Full route on travellerspoint:
travellerspoint.com/map/#/trip/1129762
The first part of the trip along the French coast and the first part of Spain I sailed alone. That was my first long singlehanded sailing. There was my first solo night sailing also. I came to Irun to meet my brother. Stayed here for a couple of days and moved further.
The second part was sailing with my son along the Spanish coast! So happy to have him on board. Though he doesn’t like sailing a lot, we had some experience of Atlantic sailing from Bilbao to Galicia which was very nice.
The French coast is a very good destination for sailing. Very stable weather system in summer with good forecasts and beautiful islands with nice anchorages. I had not enough time there because I wanted to meet my brother in Hondarribia before he left it. So I had to hurry. What was really strange, I heard a lot of distress calls 4 pan-pan and one mayday. Those were all in French and were coastguard relays so I didn’t want to interrupt them calling and asking if they need help en English. I have AIS on board, so if coastguard needs me to help they see me and can always ask me to assist.
While sailing along France took me only around a week, I spent more than a month on the Spanish coast of Biscay. Weather was very nice, but forecasts are not that good here. Once I have got 30+knots of wind with a forecast of 10. And another time I got a strong fog without any hint for it in the forecast, apart from this I liked this part very much.
France
Spain
There was one place I can’t forget. I have spent there more than a week. It is Lekeitio. It is free of charge port in a nice small village with beautiful beaches nearby and a picturesque river.
Some photos from spanish part of Biscay:
Sweden to the Mediterranean route: Sweden – Kiel channel – Wadden Zee, Staande Mast Route (Holland) – English channel – Bay of Biscay – Galicia – Portugal – Gibraltar-Almerimar
Sailboat: Hallberg Rassy Rasmus 35