The Bay of Biscay - Lively

I am writing this while looking out on the rolling swell of the Bay of Biscay as the Pont Aven sails southwards to hopefully a sunny Spain. Actually our cabin has a balcony so I am sat outside sheltered from the wind. I think the sea was lively last night as we have been delayed a further two hours after leaving Portsmouth two hours late because a late incoming sailing. Storm force winds were forecast in the English Channel, great as we are treating this as a test run for our voyage to the Antarctic next year. So far so good as both of us slept soundly, with no effect of mal-de-mer. Maybe it was the bottle of wine that we shared with dinner last night, not the stugeron tablets.

Yesterday we dropped into see Marion’s parents in Poole. It was a sunny autumn day so it made a good stop, as we already knew that the boat would be delayed leaving. As usual I took advantage by taking a walk along the seafront at Sandbanks. The level of wealth and conspicuous consumption in the area never ceases to amaze me. Many perfectly good houses are being knocked down so that modern flats of dubious architectural value can be built. When I walk around in winter very few of these show any lights so I conclude that they are probably purchased as investments. The tragedy of our property market is that there is probably more profit to be had in doing this than in actually building places that people want  or can afford to live in.

It is great to have a day relaxing with books and blog as there is really little else to do on the ship other than eat or drink. Having said that the Pont Aven is probably the most comfortable ferry that we have travelled on. Surprisingly for the time of year it seems very full despite there not being large numbers of cars queuing to board. A lot of the passengers also appear to be very infirm. I think this is a combination of two groups, based on some name tags that I spotted I think one group is visiting the shrine at Lourdes, while there appears to be another old soldiers reunion going on. The mystery to me is why this would be in Spain or South West France, answers on a postcard please.

The departure from Portsmouth was also the chance to see at close quarters the latest flagship of the British navy the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth. It is certainly an impressive boat until you start to think what it might be used for. My thought is that like all large boats it will be very vulnerable to attack. Thinking back in history battleships like the Renown and the Repulse were meant to be massive threats, yet in World War Two they were sunk rapidly by a well timed aerial attack. More recently in the Falklands War a few out-dated missile-carrying planes easily threatened the British naval presence. In a time of cyber warfare and international terrorism I think the amount of money that these ships cost could have been spent more effectively than building status symbols that are effectively fighting the last war. This is frequently the mistake that admirals and generals make. That is before we get onto the argument as to whether the money would be better spent on nurses and hospitals, one for later I think.

Well the late arrival will not impact us too much as we are not travelling far tonight, though even the Spanish penchant for late eating might be stretched to our midnight arrival time into the hotel! Due to slow internet I will post photos later.