It was a very smooth day sailing from Sete to Marseille. So much so that we were able to hoist the mainsail and survey the damage. Not too bad and a small tear in the very top corner of the sail. There is a sailmaker a few 100 metres from the marina in Marseille. We have emailed and requested emergency assistance- we shall see.

It’s always exciting arriving in a new port. Marseille is huge and sits in the bowl of the mountains. The Rhone river exits just to the west and many yachts and boats make the journey north up the river from here.

It’s busy, cruise ships, tourist tripper ferries and a big boating community all accessing the Port at the same time.

We enter in through the Roman walls of the Fort. High on the hill above us sits another Notre Dame.

Without fail people have all said to us ‘be careful in Marseille’

It’s easy to see why – it’s extremely busy, lots of young people here for a music festival, it’s multi cultural plus tourists. There is a lot going on but it feels interesting more than threatening. Walking around we see creative spaces, design and food –

The weather has become very settled and each afternoon we see families heading out for a few hours on the water before dark. It’s still twilight at 10pm and it is probably 30C on land and 24C on the water. Certainly we have not been hit by any of the heatwaves that we see in the news.

The good news is the sail is to be repaired and will be ready the next day. All Rog and I have to do is get it off and cart it up there to the loft. Luckily it’s only 300m away and the Marina has some great trolleys- one of which we can use. Everyone is very helpful- we can relax a little and enjoy our time here.

Three days we stayed in Marseille and sailed away towards the Calanques.

This is a National Park between Toulon and Marseille. Enormous limestone cliffs and fingers that project out into the water. It’s possible to anchor and enjoy the small towns at the end of each Calanque.

Again another amazing landscape, safe harbour – fabulous swimming.

We are continuing on as we have a date in Saint-Tropez. Friends who live both in Munich and Saint-Tropez are having a ‘Summer Party’. Location to be advised – somewhere in Saint-Tropez- we have suspicions that after 27 years they may be going to marry 😀

Gabriele and Jurgen had put so much thought and effort into their event. Securing the Club55 Bar on the beach and then moving everything in for their big day.

So much fun, a lovely group of interesting people and devoted friends. Very special.

Jurgen looks after the grapes and this year they were able to harvest enough to contribute to the communal press. The end result a delicious Rose – the label – Torpez- very satisfying all round.

It is surprising how rural it is all along this southern French Coast with small villages dotted along the Ocean road. Outside the villages – deer, pine forests, wildflowers and lots of vineyards. We have a Bambino 500 that we are fanging around in and we decide to go to Aix en Provence.

We drove along the coast to Marseille as Rog had ordered a special filter for the fuel and it did not arrive as expected. But the drive is easy to Toulon and then into the freeway into Marseille. Then through Marseille to Aix en Provence.

Aix was surprisingly large and modern with a complicated one way road system! But we found a carpark and headed into the Vieux Ville. The old towns are beautiful in comparison to the modern world. Everything is smaller, the stone and the doorways, the door knockers! All charming. Aix is the home of Paul Cezanne and examples of his impressionist work are everywhere.

We have lunch, walk and observe and then head back to the Bambino to drive back through the mountain road to Saint-Tropez. Very easy.

Tomorrow we set sail with Gabriele and Jurgen on board – we are headed to Corsica – the Port of Calvi in the North west or Haute Corse.

16 Aug This entry was published on August 16, 2023 at 7:44 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.