Saturday 4th February – travel and windsurf **** - Port La Nautique – sunny periods.

F2 Ride 282, 34 cm fin, Tushingham Vulcan 6m,

Max 29.78 kts., Ave 27.53 kts,, Mile 24.22 kts,, Alpha 17.71 kts,. 30 km., – wind 20/35 NW.

Good night in our nice spot at Peyre overlooking the Millau Bridge even if it did rain a lot! Left at 11.15 and headed down to Millau and found the MacDonalds roundabout easily so won’t get in a muddle again like we did last night. We wanted to take the steep windy way out in the hope of spotting some Vultures and lucky for us we saw several of these huge birds making light of the strong winds above the cliffs:) It’s then a long straight dual carriageway across the plateau which is an army training area and is scattered with chaos style piles of rock!

Then we join what must be the best motorway in France, the free A75 as it steeply winds its way down to the coast, through tunnels, down gorges, past Lac Salagou etc, the time flew past and we were soon at Beziers and took the short toll section to Narbonne costing a bargain 2.50 Euros. With the sun shining, the wind blowing and the vines looking good we were soon in the Mediterranean spirit:)

We headed for a favourite of our, Port la Nautique for lunch hoping to see some windsurfers making the most of the warm conditions (18 degrees when we arrived!) but on arriving there was surprisingly no one out sailing:( We went and looked at the new barrier which has stopped entry to our favourite parking section to the left of the marina. Something to do with protecting wildlife but as a local windsurfer I spoke to its ‘bullshit!!!’ and it looks like they are going to close access to the other end to.  It is really popular with locals and tourists alike, the authorities seem intent on screwing it up for everyone.  A shame really as windsurfing must bring in loads of Euros to the local economy, they seem to be cutting their noses off in spite of their faces!!!

We parked up in the little sheltered carpark favoured by the local and while Mag found some lunch I walked to the etang edge with the wind gauge and it was gusting to 44mph!! Too much for me with my smallest sail being 5.8. During our lunch a windsurfer turned up and parked next to us with his gear sticking out of the back of his car. We were soon chatting as his English was very good and he had travelled from Beziers.  He hadn’t been windsurfing for three years so had picked a good day to start again, a February day with it blowing a gale! He used to live at Marseille and in his younger fitter days was a top wavesailer and could even double loop!!! He was keen to give it a go so rigged 5m, I had to help him into his wetsuit, they have the same problem here in France that wetsuits shrink during the Christmas period!!!! I watched him head out and he wasn’t completely overpowered, if anything the wind had eased slightly being a bit gusty too.  So as it was only 1.30 and the sun was shining I decided to untie my gear and give it a try. I went for the Tushingham Vulcan 6m kindly loaned to me by Craig Hurrell, I had to sadly also be helped into my harness after it had shrunk since the last time I had used it or is it all that French bread and butter???

Me and my new French friend enjoyed blasting over the Etang de Bages in winds gusting to 35kts in the middle with my fingers crossed that nothing was going to break!!! We had several runs over to the lovely Bages and with shallow water both sides you could rest up easily:) Knackered, the French guest house owner headed home to Beziers waving goodbye while I had several more runs getting braver all the time and increasing my speeds from 26kts to nearly 30 kts!!! So, a nice hour or so out on the water with no hat or gloves needed.  Mag enjoyed an hour walk round to the kite beach on the far side of the etang. Then with the wind dropping I decided to call it a day, came ashore to change, have a cuppa and cake. Mag even sat outside doing her puzzle book while I de-rigged and tied the boards easily on the roof. We didn’t fancy driving far so just moved a little along the carpark to a sheltered spot and had delicious lasagne and salad again. Tomorrow supposed to be lighter but then going mental on Monday – might be time to move onto the Pyrenees in search of more snow – the world is our oyster:)

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