44. Coast to Coast

ILE DE RÉ - FRANCE

Day started with a jolt at five thirty in the morning with lots of shouting in the near distance. It is amazing what must be in the back of my mind, tsunami? fire? Sitting bolt upright in bed I was able to discern laughing amongst all the other noise so in my muddled state I closed the skylights to reduce noise and assured the children that it was All Saints Day* and people were getting ready to go down to the beach to celebrate the dearly departed.  This reasoning was good enough for me and I collapsed back into bed, unconscious till nine thirty, as did the children.  Where do I get my material from?

Found that balancing my phone in the top of the awning, reasonable three bar 3G could be received and so the children threw themselves into more online maths though Fyfe did help me blow out the heat pump filter with compressed air (me on the awning inflation hand pump).

Yousician, online lessons - brilliant

Slot widened, repair drying

While homework was progressing I tackled the mast, more specifically, the halyard pulley that was causing me grief and more-so, embarrassment when it unjammed in front of Jennifer, after I had been extolling the virtues go gaff rigs (do ask me sometime) and the whole lot came crashing down, snapping the burgee mast in the process.  The existing pulley was old and brittle causing it to loose its shoulders letting the halyard derail and jam if the gaff was even slightly off centre, raising and lowering. I secured a wider, larger block with a larger pin. Changing the pulley and widening the hole to accommodate it, in normal circumstances, would be no great challenge but with the meagre tools I have with me it entertained me for many hours and did not end up with a trip to A&E you will be disappointed to read.  Currently I am waiting till tomorrow for the glue to dry.

In the afternoon we set off on bikes for La Flotte, the town on the other side of the island.  Again Google maps cycle route failed me and we ended up dragging bikes through ankle deep dry sand on what could be best described as horse trails. We are now using CoPilot GPS app.  It has been a great success getting the Giantavan around without getting jammed and it proved equally useful today enabling me to avoid enraging the kids.

La Flotte is quaint and groomed to within an inch, absolutely beautiful and totally without the crass commercialism that plagues New Zealand's scenic spots.  The ride is about fourteen km in total so Roman did well as he has taken a while to get into cycling for transport.  The local patisserie revived flagging spirits. 

* All Saints Day is next Wednesday, Nov 1. I have absolutely no idea how the French celebrate the day, if at all.