Still in Frontignan!

Hello blog fans from Frontignan.  Yep, we're still here but not for long.  We haven't done any sailing since the last post as the marine forecast hinted at another tremontane (though milder than in Gruissan - we are more protected here) so - what to do?  All you can do - take each day as it comes as forecasts change overnight so a case of wait and see.  In the meantime here's a summary of what we've been up to:

Monday 2 September - Frontignan
A task looming for some time has been to clear the boat for our forthcoming hard standing mooring and departure to Spain.  So far, this has involved sending 4 boxes of DVDs, CDs and books to my brother for storage (cheers Chris!) and Skipper's cousin who lives near Agen agreeing to take the rest until we get back to France next Spring (thanks Claire!)  As those of you who know us well, once we get into a mindset we find ourselves on a roll but after two days we figured we'd done enough.  It's amazing how much stuff we did have on board - "Reward" has good stowage.

The boat itself is in fine fettle.  Skipper (being a marine engineer and surveyor) has always believed in regular maintenance: 'a stitch in time' and all that, so nothing much to do there.

Tuesday 3 September - Frontignan & emergency dentist!
So, with chores done, we decided it was time to head eastwards up the French coast BUT Skipper's tooth broke last night so today involved a trip to the dentist for him.  Fortunately we found a great dentist who fitted a temporary crown.  All OK for now - never a dull moment eh?  It wasn't all work, though, we have a swim each day in our favourite cove nearby.

Wednesday 4 September - Montpellier
First Mate beavered away at car hire as Skipper's cousin who has kindly offered us storage space while we go to Spain is returning to the UK this weekend to bring her family to France so we thought we'd do a flying visit to them - we've not been to their place before so it was a long overdue visit.  First, though, car hire at the nearby city of Montpellier - a short train journey - at half the price (or more now that fares have risen - yet again) than in the UK.

Montpellier centre ville

Our visit to Claire & Lol (short for Laurence) would be our first trip onto terra firma since we left the UK in May and our first night off the boat.  We organised a great deal with Easycar and picked up a stylish Opel Insignia diesel which was great to drive.  This has given Skipper an idea to buy a car in the UK which we may use for our trip around Spain - we'll see...

So that's a quick update.  I'll do a separate post on our visit to Claire & Lol as there's so much to tell you!  So, in the words of the immortal Fluff Freeman, ...'until then pop pickers here's Bachman-Turner Overdrive's 'You ain't seen nothing yet'.