FREEDOM!
Arzal – Penerf – La Crouesty – La Trinité Sur Mer (Carnac) Days 63 – 67
Monday 14th continued! – Friday 18th September
The lock at Arzal opened with the first tranche of 18 boats and the first lot of outgoing boats went in – 11 in total. We waited patiently; the bridge had come back down and the lock gates opened at the other end to release these boats. Then the next 12 boats were locked in, the lock filled with water, the bridge lifted and out they came.
Incredible to watch this |Trimaran entering the lock – it virtually took up the whole of the width of the lock!
Finally our turn to go in – we were one of 10 boats and placed in the middle of the lock with a boat either side.
I quite like being in the middle as you don’t have the responsibility of hanging onto the chains as you go down.
Adieu to Arzal Lock!
The lock was done, the gates opened and we were fourth out – what a blesséd relief it was! The river was navigable on a rising spring tide and it was good to follow others out.
It took about an hour to get to the sea and then we motor-sailed (as of course, we were heading in a Northwesterly direction, from which the wind was coming) to Penerf, a tiny place which was already quite out of season only being mid-September.
Approaching Penerf – a bit of a slalom lay ahead!
Here we met up with our great sailing mates Monica and Steve on Jenny Wren, who had been away from the Vilaine for about 10 days or so. We moored up on the non-walk-ashore pontoon, which had no electricity (that’s fine as we have our 100 watt solar panel) but also no water. The 5 litres we had were precious indeed!
We had a delightful evening together, Steve having cooked a delicious Pad Thai Chicken Curry as the main course, with duck rillettes as a starter and an impressive flambé pineapple and banana as dessert. We had much to catch up on as well as celebrating sailing together once more.
Tuesday 15th September – Day 64
Penerf to Crouesty
Quite a thick (radiation) fog greeted us in the morning and we were quite surprised to see some boats go out; they must’ve known, as the fog was short-lived and soon dissipated. A lift ashore from the harbour-master was most welcome. Everything here is small!
The gorgeous tiny little church – L’eglise de St Pierre
Le petit Capitainerie – very bijou!
Little lifeboat!
Jenny Wren and Boni – re-united!
The harbour master’s office, the church and the loo I think was the tiniest one I had ever been in! The showers were good, so grateful for that. Even the life-boat was small. It was all just gorgeous and the sun shone as we strolled around the village, where there seemed to be not a lot going on; even the bars and restaurants do not open on a Monday or Tuesday…. We did encounter a couple of little seafood shacks though and bought a kilo of Oysters for 7€ (13 in all) – we were very excited even though it meant that we would have to shuck (open) them ourselves. We were also able to fill up our 5 litre water cannister – Bob almost disappeared into a mysterious little cupboard to do this, but soon re-appeared with a hose pipe – all good.
Back on board Boni, courtesy of the return trip from the harbour master, we made ready for sea and departed at 1130. Wind was (still) NW – apparently only 8 knots (a very light breeze) as we departed. So we were a bit doubtful if it would be even enough to get us moving. How wrong could one be! As we came away from Penerf out to sea, the light breeze became a great sailing wind – so much so, we had to put a reef into our mainsail and also into the Genoa. Of course, once again the direction we wished to travel was where the wind was coming from, so instead of a 15 nautical mile / 3 hour trip, it became a 25 nm 5.5 hour sail – but really cracking sailing with many tacks. As I helmed, Bob was in charge of the sails and we worked hard to refine our tacking technique.
Finally we found our way into the busy port of Crouesty (we had visited earlier in the year). It has 5 yacht basins and a visitor area (all full) and a total of 1,200 places altogether. The difference this time was that we were met by a harbour chap in a dory and he was able to direct us to Juliet 22 – Starboard side to, he told us; was it heck? Port-side to in fact, but a last minute change like this is easy to handle and Bob brought Boni into the berth beautifully. We asked if it were at all possible to be near our friends, but this wasn’t to be. Once the visitor pontoons are filled, the port uses berth-holder slots to put visitors in. We swiftly filled our water tank on arrival – good to have water back on board.
Steve and Monica checked us in at the Capitainerie and we met up for a sundowner – the weather was pleasantly warm so we sat outside. We re-convened later (after we had our oysters onboard as a starter!) and went to the Cap De Horn Restaurant for dinner.
Wednesday 16th September – Day 65
This was a day to take stock, stock up and do jobs. Bob continued with the Bilge pump project and Steve was able to help, bringing a hot torch with him to help make the plastic pipes more malleable. Squeezing the new pump into a spot where it didn’t fit was annoying and required a bit of modification, namely mounting all the water pump system about 2” higher than it had been – this then required a new piece of wood fitted above the existing board. Once again the cabin and galley worktop were strewn with tools and the cockpit resembled a chippy’s yard.
After about 3 hours of screwing and fixing, most of it was in place. The hinges on the cover of the whole unit were now virtually dead and this was the next thing to think about.
Our turn to cook supper for Steve and Monica this evening: Bob ingratiated himself with a splendid fish pie, we had duck pate to start with and bought some delicious tarts from the local patisserie – pear and almond and apricot, all washed down with a bottle each of Crément and Muscadet sur Lie.
Thursday 17th September – Day 66
La Crouesty to La Trinité Sur Mer
Meh! Miserable weather, rainy, dark grey clouds and quite a blowy – but westerly (rather than NW) – 18 – 24 knots. This was the first-time we donned our sailing jackets since the middle of May so as to stay dry. We followed an oblivious French sailor out of the harbour – where there isn’t much room and he didn’t turn to look once if there was anyone following him. Once the sails were up just outside the harbour, there wasn’t much stopping us. We sailed to the south of the Island Méaban (and across the mouth of the Morbihan) towards La Trinité Sur Mer. The reef that we had in the mainsail remained and we put two reefs in the Genoa. Nicely balanced we tanked along at 6 – 7 knots, but tacking out as we couldn’t sail directly to our destination. Anyway – this IS a sailing holiday and we had the most fabulous sail! We passed a string of cardinal buoys which mark the rocky waters to the East of our passage. A few other sailing boats around, but not many to steer clear of, apart from one monster trimaran – a bright orange hull with sails that said “USE IT AGAIN” emblazoned down the sail. Jeepers – they were going about 17 – 20 knots! For me La Trinité Sur Mer was a new port.
For Bob however, this is where all his sailing adventures started and as we approached the red Port-hand marker into port – Petit Treho – Bob told me all about his first first sailing adventure from La Trinité Sur Mer over to Quiberon just under 40 years ago!
Monica and Steve aboard Jenny Wren had departed (and as a consequence arrived) much earlier, as they had work commitments. We left about 0900, arriving at La Trinité Sur Mer 3 hours later – a 15 nm passage. There was no room on the pontoon near them and we were directed to R pontoon. Here was another marina stuffed with all manner of (mostly) sailing boats (although he Frenchman’s small day fishing boats also seemed in bountiful abundance). It is clearly a centre for sailing schools (big and small boats) – I reckon it’s part of the DNA of the place.
It was quite a walk into town, so we got our trusty Brompton bikes out and this made the distances all the more do-able.
The main drag along the waterfront is a busy place with the usual Biscuitiere tourist shops and restaurant/bars. Bob sniffed out the Chandlery as the replacement filter cover for the new Bilge pump had incurred damage since it’s replacement the day before… Uship chandleries in places like this are very well stocked and large – so Bob was in luck with gaining the part. Later we returned to buy new hinges, including a set of nuts and bolts, for the cover, which were making the most appalling noise when it was all opened up.
We had a nice supper ashore with Monica and Steve and made plans for the next day….
Friday 18th September – Day 67
Carnac Plage and the Megaliths
After a successful time in the laundromat (yawn, yawn, get the knickers washed – but time spent reading about the day’s bike trip out and a visit to the bank to withdraw cash without paying through the nose for it – CIC). Steve and Monica hired bikes, as theirs were left at home this time. Today we were exploring by bike and Steve and Monica went ahead and we met up with them on the SW Carnac Plage, then cycled round to Pointe de St Columban and then back through St Columban itself, returning to Carnac Plage to find some lunch.
I chose a very nicely cooked “yellow fish” – it was actually pollack, cooked in a slightly creamy, tangy sauce – but very well presented with a melange of vegetables and delicious.
Off on our bikes now to see the incredible neolithic standing stones erected between 4500 and 3500 BC. which the area is known for. I wouldn’t say that most folk known of these standing stones, megaliths and dolmens – like they would have heard of Stonehenge.
They are the most important and impressive alignments in the world, with almost 3,000 stones. My photos don’t do the site justice – literally the whole thing goes on in a huge swather for about 4 kms! There have been many theories of why they are aligned here, how they came to be here such as
- They are Roman Legionnaires turned into stones which have magic properties. (I know that we are not Roman Legionnaires – but thankfully, we weren’t turned into stone)
- Scholars at the beginning of the 19th century believed them to be Celtic Temples
- That they are a mysterious encoded message (which still isn’t understood)
- A scientific challenge to archaeology – also not understood
Basically they don’t know – but they are a truly wondrous thing to experience – the enormity is mind-boggling and frankly totally incredible.
The other brilliant thing is, that you don’t have to go and pay for a tour if you don’t want to – we didn’t. The visitor centre (also free) was very nicely put together, had a great exhibition of people’s photos of their visits there over the years, ranging from 1920 to present day as well as a very well presented film with some super photography and drone footage of the whole site.
We cycled along, stopping from time to time in awe, finally coming to the last alignments of the Petit Ménec in a very wooded area.
We made our way back towards La Trinité Sur Mer, however, cycled over the bridge to the furthest point Kernevest by a little beach.
View of Kerbihan from Kernevest
Kernevest Plage
So onto mending the hinges on the cover to the water heater/bilge and water pumps – you guessed it – a two person job. All a bit of a fiddle, but we methodically worked through it all and the new hinges were seated in and properly working.
Here the new bilge pump in situ, with the elevated water pump – thankfully the cover still fitted over the top!
Later Steve and Monica invited us over for a luscious Chicken Pie supper – a lot of fun washed down with a bit of vino.