Saturday 8 June

Richard is spending the morning reading the instruction brochures for the mast and boom, working out how to dismantle them.  I have to press him into action to get to the market to provision.  There is only a tiny supermarket here, so making the market is important if we are to have food on board to go - WHERE?

We are fasting today, so that makes shopping hard.  We make it to the market and buy just about all we need just in time.  In fact, we buy our local oysters for dinner as the stallholder comes with his van to breakdown the stall!

We have had no evidence of the high predicted winds, but the weather is rotten as expected.  It has been raining most of the night and the day is punctuated by very heavy showers.  But there is one ray of light.  Richard has had a reply to his e-mail to Nigel who has reassured him about what has to be done to take down the mast and he has now decided that we are going to go through the canals.  So at least we know what we are doing.  The plan it to go to Pauillac tomorrow.  The harbour master there will help us with the mast provisionally to take it down on Tuesday.  The shipper will give us a quote on Monday with a view to collecting the mast on Wednesday.  So that is the plan.

In the afternoon, when the rain abates a little we take a further walk in to town.  After going to three chandlers we finally find the proper pilot book for the canals we are going on.  We may have lift-off.