It took me a while to realise what this odd phrase actually means, directly translated to ‘the big wide’ makes no sense in English but the intention is to mean ‘the big blue’, i.e. the ocean!

The flat western coast of France is open to the Atlantic and has surprised me. I was expecting rugged cliffs like we saw in the north, but here it is flat, totally flat, with low lying rocks scattered with sandy bays between large river mouths and small islands. It’s pretty but not as dramatic as the northern coast.

We’ve been hobbled by three things that keep us overnight in marinas rather than anchoring in remote quiet bays. This obviously hits the pocket, especially as we pay 50% extra for being a multihull even though we make no use of marina facilities as we are completely self-sufficient, and it is becoming a little monotonous, the view from the deck often a tall breakwater rather than the coast or sea. The towns vary from extremely pretty to “urggh, let’s move on”.

We’ve just left the pretty town of Herbaudiere on the Ile de Noirmoutier after spending 4 nights there. We met a lovely couple on SV Armorel who we shared several evenings with and hope to see them again very soon. They’ve now begun their journey north while we continue south. Here at Port Joinville on the Ile de Yeu we’ve spent one night and keen to move on asap. The place seems to be run by teenagers staking boats three or four deep with no concern for the potential damage caused and certainly without any pre- warning.

I’d like to say surely you need permission to moor up alongside and to come aboard and cross the attached vessel, but it seems that as soon as someone steps off their boat they’re a open game for a ‘Jummelle’ (raft) no questions no fenders and often out of control in even a moderate breeze. We need to start anchoring more. We’ve held off a few contenders but I’m sure the time will come when we return from a shopping trip or sundowner to find a crowd of grubby feet stomping across the foredeck after twisting the guardrails and straining our cleats. Am I being too precious? By the appearance of local cars ‘bumpers are intended to be used’, and thus pontoons and gelcoat often meet, with a tiny scattering of fenders midship for decoration.

A couple of weeks ago in Haluguen we had a stack of three school boats in front of us, I asked the inner skipper for a chat away from his students after a close call that would have definitely resulted in contact and damage to our boat had we not been at the ready, his arrival was unprepared for the cross wind and uncontrolled, the students waiting for instruction. He seemed to think that because he had insurance that all was ok, why worry! C’est bon! The next day Janine got her elbows out and gave skipper #2 a blast when the student behind the wheel came too close to receive the reply “you’re scaring the students they’re trying to learn”. You can imagine Janine’s reaction. Let’s just say the air turned red for five minutes and the ‘skipper’ took over until they were clear.

While at Crousety for a few days we witnessed the chaos around the fuel dock and capitanerie over several days as boats came and went many unprepared or at least completely unaware of other boat movements. One yacht bumped it’s way along a line of moored up vessels taking out anchor after anchor. Which reminds me of Trinite. We saw a pretty yacht, carbon mast etc, come and go with three on board looking like they were practising some basic manoeuvres. They seemed to disappear down the channel towards a mooring. Meanwhile, Janine was returning from an afternoon pooch walk to witness them collide with four boats, have one crew member stretch and fall overboard with no regard or reaction from the helmsman while others nearby came to guide the boat into it’s mooring. The poor lady swam to get out without a sign of concern from the helmsman. Seem like people get bumped too, maybe that’s why the pharmacies are busier than the supermarkets.