Summer at last.

                                                            Avant port Boulogne.

What a Clot I am!


Sunday 15th July - sunny and warm - I thought I might have a lazy day - a few jobs perhaps - stock up with food - generally, brain in neutral.

I suddenly realised that boat after boat was leaving the marina for ports up and down the coast - but I still didn't think to work out why.

The weather!!

When I finally checked the forecast - very strong winds for the next few days - OH HECK.

Too late to get everything sorted by then - I stayed put.

Jobs.

I have stripped and oiled the tiller which now looks great and I've added a whipped hand grip which works well - today I shortened the telescopic extension a re-fitted it properly.

This will make helming much more comfortable - I can sit on the side deck and see around the spray hood.

I'm very pleased with that.

Next- I sorted the depth sounder.

It had become so erratic that you had no idea what the reading was - I thought that I should buy a new one.

I checked the transducer and suspected that the glycerin level in the deck fitting might be low - I recently bought a small bottle of it on Ebay.

I poured in about an egg cup full - refitted the transducer- pushed it down hard to get all the air out.

BINGO!!

The display is back to normal - I should have done this job a lot sooner.

Brilliant.

Next job - Phone.

I have attempted to adapt my iphone to work in France.

I bought a French Simm card in England  but when I tried it i found that my phone is Simm locked.

I found the Orange shop in town and they said that they couldn't unlock it.

I tried a backstreet phone shop and he said No Problem.

4 hours later - No Joy.

I bought a cheap French Phone - Simple.

Then of course - the instructions are all in French - it took a couple of hours and some Internet searching to work out the basic functions - DONE.

All I have to do on Monday is find out how to put credit on it.

Shopping
The sun came out and it was very hot.

I walked into town and found that only the bread shop, cafes  and paper shops were open.

No chance of stocking up today!

Mid afternoon a lovely, big sailing yacht moored up alongside Blazer.

The kind of yacht that could easily go around the world in comfort.

The owners are a Dutch couple who are on their way back to Holland after a 15 month trip to Portugal.

They kindly invited me on board for a drink and after that we all went out for a great meal in the town at the O Sud restaurant.

It was the best steak I have had in a long time - Fabulous.

A great Day.

Mike.