This trip to France was the fastest the ship had ever made (18 hours), with a Northerly force 6 or 7 all the way. During the night we saw a square-rigger sailing up the channel, as well as numerous cargo ships and trawlers.

We took 4-hour watches as usual for the night passage, and around midnight I said to Alan, "This is fantastic... but about 95% of the population will never get to know what this is like, will they?" - Alan just smiled and nodded.

It was dry, and with the warm weather there were bright spots of phosphorescence in the breaking waves and in the wake of the ship - beautiful.

From past visits to Ile de Batz, we knew that the ship can rest against the quay and remain safe there as the tide drops. Here you see the ship at low tide. The ship is ballasted to make sure she leans against the quay and settles right as the tide drops. (If we had needed to do any maintenance below the waterline this is how we would do it.)

We were made welcome by the fisherman whose boat was tied up just astern of us, and during the week the whole crew was invited to dinner by a local family.

The harbour at Ile de Batz provided a safe place for dinghy saling, and the ship's two dinghies were hoisted off the deck and into the water, and spent most of the week alongside.

The quay you see here beside the ship is built of dressed granite, very solid indeed. It was built by a wealthy family in years gone by.

Will was sailing with us for the week, and for him there were two events during the trip. The first was his 16th birthday, so 16 candles (well, night-lights) were lit and some cakes produced. The second event was the telephone call home he made to get his GCSE results - which were good.

During the we week went to the George Delaselle gardens, seen here. The climate at Ile de Batz is similar to that of the Isles of Scilly, and these gardens have some similarities with those of Tresco.

In the background is Roscoff, which we visited by taking the ship's dinghies over the mile or so of water in between. We went on market day in order to get some more food.

Here is one of the ship's dinghies. The crew are going ashore for meal on the island, which we usually do once during the week when we visit to Brittany.

The dinghy masts and sails are carried on Hardiesse, and both the dinghies can be rigged for sailing. Alternatively they can be set up with an outboard motor just to take the crew ashore, like this one. The oars are carried as well, as a safety measure.

July 2007

The cruise on 21-28 July was dominated by the weather in one way or another. Two of the crew who had travelled from Shropshire had come from flooded homes.

The skipper took "Hardiesse" to the Isles of Scilly, and with South-Easterly winds of gale-force moving through the area every 24-hours or so, the original plan of going to the French coast was abandoned. The crew went ashore on the Islands, and the local boatmen took them to visit some of the off-islands - thanks to their hospitality this made up for more than what the weather prevented.

The ship then sailed from the Islands to Plymouth, and stayed almost under the Saltash Bridge before returning to Falmouth.

You know that webcam picture of the Tamar Bridge behind the newsreaders on Westcountry Live? Did you see the Hardiesse in the picture on 26 July?