On the way in…..A photo of the towns name, directly opposite on the far side of the road was the exit sign for the town.
I didn’t do much more than cycle in and out and do some shopping at the local supermarché. I tried doing a few arty shots at the local abandoned SNCF station more of that on the fotoblog.
On the way out….with one stop off here….which had the odd name of Le Mutant, the wine was cheap and the clientèle were all giving me the “who’s the foreigner with the camera bag” look. A few eyebrows were Gallically raised as I said “cheers luv” to the check out girl. I heard later that the Mutant was a really mega discount store that normal people usually didn’t frequent. I wonder if they mean their customers are Mutants or that the prices are mutated or they sell lots of GMO which will turn you into a Mutant….is this the opposite of ECO shopping? €2 for a Bordeaux Superior says it’s OK for me anyway!
A genetically modified customer pushes a trolley…..
We were leaving port the other day, or evening as the small video clips will show when we had a visit from a very loud and bright flying object, they started flashing searchlights across the deck and it was all very noisy. I went to the port bridge window and there was a big Helicopter of type unidentifiable about 10 metres from me the co-pilot had a number board with “69″ on it and he was gesticulating vigorously with a flashlight at the number, the penny finally dropped inside my head and I lifted the VHF tuned to channel 69 (nothing to do with any other purported uses of this cipher combination), as I tuned in an extremely efficient British voice crackled across the airwaves, “Coastguard helicopter Whiskey Delta, on exercise, permission to place a man on deck, OVER” I gave the OK “Whiskey Delta, permission granted” thinking to myself these are the boys that could make the difference on a dark and dirty night in the North Sea, so practice away lads.
My cameraman missed the first part of the operation we were all fairly awestruck at the proximity, noise and presence of such a big machine flying a few feet overhead. There are four small sequences showing the winchman exercise with a stretcher basket and finally fly off into the murk.
The last clip is a few seconds of the Dunkirk pilot making his entrance, there was too much wind for a launch so he had to arrive by chopper. I took a photo as they flew past the bridge and blogged previously under Flying Pilots
Murphy’s law of bridges and road blocks came into effect as I was returning from a cycle tour in Le Havre , just as I was approaching the bridge the alarm bells started to ring, and a barge started to line up to make her pass as soon as the bridge opened. There was nothing to do only enjoy the view and make a small video recording of the event.
Later there was a road block with lots of big French police with big mustaches on motorbikes who didn’t like the look of my camera so I put it away, a base of one of those huge windmills was passing another bridge, complete traffic stop. Good job I wasn’t in a real hurry.
One of the famous Grimaldi Line Ships, seen here leaving Le Havre on her way to Bilbao, then Casablanca, Dakar, Conakry, Rio de Janerio, Santos, Montevideo, Zarate, Buenos Aires, Paranagua, Santos, Rio and Dakar. Talk about a fantastic trip.
She will be back in Dakar for the second time on the 17th of January, and New Year will be celebrated between Santos and Montevideo. You can take a cruise as a passenger and enjoy a more robust and realistic cruise, seeing the working end of a port instead of the normal shoebox cruisers with thousands of passengers. A round trip can cost from €2500 up to €5000.
There is a full rundown on their homepage Grimaldi Freighter Cruises , one of the interesting is that you can take your own car or bike, and then go for a spin around in the country you visit. It is a fairly unique type of trip. They must be fully booked all the time. This particular vessel could do with a lick of white paint in places, the disadvantage of white, the rust shows up so well.
I like France and the French, even though I occasionally take a poke at them, ( VHF post )it’s all meant in the best possible taste as Kenny Everett used to say. I was doing a bit of surfing and I found the following French Article on the BBC’s web page.
Looks like the relationship between France and the USA has been rocky once or twice!
How is with the “Freedom Fries” now? I always thought that was such an irony with France’s everlasting gift to The US being called “Liberty”, perhaps the relationship is getting better again these days.
The sea pilot arrived by helicopter yesterday, nothing too strange there. When he arrived on the bridge he wanted to smoke directly which is not allowed so he was in a bit of a humour. When we were going into the locks at Dunkerque he was behind me as I was at the controls, he didn’t say anything except made a sort of a noise like tut tutting when he felt we were wandering off track, then he didn’t have to say anything because I knew something was wrong and fixed it by applying more helm or thrust. Once in the locks and secure he dashed down to the smoke room for a couple of Gitanes, when he came back the humour was better…..I suggested a nicotene patch for the long pilotages where smoking is not allowed……he produced a box of pills from his pocket and said “I ‘ave been chewing thees nicotine sweets all evening!¨
The demon nicotine!
Any aircraft experts out there (Devin) know what kind of helicopter it is?
I took a little cycle tour away from the ship today, to Donges near Nantes in France. It was 20 degrees C and the sun was melting me, being clad for Swedish winter weather. Good to get some air other than ship air, I would say fresh air but the refinery in the nearby gave the air a tang of metal and oil.
The slightly dilapidated Hotel de la Gare is probably not a fair representation of the little town but it gave a bit of poetic feeling of times past. It was fairly sleepy today apart from a gang of youngsters on mopeds trying to look hard, they eyed me up suspiciously as I went around on my bike. The customers in the local supermarché gave me plenty of eyeball also when I went in to do some purchasing, I don’t know what it was that made me stand out but I guess it is a small town. In the queue for the till in front of me was a beret wearing old man, he turned around and looked up at me and shrugged his shoulders only the way a French old man can do, and apologised for having so much stuff, I said “pas de problem” and his bushy eyebrows lifted up a few notches and he asked me “quelle nationalité?”(what nationality?) it was probably the question half the shop wanted to ask but he was an old guy so he didn’t care. I said Irish and this pleased him no end, he went on to inquire how I got to Donges (bateau?) and who I thought would win in the rugby game between France and England. I said France, it being my preference and he shrugged his shoulders again, he had a feeling England would do it and they did. I should have asked him if it was ok to photograph him, he was a pure stereotype, a wicker shopping basket with champagne, cheese, baguette and other delicacies and the beret all he was missing was the striped sweater and a string of onions.
The loading master and surveyor were in mourning after the defeat to England in the rugby, a sad day for France they said, a tragedy, a catastrophe, I gave my condolences saying that they probably won’t win the final, but knowing England anything is possible.
A roadsign outside the huge refinery at Donges, looking slightly worse for wear… I wonder could it be acid rain?
The Maltese flagged Bulk Carrier Warrior built in 1984.
The skipper of this rust bucket must have been a bit mad, or maybe on medication when he decided to cross the Atlantic from the US to Europe. There are two reasons for this assumption,
The ship had two metre long cracks in the hull, which were covered in silver tape and painted, to match the rest of the hull.
The United States Coastguard (mentioned previously in post 131) had discovered the damage, and had said the ship was not to put to sea until a proper repair had been carried out. The coastguard had recieved a tip off from a crew member,( who gets a reward under a whistle blowers scheme.)(and could have been the Captain himself)
So not only is he putting his life and his crews life at risk, he risks losing his ship and cargo, polluting the environment and getting on the wrong side of the Americans. Professional seafarers? Commercial pressure from the owners maybe is a large factor, it is probably cheaper to let the ship sink, allow the crew to drown then just collect on the insurance than to repair the ship properly. Or maybe I’m being a bit cynical?Â
Trying to cover up cracks in the hull shows a total lack of competence and complete disregard for their own safety and to those that would have to go and rescue them in their open lifeboats on a dark and dirty night somewhere in the Atlantic.
The owners are now being charged by the US Coastguard for failing to carry out repairs prior to sailing, if you consider the state of the lifeboat and the general appearance of the ship, you would want to be mad to work in such a ship, added to the fact that the damage sustained could get worse and the ship sink. It doesn’t bear thinking about.
Obviously she is still trading away these photos were taken at Flushing, the Netherlands by GeertvanKesteren-”Zappa” whose photos appear in Shipspotting.com The photo was taken in February, the cracks were found last November by the Coastguard.
If you are going to go aground then you may as well do it in style, these German Navy people must have been doing a fair speed when they hit the rock. I wonder what the conversation was just after contact, probably…..”Scheiße!……who forgot to switch on the echo sounder?”
The accident happened on the Norwegian coast during a NATO led exercise, nobody was phyically hurt, only a few bruised egos and kicked arses.
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