operation Dynamo.
Dunkirk military Cemetery.

As we say goodbye to tidal waters for a while it may be interesting to note that in the UK the strongest tides are found in Morecambe bay in Lancashire, so fast do these tides come in over the sands that some workers collecting shellfish some years ago couldn't outrun the tides to reach safety of the shore and were drowned.
Other places around the UK are The Swellies, The Bitches, The Whelps, The Gulf of Corryvreckan and Strangford Lough entrance where tides of up to 8/9 knots can be found.
Pentland Firth in Scotland has the strongest in the UK at 16 knots tides.
Skookumchuck narrows in Canada can boast 18 knots but the champion is Saltstraumen in Norway with an eye watering 22 knots.

Operation Dynamo.
At the opening of WW2 Britain sent an expeditionary force to Europe to try and stop the German advance, the British were no match for the German Blitzkrieg (lightning strike) and were driven back to Dunkirk in one of the worst defeats in British military history.
The Germans for some unknown reason halted their advance just short of Dunkirk.
Winston Churchill immediately put in place Operation Dynamo in which every conceivable vessel that could float was used to snatch men from the beaches in Dunkirk whilst under constant attack from Stuka dive bombers and machine gun fire.
Of the 450,000 men caught in the debacle 350,000 were snatched from the jaws of death in this operation which undoubtedly saved Britain from German occupation.
The Germans captured 80 men and cold bloodedly massacred them in some woods just a few kilometres outside Dunkirk, others lost their life in the defence and lie in Dunkirk Military cemetery.
The small ships that took part in operation Dynamo were given a plaque in honour of their service to the country and annually those 'Dunkirk Little Ships' as they're known, who survived and are still seaworthy make an annual pilgrimage under Royal Navy escort back to Dunkirk in Remembrance of those who lost their life in Operation Dynamo.
Photo's.
Dunkirk beach as it is today. The bunker from which the defence of Dunkirk was directed.
Defence gun.
Note, the museum in Dunkirk is open everyday from 10 am until 5pm from May until September.
The gentleman playing the Scottish bagpipes was an ex soldier( whom I spoke to after he finished playing).
He came to play a series of reels, jigs and laments with a finale of 'The Flowers Of The Forest' which brought a tear to my eye in honour of his ex regiments fallen.
Lest We Forget.

Dunkirk Military Cemetery.
If anyone has a relative lying sleeping here and wish a photograph of their headstone or inscription on a plaque if you give me their surname, initials, rank and regiment I will endeavour to find it and send it to you.
If you wish to research your relative's final resting place 'Google' The British War Graves Commission who will help you.
At the going down of the sun and in the morn, we will remember them.

On a much lighter note.
When we collected 'Snow Mouse' all those sea miles and adventures ago in Belturbet, Ireland we went by car as anyone following this will know, now we wanted to be re- united again with it and use it for our return to our other boat down in Narbonne in the South of France.
You may, or may not have heard of Ryanair the no frills Irish airline, it's not so bad now they have inside toilets. All joking aside I booked the train from Dunkirk to Lille and from Lille in France to Brussels in Belgium and took the shuttle train to the airport and was a bit bemused when I was asked for 5 Euro's tax just to enter the airport. Having stumped up the tax I did the usual trek to the boarding gate for the 20 Euro flight to Dublin.
Every one was loaded up and the doors closed and the next thing the Captain said there would be a slight delay, the doors opened and the police came on board with hands on pistols and took two men off the plane, the men didn't take their bags even though the police asked them to collect their belongings, luckily it was spotted and the bags removed.
We never heard any more info but thankfully had a safe flight and I promise never to grumble about airport security again.
Re-united with my ancient Mercedes she took umbrage and wouldn't start after lying so long so I copied the old knackers horse trick, when a horse wouldn't go quick enough for them they stuck a pepper up it's ass and it went like hell , I had no peppers but a jag of electric with the jump leads and it was ready to spin tyres again.
A nice leisurely drive to the ferry port at Rosslare for the Irish Ferries 'Oscar Wilde' overnight ferry to Cherbourg, refreshed after a good nights sleep the drive to Dunkirk was easy peasy.
The boat was serviced, winterized, car packed and a 2 day journey back to Narbonne finished our summer adventures for 2015.
We will of course be visiting 'Snow Mouse' for a few days at a time to continue a little refurbishing and visiting friends in Northern France and at home to Ireland.
At the beginning of this blog I posted some photo's of Omaha beach, the camera was terrible and the photo's awful so I plan to visit again over the next few months and retake the photo's and post them on here for you.

Back in Narbonne on our Birchwood 33 'Sanity' and we're busy getting health checks and defects remedied so we'll be in fine fettle and ready for Part 2 of our 'Ireland to the Mediterranean' adventures.
I'm often asked why in heavens name did I go all the way to Ireland to buy an ex hire boat ? are you crazy ?

But locks, that's the reason, or should I say 'not as many locks'
There aren't that many locks on the Irish rivers and canals in comparison to the Canal du Midi in the South of France, the hire boats are of a higher(pardon the pun) standard consequently the boats don't get smashed into lock walls and gates, and just as importantly the hire crews are given better instruction on taking over a boat.
The older boats that come up for sale were 'built up to a quality' and as tough as old boots, the newer models are built down to a price and it shows.
I'm not saying for a moment hire boats don't get any damage in Ireland but it's definitely much less and therefore easily repaired.
And to be absolutely honest with you, I simply love the challenge of the adventure.


Just take a look at these photo's of hire boats in Narbonne and you'll see why some hirers have refused to take them out and demand a refund.

Did you mention cheap flights?

Thanks, it's Brilliant, suits my sense of humour, we've seen it before but it's always worth a replay.
Nice to have a bit of fun and bring a smile to brighten our life.

Would you sailors/cruisers give your opinion on a discussion that's been chatted over many times between my other half and I ?
If you were buying a boat in another country and able to do so via this forum.


Would you prefer to buy a 'bare boat' ? stripped in a boat yard, or, would you prefer to buy a 'turn key boat' ready to cruise, fully fitted, full of diesel, water, bedding etc.
I hope it doesn't turn into an 'anchor debate', I'm curious as to other opinions.

Following on from why we chose to buy a boat in Ireland and why we're cruising by a circuitous route to Narbonne in the South of France, apart from the significant other half being French.
Initially I set sail single handed for Spain some years ago in 'Sanity' a Birchwood 33' and got 'captured' or should that read, 'captivated' by a French lady en route, the rest is history.
Why Narbonne ? In my research I discovered there's a small area on the Golf du Lion coast that enjoys the 'Littoral weather pattern' micro climate and Narbonne sits nicely in there, which makes it very comfortable for easy living.
During the summer months there are lots of tourists to give the place some buzz and an excellent health service to support them, when it's quiet and we're not cruising during the winter months it's very easy to get any health issues sorted quickly.
Why the circuitous route ?
'You'll not tear in the plucking' is an old Irish term meaning I'm an old bird that's seen many a treetop.
I wish to enjoy my Autumn years to the maximum, as 'Snow Mouse' is in Dunkirk, Northern Europe after our adventures since leaving Belturbet it makes sense to me to make the most of the journey and surrounding areas and visit Belgium, Holland and Germany before cruising down the Rhone valley to Narbonne in the South of France.
Narbonne was, during the Roman empire the largest settlement outside of Rome so there's lot's of interesting history packed in and around Narbonne and I'll bring some of that history to life for you in later posts.
It's also geographically strategic for us as it's situated on the Canal du Robine, a gentle days cruise takes us up to the Canal du Midi with Bordeaux and the Atlantic to port. The Camargue, the Rhone and into the rest of the European network to starboard.
Going South down the Canal du Robine a leisurely afternoon cruise takes us to the Mediterranean where we usually turn to starboard and go down the Spanish coast, eventually to Gibraltar. Further on lie Libya and Morocco, the last time I was in that area I was doing long range desert patrols and I've no desire at all at all to go back there.
To port lies Monaco, Italy and South East the Greek Islands, Turkey etc. which currently have their own problems and best avoided
Over the next few posts I'll bring you some photo's of in and around Narbonne.

Winter moorings in Narbonne.
Narbonne was the largest Roman settlement outside of Rome and the canal du Robine which passes though the centre of Narbonne started life as the river Aude which debouched into the Mediterranean at Port La Nouvelle.
This region was highly productive in agriculture and used to supply both the garrison stationed here and also exported to Rome, the Romans had a water driven flour mill here in Narbonne to produce flour for bread making.
The Roman governor of Narbonne was called Agrippa,(he was christened Agrippa after being born by breach birth).
He directed that the river Aude be made into a canalised river by using newly designed lock gates by Leonardo da Vinci, this meant that supply ships could then strike their sails when entering the port and be horse drawn up to the port of Narbonne.
Just North of Narbonne at a place called Salleles du Aude, the Romans discovered the local red clay was suitable for making pots and amphorae for storing food so they built a large pottery there and built an aqueduct to supply the pottery with water from the nearby mountains, wood was plentiful and in it's heyday the pottery had 7 large kilns for firing the clay products and the remains can be seen in the photo's.
Interlocking roof tiles were made for the houses.
The giant amphorae is a tourist attraction and sited in a roundabout in Narbonne to depict it's Roman past.
The house is an accurately built replica according to old Roman plans.
Before the advent of modern medicine, herbs and plants were used by the Romans both for cooking, medicine and making what are known today as 'essential oils'.
Many of these oils would have been transported around the Roman empire in the various sized amphorae.
The amphorae's curious design was actually very ergonomic for both storage, handling and transportation, they could be lifted by the handles, stored vertically in holes in the ground to keep the contents at a stable temperature and when being transported by sea they were laid down on their side in interlocking rows giving a stable cargo for the ships transporting them across the notoriously fickle Mediterranean where storms can be quite vicious.
This region of the Mediterranean is not called the Gulf de Lion for nothing.

A few more photo's of in, and around Narbonne.
There are one of the finest examples of Roman bridge building here in Narbonne, the bridge was built over the river Aude and was lined with shops and houses, it's still very much in use today, the only modification to the bridge were 2 steel beams, one each side, inserted to give it more strength due to the extra loading with the passage of time.(photo), The bridge clearance limit for cruisers is 3.50 metres high over 2.75 width.
The Romans built the Via Domitia, a road that ran from Rome to the Pyrenees and the Spanish border.
Their policy was to build straight roads and overcome any obstacles that's in it's path. if there's a river build a bridge over it, in the town square in Narbonne the original foundations of the Via Domitia have been preserved(photo).
The Romans invented the mile, columns were erected at each mile both as a marker and to boost the marching troops morale as they counted off the miles,(photo).
Signposts gave directions(photo).
A preserved smaller road bridge was taken down stone by stone and re-erected to original condition in a roundabout(photo).


I just couldn't resist the photo of the ducklings.

As we wind down gently from our summer cruise we looked back on the logistics and totted up our accounts as many people wonder what such a trip would cost and generally it's one of the first questions were asked.
Things like food we can't really count a we'd be eating wherever we were, we ate out twice in 5* restaurants and while the surroundings were nice the meals were nothing to write home about and the wine astronomically priced for what was a mediocre wine.
The rest of the time we ate on board or if we ate out it was from fish and chip shops and on one disastrous occasion, Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The Guinness and beer consumption would have been about the same too.
However wine and spirits are much more expensive in Ireland and UK, so as we were leaving for our adventure from the wine growing region of Languedoc Roussillon in the South of France it made sense to us to shop around for good deals on wine and took with us in the car trailer 150 litres, we then sold the trailer in Ireland for a profit.
The dearest bottle of wine was 2 euro's thirty cents, spirits are much cheaper in Spain, as the Spanish border is only 40 minutes drive away we stocked up with 20 bottles of Spanish Brandy @ 8 euro's a bottle, 6 Irish Whiskey @ 12 euro, 8 Gin @ 8 euro.
We contributed 20 bottles of wine for the leaving party and still had 8 bottles of rose wine left at the end of our 4 month cruise.
We likewise stocked up with meat products in Ireland before we left which we bought in supermarkets at a 30% price reduction due to a 'short sell' by date and put it in the freezer.
The cost for moorings and diesel came to Euro 3,700 = $3,954.37 = £2,593.00, marina fees accounted for 60% of the costs.
Already were preparing gently for part 2 of our adventures buying maps and pilot books and making sure we have all the legal requirements in place for each country we'll be passing through.
The Birchwood 33 we're living on at the moment will also get some TLC over the winter months as she's up for sale and we want her to be in good condition for a prospective new owner.

Congratulations on reaching Narbonne! What a fantastic aschievment in such a short time , what with the terrible weather.

I would hazard a guess that you are the first people to cross the Irish sea and channel in that specific model of Broom.

I was wondering if you have mpg/speed figure for overall cruise?

Hello Peter, I hope yourself keeping warm back there in Athlone. Brrr !
Now I know why the Irish make whiskey, it makes great anti freeze...
You must've missed our earlier post, we cruised as far as Dunkirk and 'Snow Mouse' is winterized and tucked up nice there with frost heaters running to keep her in good condition ready for our return. We'll probably take a run back up to check her over and start restocking her ready for next season.
We plan to leave Dunkirk and cruise up through Belgium into Holland and Germany and back through the Moselle valley and on down to Narbonne.
I put up the photo's and short description of Narbonne and it's surroundings to show any readers who are interested why were headed here with 'Snow Mouse'.
I'll post that trip up on TF as Ireland to the Mediterranean Part 2.
Were getting organized with body maintenance, (dental implants in Spain, as they're much cheaper than in France) & just tidying our Birchwood 33 up, she'll up for sale after Christmas, she's a great solid boat and somebody will have a good buy.
The Broom 42 hull is a semi displacement working at displacement (hull) speed (8.45 knots)and far exceeded our expectations at sea, with a low centre of gravity she coped far better with rough sea conditions than an Ocean 34 and a twin engine Broom 37 that cruised with us various times.
We cruised at 7 knots for economy but paid great attention to the tidal streams and on one occasion got up to 13 knots over the ground.
If you've any other queries I'll be happy to answer them for you..
Geoff.

Irish Rambler said:

Hello Peter, I hope yourself keeping warm back there in Athlone. Brrr !
Now I know why the Irish make whiskey, it makes great anti freeze...
You must've missed our earlier post, we cruised as far as Dunkirk and 'Snow Mouse' is winterized and tucked up nice there with frost heaters running to keep her in good condition ready for our return. We'll probably take a run back up to check her over and start restocking her ready for next season.
We plan to leave Dunkirk and cruise up through Belgium into Holland and Germany and back through the Moselle valley and on down to Narbonne.
I put up the photo's and short description of Narbonne and it's surroundings to show any readers who are interested why were headed here with 'Snow Mouse'.
I'll post that trip up on TF as Ireland to the Mediterranean Part 2.
Were getting organized with body maintenance, (dental implants in Spain, as they're much cheaper than in France) & just tidying our Birchwood 33 up, she'll up for sale after Christmas, she's a great solid boat and somebody will have a good buy.
The Broom 42 hull is a semi displacement working at displacement (hull) speed (8.45 knots)and far exceeded our expectations at sea, with a low centre of gravity she coped far better with rough sea conditions than an Ocean 34 and a twin engine Broom 37 that cruised with us various times.
We cruised at 7 knots for economy but paid great attention to the tidal streams and on one occasion got up to 13 knots over the ground.
If you've any other queries I'll be happy to answer them for you..
Geoff.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. A very interesting and educational adventure, please keep us all updated on all your new experiences.

Most people dream of taking a trip like you have done, but end up going on day trips. ( like me. Lol)

I'm going down to Gib at Christmas to have a look see, so I might have a mooring arranged for this spring. Seems to be convient for English speaking /spanish; best of both worlds....

Hello Peter,
Gib's really nice for a visit but I found it a bit restrictive for long stays and the cruising limited, banks are very helpful with offshore/low tax investments and you can get English food from the Sainsbury's supermarket with regular flights to London. Go into Spain for Ryanair/Iberia flights from Murcia. There can at times be serious border delays into/out of Spain if the Spanish get a bit antsy about who owns Gib (the Brits conquered it and been there over 350 yrs) but the Spaniards want it back for the mineral rights around it.


Some practical details of our trip from Ireland may be helpful to anyone wishing to do something similar.
We used the Irish Cruising Club and the English Channel pilot books with Imray 'C' series of charts.
Standard Horizon VHF's, we had a radio check every hour and kept chatter restricted.
We had a serious planning session each evening and a general discussion over a few relaxing drinks, generally in a local hostelry to get off the boat, look around for things to see and do while in port.
We found the flybridge too rough for helming and only used it entering/leaving port or before daylight for early starts, the inside helm was much more comfortable and whoever was off watch could lie on the sofa for a siesta if they wished
Steiner 7x50 binoculars with compass for running fixes and back bearings.
A simple Garmin 72 gps with no need of all the bells and whistles was very accurate, we found a swinging compass on a small boat too hard to follow accurately.
We found Wi-Fi poor in most ports and bought Sim data cards which were pretty much useless and a waste of money, an iPhone gave alternative coverage.
There are lots of sites like visitmyharbour.com and inyourfootsteps.com but we found these not to be as good as they would have you believe, we found these sites gave consistently accurate results.
www.meteoconsult.co.uk for wave/swell height/direction.
www.metoffice.gov.uk for 5 day surface pressure predictions.


Sailors need to be well catered for to keep them alert and morale high so we cooked as we cruised with a hot breakfast/dinner every day and regular hot drinks with an emergency flask as a backup in case of emergency. Alcohol was strictly banned while cruising.
I don't suffer from sea sickness but some people do and we found that crystalized ginger dissolved slowly in the mouth very effective for upset stomachs.
I have no connection with any of the company's or websites mentioned above, other than as a satisfied user.
I've been asked if I would do it again ? You betcha, a brilliant experience/adventure and I hope an inspiration to others who are up until now had been only thinking of something similar.
I hope this is helpful to you.

Rusty Barge,
We came across these photo's that show the Broom hull can hold it's own with the' big boys'. The wash from these ships is very large, as you know the trick is to turn bow on, otherwise it can be very dangerous with the risk of damage or even swamping small boats.
The big wash tends to come well after the ship has passed and wash from quite distant passing ships can catch you unawares unless you keep a sharp lookout..
Oops ! one photo slipped out at 90% apologies.
Skipper and first mate in La Jonquera,Spain on a recent shopping trip.

Irish Rambler said:

Rusty Barge,
We came across these photo's that show the Broom hull can hold it's own with the' big boys'. The wash from these ships is very large, as you know the trick is to turn bow on, otherwise it can be very dangerous with the risk of damage or even swamping small boats.
The big wash tends to come well after the ship has passed and wash from quite distant passing ships can catch you unawares unless you keep a sharp lookout..
Oops ! one photo slipped out at 90% apologies.
Skipper and first mate in La Jonquera,Spain on a recent shopping trip.

Click to expand...

You can't argue with physics, low and wide makes a very stable boat ; a lesson many high sided trawler designs should take onboard. The low freeboard on your design looks suspect to most people, but when you consider the Nelson designs shared the same concept and are considered one of the most seaworthy designs ever made.

Thanks for bringing my attention to Brooms as a suitable choice for cruising Europe, its something I never considered as I presumed they were just river cruisers.

I'm sure you're looking forward to the spring and getting going again.

Hi Peter,
Don't worry I used the old maxim of measure twice and cut once when I was considering buying another boat and did mountains of research.
Different people expect different things from a boat which is why there are rarely two the same in a marina.
The Broom hulls were designed by naval architect Andrew Wolstenholme for Aquafibre, when Aquafibre moulded hulls they moulded for economy of scale, the only difference being planing or semi displacement, how they were fitted out later wasn't in their remit.
We took the same points as you into account regarding the similarity to the Nelson hull, on a practical note we'd been aboard one the same that some friends had hired from Emerald Star and got caught in a nasty storm on Lough Ree, as you well know the waves there can be quite vicious being much shorter and steeper than those found at sea ,I was mightily impressed how well the low centre of gravity hull coped and even more surprisingly a 'dry' boat.


Yes were in full swing on the planning and have a full schedule lined up, my Visa cards taking a hammering as we get the relevant charts, pilot books and tourist info, once we get the schedule organised we'll set a departure date from Dunkirk.
I promised people here on TF at the start of this blog that I'd go back to Omaha beach to take a better photo for them and I never break a promise so it's all 'GO' here, some people call it the 'quiet season', whew ! if this is quiet what's devil is hectic like !
We've Thanksgiving later this week with our American friends and before you know it Christmas will be upon us.
Geoff.

The following photo,s, are as I promised, of, and around Omaha beach;
We had to drive over 2,500 kilometres to take them but I felt so bad about the quality of the first ones that I couldn,t let it go without setting the record straight.
Because of these men,s sacrifice, you are now able to live in a free world.
I hope you have the same courage of these men when you face adversity.
Don,t let their sacrifice be in vain.

I'm so glad to see they are still HONORED, Thanks.

HiDho,
You can rest assured that they are, very much so;
The garden of Remembrance would put the White House lawn to shame, it,s absolutely immaculate;
Many visitors from around the world come to visit and pay their respects;