June 12, 2026
I have moved on from Deauville to Saint Vaast-la-Hogue yesterday and while I really enjoyed Deauville, I am also happy to move on and see something new.
The moving on was well planned but still uncertain until almost the last minute. After all of the groundwork to get a filter for my stabilizer/hydraulics, it proved both difficult and easy at the same time. I ordered a filter from Donaldson (a manufacturer) a week ago Thursday with the help of UShip, a chandlery. The filters are 12 Euros each and the delivery was 45 Euros. I kept checking the delivery information and there was none. By Tuesday I had no information, so I decided to try to find one (again) locally in Le Havre.
I mentioned my car rental problems, and of course my love of riding my bike is well documented, so I rode to Le Havre and visited five different businesses before I finally found a replacement filter at HydrauHavre. I could write for a long time about what I have learned about distribution and retail stock handling from this and other experiences, but let me just say things are a lot different here. Two garages, two businesses selling hydraulic parts and finally HydrauHavre which is a massive operaton, to find a filter. To be fair, three of those businesses offered to try to bring the filter in over one or two days. I wanted it now, as I already had filters on order.
The good news is that I got a 100km bike ride done, found a filter (for 12 Euros) and installed it. My run to Saint Vaast-la-Hogue proceeded without me losing any hydraulic fluid by the looks of it. Yay! Change that filter more frequently.
As I arrived back at the boat on Tuesday with my new filter, UShip emailed me to let me know that they finally received a packing slip for my filters I was expecting from Donaldson. Now Donaldson has charged me a small fortune to ship two little filters. I ordered on Thursday (4th) and I was expecting filters on Saturday (6th) or Monday (8th). On Tuesday morning, I had no shipping details and thus the decision to go in search of a filter in Le Havre.
Just about the time I arrived back at the boat, the shipping details came from Donaldson/TNT and yet the TNT website said the package hadn’t been picked up yet!!! Europe runs at a different speed than I am used to in Canada.
On Wednesday (10th) at 9am I received yet another email that my filters had arrived in Deauville. I could pick them up at any time (from UShip). Yay!, After all of that, I had a filter installed (that I rode to Le Havre to buy), two more delivered and in my hands just after lunch, and a reasonalbe weather window to leave Deauville enroute to Saint Vaast-la-Hogue.
Of course it wasn’t all work. I put quite a few miles on the bike and I met the wonderful family (Andy and Caroline) on Fizz of Poole, a 66′ yacht moored behind us and we shared many nice beverages and a meal. Their son was with them and his partner (Will and Holly) and we spent a lot of time chatting. Will was peppered with questions as he works for Rolls Royce Motor Cars and is an expert in all things RR (and although we didn’t talk much about it, he’s also a former professional race car driver). Nice (and interesting) people are everywhere.
I paid my bill and prepared the boat for departure first thing Thursday morning.
The trip to SVLH was pretty flat, but the winds and currents were such that the waves, just two feet high had two second intervals, and as the wind picked up in the afternoon, it was unbearably bumpy. I have not been sea-sick yet this year, but I came close yesterday in the bump-bump-bump for nine straight hours.
SVLH is a protected harbour, and the gate only opens certain hours and so, arriving a couple of hours early, I anchored outside of town (still REALLY bumpy) and waited for the gate to open. Finding a mooring was easy and despite some heavy winds and rain, I went for a walk around this cute little town with appropriate shops and bakeries and restaurants. I will look more closely today.
Part of my worries over the past two weeks was whether I should return to the UK where there was excellent help for the stabilizers and Sub-Zero fridge, in English, just 100nm away. The apparent success with my stabilizers and my fridge keeping things cold (the rest is electrical problems) means that I have decided to NOT go back to the UK at this time. I will keep trying to get Sub-Zero help here in France or Spain or Portugal in the coming months. Instead I will stick to my plan and stay in France.
That’s the saga of Home Free starting the trip down the coast of France. I am starting to think about Portugal for the winter. It’s only about 800 nautical miles from here, and I don’t really want to get there before October, but with the Bay of Biscay and it’s notariety in between, I am beginning to plan when and how to get south.
