Following on from last month's report, you may be interested to know that the training trip from Lorient to Cork, starting on June 27th is fully booked but there are a few berths still free for the return journey from Cork to Roscoff (4th to 8th of July). Anyone pining for a bracing sail from one Celtic shore to another can still pick a four-leafed clover and try their luck
click here!
June has been a busy yet pleasant month for Belem. On June 11th and 12th, our valiant three-master took a group of “Architectes des Bâtiments de France”, (the French equivalent of Inspectors of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings) on a 48 hour sailing trip off the island of Ouessant, opposite Brest; there she took part in a sea parade celebrating the 100th anniversary of La Jument, one of France's best-known lighthouses. An unusual meeting between a number of national heritage experts, the listed (floating) monument that is Belem and one of a series of off-coast lighthouses that, although uninhabited by now, are fully automated and in full use: they thus deserve to come under the protection of France's National Heritage institutions. One day, perhaps...
Then it was “en route” for Bordeaux and the spectacular Feasts of the River (Fêtes du Fleuve) that, every other year, turn the rather staid and serious inhabitants of this old and beautiful city into joyous, festive crowds. Belem's arrival on June 16th was one such festive occasion, with people crowded along the quays and on the bridges to watch the simultaneous manoeuvres of the big three-master and the French Navy's schooner “Belle Poule” as they came alongside their respective berths. Much to the delight of the TV crews invited on board Belem. Then it was crowds galore aboard the Belem as visitors were welcomed by the crew and by local volunteer helpers. 3000 people aboard over the week-end... In the evenings, on the stage set up right next to the ship, a series of concerts contributed to the delightful atmosphere, especially on the Saturday when the orchestra of Bordeaux Aquitaine played John Williams' most famous film music, culminating with the violin solo from “Schindler's List”... Romantic music for a romantic ship. And who knows...maybe “Barry Lyndon” in a short while!
Au lendemain de son 115e anniversaire, le Belem venait célébrer, le 11 juin, les 100 ans d'un autre protagoniste de l'histoire maritime française : le Phare de la Jument, au large d'Ouessant. A bord du trois-mâts, un groupe d'Architectes des Bâtiments de France participait à la cérémonie nautique - une occasion pour ces experts du patrimoine historique national de vivre la réalité de notre riche passé maritime tel que l'incarnent deux de ses grands témoins...
Le Belem est invité d'honneur des Fêtes du Fleuve de Bordeaux : cette 7ème édition n'a pas fait exception à l'union heureuse de Bordeaux, de son fleuve retrouvé et du dernier grand voilier de commerce français du 19ème siècle, qui est là pour rappeler que la beauté de la ville a pour origine la prospérité que lui a apporté le commerce. A l'image de cette place que l'on pouvait contempler depuis le pont du Belem,... 
