Monday 5th October – Day 83
Pouliguen – Le Croisic – La Turballe
Beautiful morning light… when asked whether or not I would like a Pain Aux Raisin for breakfast – what do you think the answer was? Well, of course!
Bob went off “hunting and gathering” (his words) to find the local Boulangerie; I just went to have a shower. Just? These showers are the most magnificent showers that I have come across, available to sailors being something far more superior than we even have at home with no less than four different ways in which the water comes out: 1) hand held shower attachment, 2) overhead shower 3) overhead cascading waterfall and lastly 4) horizontal jets hitting you – all settings with great pressure – just fab!
After I recovered, I visited the Capitainerie and booked us in. Five members of staff on today – this is October right? When I came out of the building, all became obvious, several racing boats were being lifted into the water – form an orderly queue down the road please!
Bob and I got back to Boni at the same time for breakfast. The sun was coming up and beginning to warm the air and we ate on deck.
A couple of jobs that needed investigating: why were the reefing lines always getting jammed? Yep – falling foul of the lines holding the lazy jacks in place. We had to literally dig them out and secure the lazy jacks away from the reefs. Also, and this happens every year over the season, a twist appears in the main sheet (that’s the rope that is used to control the main sail) – so that needed un-twiddling and re-tying.
As the tide began to come in, we began to think of departing, but there still wasn’t much depth of water beneath us. We cautiously left (mind you, it was a rising tide) – mostly there was between 1.2 and 1.8m underneath the keel, until we reached the outer buoys – including the red buoy that had been checked yesterday, now back in place.
Up went the sails, the wind was perfect for our passage to investigate Le Croisic (another drying harbour) NE 7 – 15 knots of wind and yet again with a fairly flat sea, we scooted along.
Beautiful coast line:
Approaching Le Croisic:
We arrived at Le Croisic at highwater and nosed our way into the little harbour to see if this would be do-able (depth-wise). Here is Trehic light, that guards the entrance. We only had 2.2m underneath us, this was high water and despite still being neapish, there wouldn’t be enough water under us to stay the night. The alternative was to pick up a buoy on “the pool” moorings, but we didn’t feel much like that today. So we came away, but it’s good to scout out these places.
Passing this very impressive building:
Then passing the fishing part of the port:
And sticking our nose into the little harbour – not much depth at all here!
Up went the sails again, for a delightful 30 minute sail up to La Turballe; Bob left it to last minute for us to bring in the sails (as the sailing was sooo good) and we came into port once again and tied up on H pontoon.
We thought it would be a good move to ring the Capitainerie at Piriac to ask to come in a day early and we asked to speak to Charles, only to be told that he was at La Turballe. Well, that’s lucky, so were we. So on signing into the Capitainerie here we were able to have a chat with him there. He indicated that he thought that we would be able to have a winter berth at Piriac and that we would certainly be able to leave Boni in their marina until then. Oh my! This is the best news as it means that we won’t have to come out in November and move Boni up to Vannes – yessssss!
Meanwhile, a new boat arrived next to us (pontoon side); apart from playing their radio (the news) quite loudly, they also had a little dog which decided it was right to jump onto our boat to inspect us! It soon jumped off again, but it was up and down the pontoon like a rocket – how it didn’t fall into the water, I don’t know. The boat on the other side of us were hoisting a young lady up their mast in a bosun’s chair – no safety line though – just saying.
Lovely sunset – ah….
Tuesday 6th October – Day 84 La Turballe – Piriac-sur-Mer
The day dawned a bit cooler and overcast and suddenly here we are – the last sail of the season. Boni virtually knows the way back on her own to Piriac; we left under motor, but as soon as we were out of the harbour the sails went up and the engine was turned off.
Another beautiful sail, 8 – 10 knots of wind on the beam (NE) – and Boni lifted up her skirts and flew along between 4.5 – 6 knots boat speed. The tide was rising, so Bob decided that we could cut the corner around the Pointe de Castelli.
We passed the dredger that was making its way into La Turballe…
“Is that a canoeist just over there?” he blithely asks….
“Er no Bob, it’s a rock” which is why there is a cardinal buoy just over to Port – we are between the buoy and the rock. However, there is actually plenty of water, so on we go. Once around the point we come closer to wind and harden up on the sails (bringing them in tighter).
Slightly heeled, our speed increased to 6 – 7 knots and we creamed along towards Piriac soon we were near the last Cardinal Buoy. We only had to put in one tack, and suddenly it was time to take the sails in and get into the harbour.
After lunch, we went ashore to see the Capitainerie.
Inside the Capitainerie we meet Thomas, who is on reception duty and we explained to him about us staying for the winter – he immediately knew all about us and Boni (which was encouraging) and we paid for the month’s stay. Thomas told us that we would have to move Boni to position E1 on the pontoons, stern in first (rather than bow as then Boni would be facing the usually prevailing SW winds). This is the nearest berth to the harbour entrance… hmm – quite a vulnerable position, especially in a northerly; but hey – I think we were so grateful for the berth, as this means now that we won’t have to come back out in November to move Boni to Vannes.
We tied up, using double warps on both bow, stern and springs. Even then the pontoon and the granny step seemed quite a way off, as the Northerly wind was blowing Boni off the pontoon. We set to with the packing down jobs including stowing the sails securely, taking the hardware off, taking the dinghy off (to take home) and so on. Luckily the port has trolleys, so we could take the dinghy the whole length of the pontoon in the trolley, rather than carry it.
Our CCSC Pennant is looking rather the worse for wear!
A bit later we went by car to La Turballe, which is about 3 miles, back to the large super market we had visited on our bikes whilst in port there. On the way back to Piriac, we came via the coast road and the Pointe de Castelli.
Here’s that same rock seen from the land, with the cardinal buoy in the distance!
There is a semaphore station here (which you are not allowed to photograph) which acts like a Coast-guard station, looking out to sea (a bit like our National Coast watch Institute, which has taken over the coast guard stations in the UK).
I felt that I’d earnt my G&T tonight! We ate up the remaining sausages and vegetables for our supper.
Wednesday 7th October – Day 86 Piriac-sur-Mer
Packing Down
Today is very windy – Northerly winds running straight into this harbour – F6/7. Getting on and off the boat is hazardous to say the least as there is a very large gap between the boat and the pontoon and I’m thinking that this is not a great berth. After showers ashore and breakfast, the “to do” list was fairly extensive… and we had to work out what to prioritise for today and the rest will be tomorrow.
One of our first jobs was to email the Capitaineries at La Roche Bernard, Vannes and copy in Piriac – stating our new found situation and making things clear. Then it was packing and putting as much as possible into the car and tidying the boat, working out what we still needed and what could be put ashore.
After lunch, Bob received the news that we could move the boat to a much more sheltered berth – E62 – nearer the marina gang plank. With the help of a Swiss guy called Pierre who had an 47’ Ovni, we moved Boni round to this other berth. The neighbouring boat had ridiculously loud slapping halyards, so that was a quick dash onboard their boat to sort that out (cannot bear the slappers). We walked into town (VERY quiet) to go to the shop for a few items to make lunch for tomorrow and Breton biscuits for mum.
Back onboard, Bob and I had to put some anti-freeze into the water system of the engine. Bob is down on his knees trying to undo the drainage plug with an allen key on the bottom of said system. Turn and turn and turn – it turned loads, but would not unscrew. It wasn’t leaking though, which is the main thing. So instead of draining the existing water out, we pumped it out with a small hand-pump – probably a litre (and not all of it by any means) and were able to replace this with the Antigel (antifreeze) purchased earlier. We popped into the Capitainerie to ask if they knew of a marine engineer who might look at the problem while we were away. Thomas suggested someone from Piriac Diffusion Marine (based in Arzal) and he said that the chandlery might also know of someone. He also gave us the name and phone number of another guy. Back at the boat, as a precaution, we taped up the offending plug with self-amalgamating tape – “just in case”. Maybe, we could do this job ourselves if we could get the part and fit it before we start next season.
Some more items came off the deck and were stowed below – Boni is looking decidedly naked!
We went out for supper at the Hotel du Port – good seafood, but the main courses were way too much to eat!
Thursday 8th October – Driving to Caen from Piriac-sur-Mer Day 87
Homeward bound to stay in the Ibis Hotel overnight, ready to catch the ferry back to Portsmouth early on Friday morning (day 88).
Distance travelled: please click on the link below
Days spent in France will total 84 of our allowed 90 (in 180 days) – this is corroborated by the EES (Entry/Exit System)
Hours motoring throughout the whole season: 122.5 (Apparently 150 hours in average – I think that is quite high!)
The distance to La Roche Bernard was 32 kms or 20miles – it said it would take just under 2 hours by bike. I donned my Gilet Jaune (not that I would ever be part of the Tour de France!) – more that we would be seen, although most of our roads were fairly minor ones. We set off just after 0900; the weather was a cool 13˚ C, but dry and a bit cloudy. Off we went! After almost an hour we came across the town of Arrasac and asked in the Boulangerie if they served coffee; non Madame – can you tell us where? (All in French, of course) Non Madame. Well how ridiculous! About 50m further up the street was a little Tabac and bar where we did get our Café au lait. We stopped for about 20 mins, and then off again.
Back on board, we had a quick baguette ham and salad lunch, packed the bikes away and cast off. Here we are leaving Piriac-sur-Mer. The wind was very favourable – NE 10-15knots. Up went the sails and we had another brilliant sail southwards to the Port of Pornichet.
Here we are approaching Pornichet, which is another of those huge marinas stacked out with 100s of boats. It was 1715 when we arrived (Saturday evening) and we called up the Port on Ch 09 to get no response. It was a bit of a puzzle to know where to go, so we found a snug berth (really tight!) on L pontoon – not really for visitors – but hey – we were in. A super high free-board here with a very bouncy pontoon to step onto – what’s to like? We had arrived. But this place really wasn’t much to write home about…. Find the loos by the Capitainerie – they were OK – showers were behind a coded door. No Capitainerie, no code, no shower!
There was one bar there overflowing with people drinking and a band setting up – too crowded, so we didn’t even stay for a drink! We returned to Boni (luckily no one had shut the gate to our pontoon) and settled down for a quieter evening.
We set off for Pouliguen and soon had the Genoa unfurled and pulling perfectly; the NE 14-20 knots achieved 4.5 – 5knots of speed – lovely. But hang on – there ahead was a race going on – right where we wanted to go! Up to us sped the safety boat to warn us away from the regatta – OK, OK – but what was their course? Soon we saw the safety boat next to the Committee Boat (that’s the boat in charge of the race), so headed to go behind it. Meanwhile, also heading for the port was a sizeable ship. We reckoned it was going into the Port.
However, it suddenly turned and started coming towards us… At the same time, we are navigating around the buoys – there are quite a few rocks and reefs to avoid, and Bob says to me – where’s that red buoy? “I think it’s behind that ship” I reply.
So we go around the back of said ship – only to see the very red buoy being hauled out of the water – probably a safety check going on.
We are the only boat on the Visitors pontoon (A). No one at the Capitainerie (why would there be on the first Sunday in October?), but we find the shower / toilet block around the back of the building and it is heartening to know that our Passport Escales passes work to open the door.
We were keen to see what it looked like at Low water, which was around 1815, so we went and had a look at the entrance. Not much going in or out, bar a few Jet-skis and quite a bit of land lacking water. This is not the lowest tide, as we are on Neaps at the moment and we still had 1.2m under our keel. Low water at Springs would be a very different matter.
The night on the mooring buoy was calm, which was delightful, as hanging off a mooring buoy can be very “rock and roll”. The day dawned bright and sunny and Bob suggested that we go onto the pontoon (as there were now some spaces) and go ashore. I wasn’t keen – why? We didn’t need to and most of these pontoon berths are taken by local fishermen.
The wind was a very gentle southerly 4-9 knots, up went the (full) sails and we set off for La Turballe. At first our speed was only about 3.5knots (which is disappointing), but this soon came up, with the wind to a very respectable 5 – 5.5knots of boat speed. Izzy coped with the steering for quite a while (she likes calm), but the swell (which comes in from the Atlantic was quite big.
The 15 nmiles took just over 3 hours and we sailed pretty much the whole way, tying up at about 1330 – lovely sail. It was cool though – the temperature now is around 20˚ C, as opposed to last week’s 28 ˚ C; I had long trousers on and my fleece. By the time we got into port, the wind had increased to about 12knots, which made the visitor’s pontoon there quite bobbly, the fenders were creaking and the ropes snatched a bit.
Another very lovely day and time to investigate why the sky-light windows were leaking – well the one on the Starboard side, which sit underneath. The other day, whilst in Le Palais, I was rudely dripped upon. Port side was good, but it’s good to do a matching pair while we’re onto it. First gouge out the existing sealant, which had de-graded, then mask it off – retrieve masking (frog) tape from the tape box in the aft cabin. Uh oh! This threw up another problem – water on the plastic boxes and in the locker there… oh dear another leak to sort.
Once the skylight windows were masked, apply Sikafix (mastic), scrape off the excess and leave to dry. DO NOT TREAD ON IT! All good.
After lunch we took to our bikes and cycled the 8kms (5 miles) to the Medieval town of Guérande – along the coast and then a bit inland, passing many salt-pans as we went. This town has a walled city at the centre of it (reminding us a bit of Concarneau, but without the tourists).
Many very old buildings including a huge church, which is being renovated to the coast of €10M, but we were still able to look inside and enjoy the incredible stained glass windows.
A bright morning dawned (sunrise is at 0812) so it starts getting light a bit before then. After breakfast we set off for Piriac under motor (about 4 knots of wind greeted us) – temperature was certainly no more than 10 ˚ C at first and I was pleased to have my waterproof bottoms on and fleece. (Bob was wearing shorts and wondered why he was cold…) This was the first time we could sail at all for quite a while, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Later we went out on the bikes, this time to the other side of the peninsula to Port Maria, which is where the ferries come and go to Belle Île. It has a great beach and a real sea-side place feel to it.
On the way back we called in to the supermarket to see Monsieur Poissonier and to buy further seafood – what’s not to like?!
Off to Sauzon today, on the North Westerly side of Belle Île; which meant leaving at 0800 to get out of the inner harbour and over the sill. Here we are leaving Port Haliguen.
However, the skies looked a bit ominous and we had a bit of spitty rain as we made out towards the Teignouse lighthouse. I really feel that this is one of the oddest looking lighthouses I’ve ever seen… Almost like an unfinished art-deco project, although this lighthouse was built between 1843-45. The navigation around here has to be quite exact due to shallow waters and rocks, and there are plenty of cardinal buoys to mark the way. About a mile and a half after the lighthouse, we were able to go the other (Port) tack, although this wasn’t getting us very close to our objective, so we decided to turn into the wind, take the Genoa down and made our way into Sauzon, by which time the tide had gone out.
We moored upon harbour buoys – trots (forward and aft mooring), near a group of large (40’ +) sailing boats who were all moored together in a group, this was short-lived, as one by one they departed. We launched our dinghy (no engine this time) and rowed ashore to the nearby landing pontoon.
The town is quite attractive with brightly painted houses and felt open to visitors, despite being a bit out of season now. The rain came in quite substantial showers, so we were feeling a bit damp and came back on board to have a bite to eat for lunch (we had disposed of the de-frosted lettuce – no longer on the menu)!
Our options were to stay put or to go SW to Le Palais (which we had visited earlier in the summer), We looked at the weather forecast. TBH, neither of us relished the next day as stair-rod type rain was forecast, and being in a port would be preferable.
We cast off from Sauzon and motored down to Le Palais – only three miles – and picked up a waiting buoy outside the harbour. Yes, I did the laying down on the deck to thread the rope through the eye on the top of the mooring buoy. The swell of the sea was a bit uncomfortable and we called up on Ch. 09 to the port (this is the same channel that all the ports use – makes it easier to remember). A ferry had just come out, and other sailing vessels were also making an exit. “Please wait (attendez)” was the request. Another ferry is arriving…. As it was – but also several other yachts just went in – no request on the radio from them. Well, life is unfair (said my grandma once to me – “the sooner you understand that, the better you’ll get on in life” – she was right, of course!).
So we waited, and eventually it was our turn to go in, only to be greeted with no way forward, the lock-keeper had lowered the footbridge to allow pedestrians across the river. We circled in the inner harbour for a little while and then the bridge lifted and the light went green, time for us to go in.
The Dory girl from the Capitainerie showed us our place (which seemed a bit tight to get into, but in fact it was good and we were right onto a pontoon (rather than alongside another boat). The weather continued to be rainy, which is actually OK, as everywhere is desperate for rain in this terrible summer of drought; so we put up two sides of our cockpit tent which attaches at the front to our sprayhood.
We looked to see where the wind (and consequently the rain) would be coming from – NE direction and put on the rear and starboard side panels.
After a bite to eat for lunch, we made a plan to go out for a cycle ride to the other side of the island. Off we went – Belle Île is quite a high island, so if you’re on the coast, you have to ascend. Thank goodness for our electric bikes! There wasn’t much traffic about and headed out to the Goulphar Lighthouse and then down a very wet and puddled track (very difficult to cycle on!) to Port Coton on the SW coast of the island to see the Les Aiguilles de Port-Coton or the needles of Port Coton – once famously painted by the artist Monet.
This part of the coast is called Cote Sauvage – the wild cost. Once there, I donned my waterproof against the wind to investigate the rugged rocks and steep granite cliffs. These are quite scary as the drop is about 30’ down very hard rock. The sea swirls below and the waves crash against the stone – very impressive and awesome.
This part of the coast was also home to a radar station, from inside this concrete-bunker type building – now covered with graffiti! The whole trip was a windy affair, but the rain had abated and the cycle back seemed a more direct route.
The lock timetable.
Approaching the little, unassuming harbour, we were very much hoping to get a pontoon berth (19 in total), but they were all taken so no-can-do; instead we hooked up onto one of the visitors mooring buoys (back down, flat on the deck, picked it up straight away – professional job)!
After lunch, we launched the dinghy and I rowed to the closest landing jetty which comprised interlocking plastic blocks, clipped together (very difficult to walk elegantly across – but I guess no one was looking), which lead us to the shore. Once booked in with the charming lady in the Capitainerie, we had a very welcome shower.
Here is the island’s church – being given a fresh lick of paint! Hoëdic is a real gem of a place and a very small island – possibly even smaller than Herm in the Channel Islands and only has 100 regular residents (apparently this figure rises to 3,000 in the summer months) and consequently, the place was very quiet with few folk around – the only food shop, boulangerie and bar were all closed. We had a good wander about – they obviously like to play Petang!
The island information told us that this island is a car-free place (although we did see tractors and one van) – mostly people walk, cycle or use hand-carts to transport things. Back on board we hunkered down for the evening & Bob made a delicious dinner:
Indeed that was true if you were looking at the ship’s chronometer (clock), which reads BST and an hour before the actual French time. Oh good think I to myself, I don’t need to hurry, I can read another chapter of my book (The Touch by Colleen McCullough – famous author of The Thorn Birds). After my chapter was up, I eased myself out of bed. Bob had gone off on his bike into town to buy bread and a Pain au Raisin. Then I realised how late it actually was – eeek! Quick breakfast ensued and take the rubbish up to the Capitainerie, where you have to ask for a key to put it into the bin! The sailing school were setting up with catamarans and about 30 eager students bundled into the changing rooms to get ready for their day. This is a school day, right?
Then we were off at 0940; really no wind to speak of but this was exactly the right time to leave the Morbihan as we were leaving as the tide emptied the place out. I love helming in this situation as you get the rush from the tide which whooshes you down and much of time we were going along at 9knots – which is fast for us. The fastest was a whooping 11.6knots! It took just under an hour to reach the entrance and then we were out to sea!
Passing Port Navalo
Suddenly the unusual looking Phare de la Teignouse (lighthouse) was in our sight and we decided that rather than Haliguen, we should go to Le Palais, Belle Ile, despite having to wait for the tide to get in – the sailing was just perfect. That was until the wind died… and die it did to virtually nothing. Humph! Back to plan A, Haliguen, here we come!
We crossed the sill into the inner-harbour, close to all the amenities and tied up. A bit later we had our bikes out and went towards the southerly most tip of the peninsula, past the little airfield and then found a beach to sit on out of the wind for a little while; yes a nice wind that could have taken us over to Belle Ile. Hey ho, we were here now! Our return to the boat went via the local supermarket, where the fish counter took our eye. Monsieur Poissonier was a very skilful filleter of fish and we watched him in awe while we waited our turn at the counter. We asked for a selection of oysters, bulots and crevettes for our supper and found a cold bottle of prosecco.
Back onboard, we relaxed into our evening; newly found were these encased ice cubes to cool the G&T, which we store in a little slim plastic box in the coolest part of the fridge. We had, of course, turned the fridge up to get the right temperature for ice. The trouble was, now the lettuce was also frozen!
We left Le Bono just as the sun was rising and made our way back towards the main part of the Morbihan; a leisurely journey under motor (no wind) and as it was low water we were careful of our course.
Îl D’Arz (NOT Arse!!!)
Well – we just love a job and do a spot of problem solving (not)! Bob said it was a faulty connection and it seemed to be fixed. Good.
After a while we dinghied ashore to the little slip way about 500m away, tied up the dinghy and took our rubbish ashore – but alas no pou-belles (dustbins) here, even when we asked in the village, so they were put back on the dinghy.
We strolled up through the pretty and streets of Le Bourg – the village – really nothing much was going on here and even the shop was shut. Monica, Steve and I wanted to explore the southern most tip of the island – it was a hot walk and at the end we found the dolmen marked on the map – it was all dishevelled, so a bit disappointing. After our walk back into town we came across Bob who we had left sitting under a tree, so we went to find a bar – what’s not to like?!
Later in the afternoon we headed over to Arradon – a tiny port that looked rather unlikely to get in. How wrong we were – even Jenny Wren who draws 1.8m had plenty of depth. Our approach into port was a bit fraught, not least because of the multitude of fishermen (mostly men) and women on the pontoons where sailors wish to arrive. There are only about 10 pontoon spaces here so we were lucky to get in.
The freeboard from Boni to the pontoon was high, so “The Granny Step” came out (except it had a tendency for launching itself into the drink, due to the amount of wash that went past!)
The capitainerie was a 5 minute walk away right next to a busy sailing school and beach. We stopped off at the local bar/restaurant for a drink and booked a table for dinner that evening at L’Abri-Cotier – and what a lovely meal we had later on! Here are some of the dishes we enjoyed:
It’s interesting doing the shopping in this way as you have to have enough capacity to carry what you buy back on your bike, so we chose one of those tall run-along shopping baskets rather than a trolly. Only the baguette and the leek were too long to fit into the bike bag – both got folded in half! Back through the town, the funeral had started and a few people stood outside – L’Eglise de St Pierre is a big church, but maybe they couldn’t quite fit them all in?
We had a relaxed afternoon, reading and then a bit later went out on the bikes to explore the Pt de Arradon (which really wasn’t very far) and the local Oyster shack, where they sell oysters and / you can have a lunch or supper – exclusively sea-food (& it looked yummy!) After we decided to get the washing done, but interspersed with a swim as the beach is right by the Capitainerie. Only €4 and wash and €2 for a 30 min drying session. After a shower, and waiting for drying, we had a quick drink in the local bar and wrote some postcards.
How about this for a “des-res”?!
On we went, down the quiet, beautiful river to turn left to another tributary to a place called Le Bono, the river being also called the Riviere du Bono. This was a motor trip (no wind) and took about an hour. Here we are approaching the much taller bridge at Le Bono.
A bit later, we dinghied into town. This place reminded me very much of a Cornish style harbour and village, a bit like Mousehole in Cornwall, although this was much smaller. It was very quiet. All bars and restaurants were closed, as was the Boulangerie, although there was a general store that was open.
and in town – a lutherie – mostly guitars I think.
We walked a little way – some forested paths led us back to the river shoreline and I picked up a super-big pine cone. I collect a pine cone every year from my holidays and this one is a whooper and will be added to my basket of pine cones at home.
Bob’s watch was reading 7 minutes late (which I find odd for a digital watch that is meant to be synced to all the other digital stuff he has) – so I watched Jenny Wren departing at 0800; we were about 15 minutes behind.
What seemed like an innocuous morning, with very light winds in harbour, couldn’t have been further from the truth once we got out to sea.
As we departed from La Trinité Sur Mer the sun was rising and the fishermen were out in their boats amongst the Withey sticks (the passage out of La Trinité Sur Mer is exacting and quite narrow).
Bob wanted to go to Auray for a while and today was the day! Auray has a bridge with air draft (height to you and me) of 14m at highwater and Boni’s mast head comes up to 14.1m (including the aerial) so we should be fine. We sailed out around Méaban – perfect conditions being a SW 3 -4 for our 17 mile trip and we managed to sail most of the way up to Auray – taking the sails down for only the last 20 minutes of so.
Bagnen Hir – Easterly Cardinal marker prior to entering the Morbihan
Then it was our turn, the water marker to our Port side said that the air draft was 15m – all fine to go ahead. Meantime, there’s plenty to worry about as one goes under a bridge with this little space above you – I didn’t take any photos as it all felt a bit crazy. Anyway – we got underneath with what appeared about 50 cms to spare – eeek! The Capitinairie man showed us to our berth which was opposite a charming house.
After a spot of lunch we met up with Monica and Steve and walked into town. We had landed on the St Goustan side of Auray – the town proper was over the Pont-Neuf bridge and up the hill.
St Goustan had a port municipal area with bars and restaurants around, what looked like some demented teddy bears sitting in amongst and at the windows (why? – I have no idea)! Essentially it is a very small harbour with little water in at low tide and the whole place is old, with timbered buildings from 16th to 18th centuries. History notes that the American Benjamin Franklin arrived here in 1776 to meet Louis XVI and seek military help from him to support the US War of Independence.
The side streets
The river Loch is crossed by a bridge which has had a tremendous history all marked out on information boards as you cross – the bridge having been built and re-built several times.
Once across the river we climbed to the main square where a Wedding had been going on in the Hôtel de Ville – Monica explained to me that all marriages have to happen in the town hall in France, not in church; but it is also common to go into church straight after to have a celebratory service.
We came across several artisan shops (I’m always interested to see what craft work is on sale and for how much!) and a truly wonderful DIY store, which we had to prise Bob and Steve out of! We made our way back to the water via the ramparts of the fortifications – a fabulous view of the river and the bridge.
Roasted Camenbert with honey – a starter that was truly too big for one – I was very happy to share it!
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.
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!
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.
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.
Little lifeboat!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
We awoke to a mysterious looking mist over the river and got ourselves into gear.
Very good food and a band playing outside – including a guy playing a chanter (folk/pipe without the bags is about the only way I could describe it – very loud!)
We popped over to say our goodbyes to Paul and Elaine and departed just after noon to travel back down the beautiful Vilaine passing a party playing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” – the Bobby McFerrin song.
Looking back at La Roche Bernard
This is the all-important water treatment plant just before you get to Arzal. Not much traffic on the river and we arrived at Arzal on the waiting pontoon just before 1400. Beautiful weather, a very slight NE breeze. After a bite to eat for lunch – salad and prawns – we thought we would have a little reconnoitre.
Arrival at the lock… with the dredging boat ahead.
Here we are courtesy of the Webcam