Bapeaume

It happened, the meeting with the crane hire company on Friday went well and it was agreed we would all meet Monday at 8am for the mast to be put back on. We were told where and how to moor up, discussed where to lift mast, how to release strops etc. Only downside was it was going to cost €400 for the crane versus the €156 we’d been quoted by the yard. I decided it was worth it as we had no idea when the yard crane would be repaired.
We spent the weekend in preparation both for re stepping the mast, (where had we put the ropes, pulleys, bottle screws), and for going home ( packing some clothes , throwing others out, sorting through bedding). We did manage a bike ride on Sunday between the showers and went down stream up to Le Bouille for a coffee. The first section of the river was very industrial, cereal silos, sand, scrap yards but then they gave way to little villages and fancy Chateaus.
This morning we were ready and waiting by 7:45 crane arrived at 8 but.... Christophe, the yard manager, didn’t arrive till 9 and the crane driver wouldn’t do anything without him even though when he did arrive he didn’t do anything just left John to attach strops and release rope. The crane driver was efficient and the lift and lower went off with out a hitch, mast and stays all in place and we were back on the mooring by 10:30. Then came the hard bit, where on earth did all the bits of rope and pulleys go? What about the bolt for the boom, where had we put that? But by 14:00 it was all sorted, we think everything is in the right place. Only the foresail to reattach and it had got a bit breezy for us to do that. A few extra bits of shopping and we’re already for an early morning departure. Thank goodness 😅
We also had a very cute early evening visitor a blue eyed, long haired Siamese coloured cat came for a look around and a quick pat. We later found out it had decided to stay the night but was no bother.Read more