Rest of the 2014 Season

We made two visits to Broken with the Jones Family. In both cases the journey out was motoring in little or no wind and bright sun. We took  picnics of local delicacies, salmon, shrimps, good cheeses and wine.
Unfortunately the harbour was full of brown algae the first time so swimming was impossible.
The algae bloomed in vast amounts in 2014 because of very hot weather in both July and August.
Alec experimented with the sauna while Nick and I watched from outside as his knees glistened with sweat.
Before the second trip wind and waves had disrupted and sunk most of the algae so we all, except Nick swam and cooled off. We also had a good breeze on the way back to Nykoping so Badger showed what she could do. Blowing strongly between islands, the wind was fluky so Badger heeled abruptly once or twice, leaping forward dramatically so Alice and Nick laughed at me for my enthusiasm at Badgers performance.
Both Kristin and I were very glad that part of the family had had the chance to see a little of what makes sailing in Sweden so appealing to us.
For the rest of our time in Sweden we were preparing Badger for the winter, visiting friends and late, staying at Stjarnholm Slott before going south on the way home.
Our trip home took us to Landskrona, which has an interesting star shaped fort and a well funded museum where Kristin bought a kit for embroidering a metre long cushion. After the ferry to Travemunde we stopped at Marburg with good old quarter, Trier with very impressive Roman buildings including a massive Gatehouse and Vianden in Luxemburg where we spent the night in a pub which catered mainly to motorbikers. Apparently Luxemburg windy roads in hilly country without heavy traffic are very appealling.
We then went to Troyes, a very interesting city and then Bourges.
In Bourges we spent much time in the cathedral which imprseed us just as it had done 30 years ago as a superb space. However the Hotel Theatre St.Bonnet outshone all with most rooms with Murano glass chandeliers, an excellent swimming pool in the conservatory and a theatre where we were entertained to two recitals on a concert grand piano by the owner, a retired concert pianist. The second recital was the Goldberg variations which we are passionate about. It was a fantastic experience.
From Bourge we went south to Angouleme to visit  Colette, well looked after by her grand-daughter but miserable in herself though she seemed to like our visit.
We also met up with Tim and Lindsey of the Totnes boating Association and had dinner with them.
The Angouleme hotel is worth mentioning as it was a big farmhouse outside the city with swimming pool - lovely to visit but incredibly difficult to find.
Our final day's travel took us to Morlaix which we also love but found a little depressed compared with 12 years ago. It still had a wonderful French eccentricity with a late evening procession past our hotel room with illuminated  enormous and fantastical baloons.
Our final day was spent close by, buying a little wine and eating lobsters in Roscoff before the night boat back to Plymouth and home.