Le Havre

We are at the most stressful part of our trip because of the tides and not very good weather. For example we came into Le Havre yesterday, only intending to stay a night here, but the winds were too strong and the tidal current would be against us too, so we couldn't leave today. We also had miserable rain during the morning. We have to leave at 2.00 am tomorrow morning so that when we reach Cherbourg, our next stop, the tide will be at its highest and we can actually get into the port then (they use a lock system there and it is essential to enter the lock on a high tide). Then we will go to Guernsey the next day and that works out OK as far as the racing tide being with us as we go past the 'corner' after Cherbourg. Our worst part is going to be crossing the Bay of Biscay as it will be two days and nights at sea and our friends have to leave before then. We don't want to do the longer trip by following the coastline there, stopping at ports, because the sea is notoriously rough in the Bay.  Once we get down to Portugal we won't have to worry about all of this, thank goodness, and then the real holiday will begin.

Le Havre has been an interesting stop because it was destroyed during World War 2 and the townspeople opted to rebuild in a very modern concrete style, using an architect referred to as the concrete poet. This area is now World Heritage listed. At first we thought the town was quite ugly but then we discovered the large plazas and the pedestrian-only roads where the shops and cafes are. The River Seine also comes out into the sea here and it is navigable by very large ships for a long way inland. Le Havre is Monet's birthplace and many impressionists painted in this area. It is also the fourth largest shipping port in Europe so it is a large city. We really needed to hire a car to look around properly and to drive to Honfleur on the other side of the Seine (a medieval town which is apparently very beautiful), but we couldn't hire one before the rental companies closed for lunch. So we just had to find a good cafe for lunch and be satisfied with a walk around just some of the town. We haven't become accustomed to everything closing for lunch, other than cafes, so we need to get our head around this for better planning.