July 2026 – La Bamba

All Calm in the Gulf of Gascony

La Rochelle to Bilbao, 181nm

Monday-Tuesday 28-29 July

We left La Rochelle at 8am for our overnight crossing to Spain. Because of all the fires (and also a shooting range) we have decided to cut off the corner and head straight to Bilbao.

Limericks – France 🇫🇷

No I haven’t forgotten the limericks! Enjoy:

We were waved off the dock before dawn

With crew both of beauty and brawn

The sea was quite lumpy

And Lily was jumpy

Then the wind died and left us forlorn

La Rochelle – a potted history

Monday 27 July

Today we are staying put in La Rochelle to see the town and provision for our next overnight leg.

Storming down to La Rochelle

Ile d’Yeu to La Rochelle 63nm

Sunday 26 July

The weather forecast was a bit disappointing and we were fully expecting to have to motor down to La Rochelle.

Windy and wavy

Belle Ile to Ile d’Yeu 55nm

Saturday 25 July

We set off South East on another sunny morning heading for the Ile d’Yeu.

Into the Bay of Biscay

Concarneau to Belle Île 45nm

Friday 24 July

We said goodbye to beautiful but busy Concarneau and set a course for Belle Île. We still have Easterlies so we were actually beating for once using our stay sail (going into the wind for you landlubbers).