Not Circumnavigating again

[Sea Devil]

It is awful to admit it but I suspect I will now never go back to the South Pacific again....

It has taken a while to admit this but I suppose it is all part of growing up and becoming a mature person.

So I have decided to dispose of all my South Pacific to Suez charts

http://www.michaelbriant.com/boat_jumble.htm

Hope to move back to France soon so do not want to clutter the removal van

If anybody is heading out that way...........

fair winds

Michael

 

[lindsay]

I would be very interested in your comparisons of long term living in Spain and in France, two countries you clearly know well.....without of course going into personal details!

 

[Sea Devil]

I would be very interested in your comparisons of long term living in Spain and in France, two countries you clearly know well.....without of course going into personal details!

I spent some 10 years in France (La Rochelle) and have now been in Spain, Verja de la Frontera and Ronda, for 5 years or so and hope to sell up and return to France. I / we left France as Alzheimer Care Home fees of £850 per week and the drop (back then) of the £ to almost par with the € made this financially unsupportable. In fact the move made no difference to the continuation of the payments.

It is probably 15-20% cheaper to live in France than the UK and it is 15-20% cheaper to live in Spain than France. - The present 1.40€ to the £ makes it even better but that can change. The cost of living in both countries is far less than the UK even when the £ & € were more or less at par. Both the French and Spanish have a higher standard of living than the peoples of the UK.

We both speak French - Louise fluently and me well, but we have found it hard to learn Spanish. We can both read it and now get by in it, but unless you work with Spanish people it is hard to learn and many Spanish peoples speak some English. Not so common in France.

The national health systems of both countries is excellent and far better than the UK. Higher standard and much easier access. Of the two, the Spanish is probably best and if you mix a little affordable private care with the Spanish Health System, the care it is excellent and very affordable. The French System relies on private insurance to 'top up' the Health System for the last 20-30% of the cost... Varies with service required. This insurance in my 60's was costing around £1,000 PA and after a year or so I decided to carry the risk myself - in the end both Spanish and French Health systems are far better than the National Health in the UK.

The food, wine, joi de vie, of France is lovely. A wonderful cultural and educational history and a cafe society 2nd to none - the food is brilliant. National Spanish food is pretty dire after a while and the cafe society is very very different with a lot of shouting going on.... Spanish technology appears to be brilliant and better than the French and certainly as good as British. The Spanish ID card is very cleverly used for everything and works well. We have found it difficult to integrate with Spanish people, but the middle classes are educated and cultural. I just prefer the French.

Both countries have large ex pat communities - Dordogneshire in France and a lot of the Med coast and of course the Costa's in Spain. Living in Ronda has been a good experience - the dustbins are emptied every day, the council keeps the streets very clean and tidy and there is almost no street crime or drunkenness. The town hall organises lots of events and the Spanish certainly know how to party. Living on the Costa's with foreigners (non Spanish) is probably not so pleasant or interesting, France is almost as well organised - dustbins emptied twice a week - and the cafe society is pretty elegant and pleasant.

I am certain the key to becoming a more of less permanent 'ex pat' is cracking the language. Both countries enjoy a lifestyle that is warmer and more laid back than the UK and the prices for everything much lower...

Michael

 

[lindsay]

Many thanks for the comprehensive reply. Sounds like material for a Daily Telegraph type retirement article? Good luck with your return to France. I am confident that the people will absorb the recent events with their usual resilience.

 

[Koeketiene]

It is probably 15-20% cheaper to live in France than the UK and it is 15-20% cheaper to live in Spain than France. - The present 1.40€ to the £ makes it even better but that can change. The cost of living in both countries is far less than the UK even when the £ & € were more or less at par. Both the French and Spanish have a higher standard of living than the people of the UK.

We both speak French - Louise fluently and me well, but we have found it hard to learn Spanish. We can both read it and now get by in it, but unless you work with Spanish people it is hard to learn and many Spanish peoples speak some English. Not so common in France.

The national health systems of both countries is excellent and far better than the UK. Higher standard and much easier access. Of the two, the Spanish is probably best and if you mix a little affordable private care with the Spanish Health System, the care it is excellent and very affordable. The French System relies on private insurance to 'top up' the Health System for the last 20-30% of the cost... Varies with service required. This insurance in my 60's was costing around £1,000 PA and after a year or so I decided to carry the risk myself - in the end both Spanish and French Health systems are far better than the National Health in the UK.

Excelent post :encouragement:

It confirms that we have made the right choice in choosing to retire abroad.
The three prinicipal reasons we're not staying in Britain (our home for nearly 20 years) are these:
- quality of life
- cost of living
- easy access to affordable & quality healthcare.

When I (hopefuly) retire in just over a year the plan is to spend 6 months ashore (Brittany) and 6 months afloat (Carib).
I am not in the rudest of health and healthcare will be a major issue in the autumn years of my life.
When we had to choose where we would buy our bit of dirt, the choice was between France and Spain. Having worked a couple of years in Spain, the wife speaks Spanish fluently whereas I speak only very basic Spanish (reading and listening is better), but as we both speak fluent French the choice was an easy one.

I'm not counting, but if everything goes according to plan: one year, one month and twelve days to go.

 

[Sea Devil]

Excelent post :encouragement:

It confirms that we have made the right choice in choosing to retire abroad.
The three prinicipal reasons we're not staying in Britain (our home for nearly 20 years) are these:
- quality of life
- cost of living
- easy access to affordable & quality healthcare.

When I (hopefuly) retire in just over a year the plan is to spend 6 months ashore (Brittany) and 6 months afloat (Carib).
I am not in the rudest of health and healthcare will be a major issue in the autumn years of my life.
When we had to choose where we would buy our bit of dirt, the choice was between France and Spain. Having worked a couple of years in Spain, the wife speaks Spanish fluently whereas I speak only very basic Spanish (reading and listening is better), but as we both speak fluent French the choice was an easy one.

I'm not counting, but if everything goes according to plan: one year, one month and twelve days to go.

Glad it helps - housing in Brittany is fairly expensive - Normandy, where we are heading is less so - There are really cheap air fares Paris to Martinique / Guadeloupe for obvious reasons...

A lot safer in Paris than London long term I think. We could never put armed police in those numbers and with serious weapons on the streets within minutes of an attack starting.

 

[Koeketiene]

Glad it helps - housing in Brittany is fairly expensive - Normandy, where we are heading is less so - There are really cheap air fares Paris to Martinique / Guadeloupe for obvious reasons...

We first looked to buy a property in Haute Normandy (Dieppe/St Valery en Caux region) but we did not really find anything we liked at a price we could afford.
The wife of a French colleague works in real estate and explained that that particular area was really popular with Parisians - a nice rural weekend retreat less than 2 hours from Paris.
The Manche/Calvados area is less expensive, however the area has the largest number of days of rain per annum in France.

When we started looking at Brittany we found Morbihan prohibitively expensive - certainly within walking distance of the coast.
We eventually setteled on southern Finisterre. Prices/quality of the properties available came as a pleasant surprise.
Return flights from Quimper (10 min drive) to Martinique are less than £400.

 

[Sea Devil]

That's interesting - Southern Finesterre - Not really looked there but will have a estate agent search now - thank you

MIchael

 

[Grehan]

As Michael knows, I'm sure, there are some wonderful places in inland France, with surprisingly cheap properties. But a fair distance from a mooring for Paw-Paw I guess.
Michael - your sig link to www.gentlesailng.com needs to go to www.gentlesailing.com :redface-new:

 

[Sea Devil]

As Michael knows, I'm sure, there are some wonderful places in inland France, with surprisingly cheap properties. But a fair distance from a mooring for Paw-Paw I guess.
Michael - your sig link to www.gentlesailng.com needs to go to www.gentlesailing.com :redface-new:

That was good of you - thank you - changed the signature.....

Much as I love the inland waterways - my mum taught me to sail on the Thames - I am a city boy at heart and could not live out in the sticks... frightened of the wild animals like cows and sheep and boredom...

Not sure Finnesterre is for us - will stick to Normandy for the moment but having a really cheap 2nd boat in the French Antilles does appeal - well to me... Lou Lou is not so sure!

Again thanks for finding my finger problem

Michael

 

[AndrewB]

It is awful to admit it but I suspect I will now never go back to the South Pacific again....

It has taken a while to admit this but I suppose it is all part of growing up and becoming a mature person.

So I have decided to dispose of all my South Pacific to Suez charts

I did this too a couple of years ago ... yes a sad moment of self-realisation. (Dotage rather than maturity). I'd got most of mine off an old guy who couldn't bear to part with them until he found someone who'd put them to use. What comes around, goes around!

P.S. Great post on living in France.