Saint Vaast La Hougue back to Cherbourg

Today so many good things happened it’s hard to know where to start. The sailing wasn’t great, but for about an hour, when the TWS was about 11 knots and the AWS was about 14 knots – it was sunny and the water was fairly calm and it was magical.  We remained on a close reach throughout.  It seemed to be a good day to have the traveler as it made a big difference on the close reach.

I was rather hypnotized by the VHF coast guard reports from Solant.  There were several pan pans and securites as well.

Unfortunately, the breeze did not last and even after tacking quite a bit, we had to motor in order to keep time with the huge current.

Prior to the sail, we spent the morning meandering through the market in Saint Vaast de le Hougue and post sail, we spent the evening in Cherbourg.  The market was French and wonderful, complete with glamorous looking dogs everywhere!

The fruit, the flowers and the clothes all looked more fashionable than in the states.  And of course, the bread, cheese and sweets were beyond delicious.

When we arrived in Cherbourg, Joshua dinghied me over to the laundry so we didn’t have to carry the load on foot- great idea!  (until I realized I was locked in- yes, the floating docks in Cherbourg are locked and I had to ask a fisherman via sign language to unlock the gate so I could exit to the laundry.)

Then Joshua actually cooked a great dinner while Michael and I waited for the dryer to finish. The kid sure can cook! We broke out the champagne bottle that came with the boat and finished it all off with a phone call to Zachary, who seems to be happy as can be at Georgetown.