The coastal route to the med, any months its not really viable or enjoyable?

[steve yates]

By the time my boat launches it will be late summer, were planning on amblingdown the french coast and then round spain, portugal and back to spain and into the med.
All schengen shenanigans aside, are there any of the winter months that would be just unpleasant, unviable or downright miserable during any part of this from La Rochelle onwards?
Just starting to think about timescales and where/when we might sail & explore/park & return home for a bit before returning and carrying on. If its worth carrying on we would get the french 6 month tourist visa and maybe enjoy a sunny winter
Thanks

 

[capnsensible]

I've found that once around Cape St. Vincent, all the way through the Straits up through Andalucia can be sailed all year round with the occasional pause for rarely more than a day or two for dank weather. Forecasting is generally good and accurate. Getting stuck for a week is rare.

Enjoy!

 

[steve yates]

Thanks, thats useful and confirms what I thought about once reaching the med, its the getting down to Gib bit I’m more in the dark about.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Received wisdom is that Biscay can be crossed at any time with the right forecast which are now pretty reliable, I would expect you to have delays going down the Spanish and Portuguese coasts with some ports closed for access and egress so that is where the delays are likely to be. Personally I would miss out the French Atlantic coast if you are late and want to get into the Med. and push on as quickly as you can.

 

[Refueler]

Just commenting .......... brings back memories of lost opportunity.

Bucklers Hard many years ago. Was invited on board Eclipse 42 .... guy was looking to sail her down to Med having sold his house ..... he was asking about nest way and whether via canals of France or long way round.

Dave (ex Admirals Cup crew guy) and I had a few wee drams on board and enjoyed the hospitality ........... only after back on my boat did we realise he was really trying to get us to offer to sail it for him ...

French Canals for me ... would love it.

 

[KompetentKrew]

I crossed Biscay from Lorient to Galicia the first or second week of September, spent a week or so in the anchorage at Cedeira and arrived in Algarve in October, I think.

EDIT: was a gorgeous crossing too, 20 knots beam reach.

I would like to go further down the French coast and see more of north Spain next time around through.

If you like historic walled harbours then Concarneau might also be worth a look.

 

[steve yates]

Received wisdom is that Biscay can be crossed at any time with the right forecast which are now pretty reliable, I would expect you to have delays going down the Spanish and Portuguese coasts with some ports closed for access and egress so that is where the delays are likely to be. Personally I would miss out the French Atlantic coast if you are late and want to get into the Med. and push on as quickly as you can.

When my wifes with me the boat is definitely for exploring, so no pushing on or crossing biscay. She’ll want to see it all.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

When my wifes with me the boat is definitely for exploring, so no pushing on or crossing biscay. She’ll want to see it all.

You have 90 days to explore then you need somewhere that will give you a visa extension or bugger off to one of the North African countries Tunisia or Algeria to break the cycle my point of pushing on is to maximise the time in the Med nothing else, you could easily use a month or more getting down to La Rochelle sightseeing then another month down the Spanish and Portuguese coasts perhaps more then you will be posed with the problem of the visa or leaving the boat after a month and flying back to the UK.

 

[steve yates]

Yeah, thats ok. We both love france so very happy to linger there exploring. Hence why I was asking about weather and timings, if its all good we can get the 6 or 12 month french tourist visa, so schengen wont kick in until we hit spain, then when we reach the south coast of france we are on the visa, so schengen doesnt count there and we should be able to reset the clock by time we leisurely reach italy. Once that far in we have options for shuffling.
But we are quite prepared to do 3 month on 3 month off if required, it could workout well for us potentially.
If conditions are generally good enough to keepgoing southin the winter, thats our strategy, if not we’ll do the 3 months penance athome.

 

[Tranona]

If you really want to see the west coast of France (and it is worth it!), then that is a summer gone. You may well find a 6 month French visa good for the first year. However as reported several times here on liveaboard it is nowhere as easy to get than you might imagine, particularly if doing it by boat as you will find difficulty in meeting the "address in France" requirement plus possibly the available funds requirement and health insurance. While the west coast is fine for the budget traveller as there are plenty of low(ish) cost places to stop the Med coast is a very different story and few lower budget cruisers bother with cruising there, but push on towards the cheaper and more interesting places in the Eastern Med.

 

[coopec]

Received wisdom is that Biscay can be crossed at any time with the right forecast which are now pretty reliable, I would expect you to have delays going down the Spanish and Portuguese coasts with some ports closed for access and egress so that is where the delays are likely to be. Personally I would miss out the French Atlantic coast if you are late and want to get into the Med. and push on as quickly as you can.

A guy I spoke to who had sailed the world a a merchant sea man said the roughest seas he had experienced was the Bay pf Biscay. (I suggest he had 30 years experience as a seaman)

 

[coopec]

Just commenting .......... brings back memories of lost opportunity.

Bucklers Hard many years ago. Was invited on board Eclipse 42 .... guy was looking to sail her down to Med having sold his house ..... he was asking about nest way and whether via canals of France or long way round.

Dave (ex Admirals Cup crew guy) and I had a few wee drams on board and enjoyed the hospitality ........... only after back on my boat did we realise he was really trying to get us to offer to sail it for him ...

French Canals for me ... would love it.

QUOTE:"French Canals for me ... would love it." UNQUOTE

I could think of nothing better than to motor the canals to Ulm (Germany) and then down the Danube to the Black Sea. (You need a boat that draws less than 5ft though)

 

[GHA]

When my wifes with me the boat is definitely for exploring, so no pushing on or crossing biscay. She’ll want to see it all.

think that´s quite common when starting to cruise.... but it´s all lovely Also very nice doing longer passages then spending some time to get to know an area & people better rather than constantly on the go.
Either way have fun

 

[PlanB]

You may find your insurer requires you to be clear of Biscay by the end of September.
As Fr Hackett mentioned, there can be serious swell down the Portuguese coast in October, with some ports closed for access.
We caught the end effects of Hurricane Katrina - character forming.

 

[Stemar]

QUOTE:"French Canals for me ... would love it." UNQUOTE

I could think of nothing better than to motor the canals to Ulm (Germany) and then down the Danube to the Black Sea. (You need a boat that draws less than 5ft though)

A couple from our club got down to Sete through the French canals and back round Brittany in a bit over 80 days, but that seems seriously hurried - I'd want to take a year. No way could I see getting to the Black Sea via the Danube without some sort of derogation from the 90 day limit

 

[Refueler]

I would wander down through to Marseilles ...

 

[Refueler]

You may find your insurer requires you to be clear of Biscay by the end of September.
As Fr Hackett mentioned, there can be serious swell down the Portuguese coast in October, with some ports closed for access.
We caught the end effects of Hurricane Katrina - character forming.

70,000 ton ship proceeding north through Biscay ... nice sunny day ... typical atlantic swell rolling in from west .... then HOLY COW !!

Freak wave hit ... over bow and smashed into aft accommodation buckling our watertight doors and bulkhead ... ripped the teak of the taffrails ....

Wave passed on ... we are back to sunny day and rolling swells ................

I have to say that Biscay is not my fav .... every ship I sailed through Biscay rolled like a ******** because of that constant westerly swell. Some ships we would actually have the bilge keel rails roll out of water when running south in ballast ...

Yes ships have a bilge keel rail running most of the length .. its only narrow ...

 

[Fr J Hackett]

When my wifes with me the boat is definitely for exploring, so no pushing on or crossing biscay. She’ll want to see it all.

Another point to note is that if you are going down the Atlantic coast in late summer, September? Then you may find it very quiet although the weather will be good for most of the time. That of course may suit but perhaps not your wife if she wants to see the" sights"

 

[Blueboatman]

Well I can’t remember what boat the OP now has, I think it is a Co32?
Anyway, something that will eat windward passages and be a pleasure to sail …

I have been down that route 3 times , each different!

I have taken a “short cut” using the 100 mile Brittany canal - which was beautiful but 100m was enough of motoring and locking tbh..

Picking 2 out of your 3 countries, I would say sail directly to the Spanish coast and enjoy Portugal.
Save France for its own trip imo
Oh- and aim to be around St V before the swells get big in the autumn.. it has decent winter weather too !
Would I bother with the med in summer.? At the risk of upsetting everyone who has,
its too hot, marinerised, overcrowded, show offy, and expensive for me unless you really go off the beaten tracks..
In the winter , is the sailing reallly any good over short sharp seas?

Whereas the algarve is delightful .
And you can popover to Africa..You might even decide it would be nice to do an Atlantic circuit from there , plans change with experience..
My 2 bits worth

 

[coopec]

You may find your insurer requires you to be clear of Biscay by the end of September.
As Fr Hackett mentioned, there can be serious swell down the Portuguese coast in October, with some ports closed for access.
We caught the end effects of Hurricane Katrina - character forming.

Rough seas Bay of Biscay