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Published: July 13th 2016
With June 30
th as our deadline for getting to the Channel Islands after a few days in Dieppe, the weather prediction looked like it would be good for our trip to Cherbourg, our original destination when we left Rotterdam. When sailing in this area you need to check the tide charts to determine when to leave to hopefully get the advantage of the tides and currents. With this in mind you also try to plan your travels so that you make landfall during daylight hours if at all possible. We knew Cherbourg as we had been there before and it would be possible to have a nighttime arrival, but we prefer daytime landings! Working it all out it looked like we needed to leave Dieppe about 5:30PM on June 22nd but would have some flexibility of leaving a little earlier. It is always strange to wait for most of the day before leaving as we typically like to leave early in the morning, but the currents rule around here. Even with that we did decide to leave a little earlier than we had planned (3:30PM) – guess we were just anxious to get moving. It seemed to be working out OK
Our Very Generous Neighbors in Dieppe
introducing us to wonderful French cheese!as we had a gain of about 1 knot in the beginning and after about 4 hours out we were gaining 2 knots. We knew it would not last but it’s always good to take advantage of it when it happens. We started to get some rain, but the wind didn’t pick up so the seas were still flat. By 11:30PM Janice was on the helm and started to see some lightening on the horizon. The wind was picking up some but the current was against us by this time so we were down to less than 2 knots of hull speed with the engine on – so much for our earlier gain! At 2AM Bob came on duty and we were still having some light rain, but picking up some speed. Shortly after Janice went down for her 4 hours of sleep, the winds kept increasing and we finally were in the middle of the thunderstorm – as Bob reported later he had quite the light show. Janice was so tired she was able to sleep through most of it. In the morning the storm had stopped and we were getting better winds so were able to motor sail
for a time before they died and we took the sails in about 4PM on the 23
rd. We were in and out of rain most of the trip. By 5:10PM on the 23
rd we were safely docked in Cherbourg. It took us about 26 hours for this crossing which wasn’t too bad. We had a great introduction into Cherbourg as Mark from the boat across from us (Wizard) came across and helped us with our lines when we arrived – that is always appreciated and a nice way to meet people. Within a short time we had met a few others on the dock as well. In Cherbourg it is nice in that they put all the visitors on the same docks so you have plenty of people to talk to about their travels and get helpful pointers on places to visit.
As mentioned we had been in Cherbourg before but it was back in 2013. Our first order of business the next morning was to search out a source of baguettes as they are now a breakfast staple. With that mission accomplished we spent the rest of the day just wandering around the streets and getting ourselves familiar
with the area again. While walking we passed a gentleman that asked us where we were from. As soon as we said the U.S. he stood up straight, gave us a salute and thanked us. We have come across this a few times when we were in France before – they definitely have not forgotten how much the Americans helped them during WWII.
One place we hadn’t discovered the last time was a wonderful garden, the Lias Garden. It was established by Emmanuel Lias who was an astronomer, botanist and previous mayor. He traveled extensively back in the late 1800’s and brought back with him numerous plants that he established in his garden in Cherbourg. Surrounding his house he put in a small pond, an observatory and a greenhouse. Fortunately for the citizens of Cherbourg the gardens are open to the public and his home is now a museum with many of the items he brought back from his travels. We didn’t go into the museum, but thoroughly enjoyed our wander around the gardens along with numerous others that were enjoying a sunny day in France.
On our walk we stumbled upon the Cherbourg Umbrella Factory - the
doors were open so we popped in to see what it was all about. Well, we quickly realized that this was definitely out of our league as the price tags on the umbrellas blew us out of the water – we could hardly believe our eyes. We were seeing price tags of more than $300! We wondered if there was any guarantee that these would not be destroyed in any way by heavy winds! We wandered around the show room/shop in complete amazement with the prices we were seeing. They did look beautiful, but with close inspection they didn’t look too much different except for the very intricate emblem of Cherbourg on each of them. It was obvious from the salespeople that they pretty much knew we were not there to buy so let us wander - we didn’t stay long, but now we know what keeps the wealthy dry!
A music festival was scheduled for the next two days, but it was not the typical street fest we have run into other places – this was a closed one with an admission price that was a little higher than we were willing to spend (especially without knowing what
type of music it was going to be). One side benefit of the festival being near the marina was that on one of the days they had a large group of kites being flown – it was kinetic art which we thoroughly enjoyed watching. It was something to see the number of kites that they had chained together and operated by only one person. They definitely lucked out and had a perfect day for it.
Whenever we find out that it is market day – we always go even if we don’t need anything in particular as it is fun to see what is being offered and to people watch. With the name of the sample of cheese we were graciously given in Dieppe and some additional help from our French Canadian friends, Denise & JP we did decide one thing we needed to obtain was some French cheese and figured the market was the perfect place to accomplish that. We accomplished our mission in that department so that evening we had a lovely time sitting on the back of the boat enjoying our bread, wine and cheese – the perks of sailing in France!
The boat that
The Allies Are Remembered
with numerous flags flying as well was docked next to us had two on board, Jim & Nick, who were leaving the next morning for the UK so of course we told them we were heading that way soon ourselves. With that we were provided with lots of information on places to visit, things to be careful of and ever more helpful places to eat and to grab a pint! The true benefits of talking to neighbors when in a marina!
The night before we were planning on leaving we were invited over for dessert on our friends boat (our new ones that we met here in Cherbourg). There were 2 boats traveling somewhat together from the Netherlands and they were getting together for dessert and they welcomed onboard. It was a fun evening of conversation and jokes. You know people have an excellent command of the language when they can understand your jokes and can tell them as well! When sailors get together there is always a discussion of the next planned trip. All 3 of us were heading somewhat in the same direction next although they were not going to the Channel Islands as they had a dog onboard and could not enter
Napoleon Is Well Known Here!
The church looks different with evening light the Islands with a dog. As a result the Reed’s Almanac came out and there was more checking of the tides and ports to double check the planned departure times etc. With everyone settled on their plans and us needing to get some sleep as we were leaving for the Channel Islands at 3:15AM the next morning we said our good-byes.
We enjoy meeting so many wonderful people on our travels, but are always aware that sometimes we get to visit for only a short time as our paths may not cross again, but then again sometimes they will – we can always hope that happens again with SV Calypso III and SV Wizard!
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