We stayed a while at the Port Camargue marina waiting for the Gulf de Lion to make it's mind up about weather. The big blow we originally were going to hide from fizzled out but then a new one formed just at the end of our planned stay! We took the opportunity of not using the dinghy for a few days to get the leak patched properly. There are two very good French chandleries that we know of from the French Caribbean Islands so that was good for new glue. Shaunagh went off on the bike the first day to suss out shops and got completely lost on all the little byways and pathways! It's like a maze - we got a map from the office in the end. Poor old google struggles to make sense of this sort of area. We find that in old towns and medinas too - the dot doesn't have a clue! Which makes me think we're a bit further off with autonomous cars than is proposed. Speaking of similar things - there are electric car charging stations at the marina - about 6 spaces to every 100 car carpark and most of them are out of order. I'm not convinced it's all really going to work.

We went back to the Oyster Bar a few times (every night actually). Their prawns were very nice too. Pete rand I rode the bikes a 10 k round trip to the little fishing village just outside the marina - pretty little place chock full of holiday makers. Whilst here we went to a very good bike accessories store and got a pair of panniers for the bikes - poor Shaunagh lost her shopping off the carrier the other day all over the road! We attached a collapsible plastic basket to the top of each as well which works just fine.

After Port Camargue we went around to Marseilles. trying now to get away from the Gulf de Lion and it's annoyingly unreliable weather! This is a very old port that's been in continuous use since 700BC or even earlier. The council cleaned up all the old foreshore area in 2013 and pedestrianised the streets. It is a great place which we enjoyed a lot. The marina was right in the Old Port and very bustling with fishing boats, tourist boats and general pleasure craft but still didn't seem too bad. We had a couple of very nice crepes….. The French revolution started from here (hence the Marseilles being the National Anthem) then the revolution against the Revolution started from here - the Marseilleans are a special sort it seems. The main street, the Canebiere, ran with blood from the guillotine set up in it for years.

Once the weather settled after 4 days we went off to Le Lavandue. All the marinas from here on were full or couldn't accommodate our size - it's the 10 m width that is the problem not the length. However we anchored out - calm weather, clear water and a busy but quiet beach. We stayed two days just enjoying being at anchor for a change. The town was delightful. There are massive lavender farms here. Lots of lavandery type products in the shops.

Next - St Tropez, daaaahrling!