Sunday/Monday Aug 9/10 Off to Amsterdam

Written by Jack van Ommen on August 10th, 2009

At 9.40 West Europe DST we are at 48.11N 5.09W with 465 miles to go. We have done over 50 miles since we left Sunday evening, around 8 p.m. Right now we are between the Ile de Sein and the ile d’Ouessant. The tides/currents have worked well for us so far. Since I have no internet connection I am unable to check where I left off on the last blog posting. I pulled the one injector and put a new seal in it, but then I could not get the engine to start, after the usual bleeding of the air. Klaus Kroemer stopped by and he saved the day. With a little more thorough bleeding of the fuel lines, he managed to get us going again. Saturday night there was a Crepe Festival on the fishing quay. A long line of ladies making crepes with cheese/ham etc. And the men were barbecuing sausages and serving moules marinieres (mussels) and frites (french fries). I had the moules and frites. Ron and I went to 10.30 mass. Three babies were baptized and the church was standing room only. The sermon was about the Bread of Life. It has been nearly 40 years since we lived in the French speaking part of Belgium but I have been able to retain, by heart, most of the common prayers and liturgy. Another “Home” coming. Cathy (Catherine), with whom we were neighbors for a few days in the Horta marina, found us just before mass. She had promised to come find us in Loctudy. She lives nearby. I had planned to do our grocery shopping on the bicycle after mass, but Cathy saved the departure day, with her rushing me to the super marche before the 13.00 hr closing time, in her car. Ron took the train towards Paris around noon time. Cathy invited us over at her boy friend’s, Francois, home in Lesconsil, a beautiful sleepy fishing town, just to the west of Loctudy. The meal and setting were out of a movie set. An old home beautifully decorated, a court yard garden with honey suckle, pork rib, sausages ( one typical local sausage was made from donkey beef) on the barbecue. Salome, three year old niece, visiting with Francois’s brother from Paris entertained us with a tiny caterpillar she had found. Beautiful big brown eyes, just as irresistible as the biblical Salome who danced John the Baptist’s head away. Carol and I were totally spoiled. The weather finally warmed above the 60/65 degrees we had the previous days. The moon rose in a large red/orange ball. But the weather has turned once again in a cool overcast. But have a good breeze, reaching in a Westerly about 15 knots. The Amsterdam welcoming committee better do their last rehearsals.

 

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