Day 31 – Thursday 28th May
Today marked the end of this first chapter of our sailing trip to Europe (sigh). It is so interesting that you can get used to living in a small environment and now we had got used to living onboard and the sailing, it was hard to accept that we were leaving. However, ahead of us, we had a very exciting and adventurous trip home….
Our taxi driver Stephane, arrived punctually at 0750 and drove us to the (mainly commercial) airport at St Nazaire, not far from the Pont de Sainte Nazaire that is an astounding 3.8kms long! We could see this vast bridge, which spans the Loire river in the distance. And then we had a bit of a wait, but the airport was open, so a space for us to relax (and for me to do another lesson on my French Duolingo – I’m now up to day 105).
A good friend of ours, who we had known from our time in Hertfordshire, who also happens to be a pilot and owns a 6-seater Piper, offered to come and collect us from St Nazaire to fly us into Bournemouth! How lucky were we? Nigel now lives on Guernsey and he was delighted to be part of our solution to get us home (so were we!) and this was a very exciting end to our holiday. These days, the availability of technology is quite incredible and Nigel was able to let us know of his progress and what was going on for him in the air.
Everything at St Nazaire airport seemed very quiet and “Marie-Celeste”-like… however, suddenly a team of border-force officials arrived – about 6 or 7 of them! Nigel had very kindly been in touch with the authorities and submitted our paperwork to them, so we were called over and went through the biometrics – that has been 25 days out of our 180 days in Europe (thanks Brexit!).
Nigel texted to say that he was in a holding pattern for landing – but no other plane was apparent. This is like the three buses syndrome – first to land was a massive Airbus transporter plane which takes the Airbus wings from France to Germany – it looks rather like a plane-whale! Next another little plane was taking off and then Nigel landed his plane: N101DW and taxied to the waiting area where he could park
Nigel came into the airport building, flashed his passport at the Douanes and then we were good to go.
Our bags were stowed and we donned lifejackets, which are required by the regulations. I was lucky enough to be in the co-pilot’s seat, next to Nigel and this whole experience was fascinating. Not only was Nigel able to communicate with the various air-traffic controllers (ATC) -there are several different ones en route, as then hand over from one bit of airspace to another, but he was able to explain to us about what was going on and what he was doing.
Several screens and instruments behold upon the dashboard and our own conversations were interrupted as Nigel needed to talk to ATC. After a smooth take-off we ran parallel with the The Loire for a short while, climbing all the time and then gradually turning northwards; we were going to be flying at 9,000 feet! The visibility was a bit hazy, so my photos aren’t brilliant. 
Take off near the Loire River
First landmark of note was Mont St Michel and St Malo
Then we flew up the western edge of the Cherbourg peninsular and could see Carteret really well and then Cherbourg.
After a while we crossed the Channel and could see the Isle of Wight and the Needles; by this time we were already beginning to come down in altitude and we turned towards Poole and over Upton to make our final approaches into Bournemouth airport where we landed and taxi-ed to Bliss Aviation (what a lovely name!) and that was the end of our trip with Nigel.
Approaching Poole and over Upton:
I cannot tell you how fabulous it was, so interesting, so tremendously exciting – something that will live long in my memory – massive thanks to Nigel!
We were greeted by a taxi, which took us home.
Thank goodness for the coolness of the sea and a beach; Monica and Steve had gone ahead of us, and by the time we reached the beach we were pretty desperate for a cool dip which was more welcome than I can say!
Our wander back through town I spied this pretty lace-type window netting – the Bretons are rather clever at producing this although one never sees it on sale, so it must be handmade.
After this, we had to get going, so said our farewells to Steve and Monica, who are going back into the Morbihan to join a Cruising Association rally at the weekend. The wind was light and we managed to sail for about half an hour – but it really wasn’t enough, so the sails were rolled up and we motored to the mouth of the Vilaine River. The tide was going in with us, so that helped and we had booked to get through the 1400 lock at Arzal.
The other boats were not allowed in, so we had to tow the line and hang about for about 15 minutes: it was swelteringly hot and frankly we were a bit anxious that we wouldn’t get in and would have to wait for the next lock at 1600, in two hours time. However, the bridge ahead of the lock went up; the boats that were already in the lock all moved forward and then we were able to get in; people don’t behave very well in these circumstances – quite a bit of shouting and at one point the boat in front of us was reversing at the same time that the boat behind us was coming swiftly towards us. A bit more shouting – some from the lock-keeper – but then thankfully the lock gates closed behind us and the water rose. The lock was filled with fresh water from the river and then the front gates opened and we were released into the next portion of the river.
Looking forwards in the lock
Looking back at Arzal
Today the focus was on the washing, as we didn’t want to bring this home and the Capitainerie informed us that we could use the Laverie in the local Camping Site – about 5 minutes walk away. This was fine, but it took most of the day with the washing and the drying. We dried our sheets over the 
boom and several items over the rails of the boat.
We also had to secure our taxi ride to St Nazaire Airport as one of our friends had offered to fly us back to Bournemouth. This was more tricky than you might think. We hadn’t given the taxi firm much notice, but I think he was very keen to do the job – a 1.5 hour round trip for him as this airport is only 45minutes away. I was relieved that he could take us, but this meant a much earlier start, leaving La Roche Bernard at 0750; oh – and could we pay cash please?! This meant a trek into town (which is up a bit of a hill) – the first ATM we got to – was out of order. This was inside an air-conditioned room – so I left Bob in there to cool off and found the next machine which wasn’t far away. On my way round town I encountered a very pretty lacy window featuring lighthouses – very clever!
There wasn’t much time to explore La Roche Bernard, but on the way back I clambered to the top of the famous rock upon which the town is named after a Viking named Bern-hart. The views from the top looking over the river were spectacular! And here is one of two canon which are perched on top! 
I was keen to see the Menhirs at Cromlech de Kergonan which date back to 3,500BC, made up of 26 standing stones arranged in a horseshoe. It remains a mystery as to why they are situated in this configuration. Here is the stone that is purportedly “The Monk” who was turned into stone and this is why the island is named after the Monk (Moine) Iles Aux Moines – as far as we could see there was no Abbey. There several other Menhirs around the island, but this is the biggest and most impressive collection; there are also many other standing stones and stone circles around in Brittany. 
Soon we were entering the busy port, but the Capitainerie were not answering on Channel 09 (the proper channel call) – wait – isn’t it lunchtime ‘til about 1500?! Meanwhile it was evident that there was some rally or other going on and we would NOT be allowed to moor on what looked like a lot of tempting empty pontoons. Crouesty has six yacht basins – you wouldn’t think it would be a problem, but the place was jammed-packed. We found a little slot, and checked in with them later – luckily, this was OK!
Bob chose the camembert avec miel (honey) as a dessert!
We got up pretty early on Sunday morning and enjoyed the cool, refreshing breeze – billed by the forecast as NE 6 – 9 knots of wind (F3) – but by the time we were en route it was more like 12 – 15 knots, which was in our favour. We departed Crouesty about 0800 (I hope not to return there any time soon) and were happy to raised the sails, turn off the engine and enjoy the sail to Piriac. This was a 17 mile trip and we made the most of the wind and being on deck without all the layers of clothes – summer has arrived here at last and the most important coverings were suncream and hat!
Piriac is a pretty little port, approaches are clearly marked with cardinal buoys, then one red (to port or left) and green (to starboard or right) buoy towards a narrow entrance with a sill, that keeps the water in the harbour when the tide goes out. We found a berth on the “visiteurs” pontoon E and tied up. Monica and Steve weren’t far behind us in Jenny Wren and were able to moored on the same pontoon. We had a lazy afternoon and went to the beach for a swim, although it was too windy to sit in the shade of our parasols as they kept blowing away! The swim was the most refreshing thing, despite having to walk across the sea-weedy beach and we stayed in the water for a while.
We visited L’ Eglise du Christ-Roi ou Saint-Geran – another beautiful church with some fabulous stained glass windows. The church sits on the edge of a little square, with the Mairie (Town Hall) and a rather nice hotel. After a bit of shopping (food) we sat in the lee of the wind, on the beach – the westerly wind still very gusty at 25knts and then went for a coffee.
Villa Henri – quite a nice pad!
The wind was mostly abaft (behind) the beam and we shot along on the surf, with some quite big waves (probably 2.5 – 3m) in gybe-mode – what a thrilling sail, passing La Phare de la Teignouse (lighthouse) – rather unusual looking I thought and a Square-rigged Tall Ship which was anchored in the bay and we seemed to be back in port in no time. 
Wednesday dawned on the misty/murky side of things, including a spot of rain. After a quick trip into town to the Super Marché, about 10 mins walk away, we were ready to set sail again to another out-lying island – Ile de Houat .
Another sailing school – the French have their priorities right!
Approaching Ile D’Houat.
The gentle WSW wind of 10-12 knots sped us along nicely. Houat is a delightful and tiny island with only about 230 inhabitants. We decided to go into the harbour – moored up next to an old fishing smack from Maldon(!) and booked in at the Capitainerie – I had to try hard with my French here as they had little English, and Bob trying to explain things in English with his French accent didn’t quite cut it! Internet connectivity here was wanting, although it didn’t matter too much apart from not being able to easily communicate with our fellow sailors. We got the bikes out and had a good cycle over the island, stopping at this amazing beach and we watched a Swiss boat which was beached, get off the sands – took a bit of doing! Edelweiss was anchored here as they enjoyed some paddle-boarding and swimming (still pretty nippy I think). There is little going on on Houat – no agriculture – just fishing and tourism. 
Got the anchor down, all settled and a good evening of eating, drinking, chatting and laughter! 
Next morning – Thursday – after a rolly-poly night, we decided to leave just after 0730 in company with Jenny Wren – however, the windlass was not co-operating and it was upon me to heave up all 40 metres of chain. Got it on board and we had a delightful, light-wind sail (NE 11 knots) into the Morbihan.
The Golfe du Morbihan is Brittany’s answer to Swallows and Amazons, but probably on a larger scale, with many islands and very picturesque. There is a tidal gate at the entrance, so it’s important to arrive when the tide floods in, which is what we did. The tide took us along (2 – 3 knots), and the waters around us looked ruffled as the tide disturbed.
We tied up on the non-walk ashore pontoon on the north-westerly side of the Ile Aux Moines (island of the monks). Today it became much warmer and out came the sandals, shorts, suncream and sunhat – at last!
Le Bourg – main town on Iles aux Moines
Later we watched Edelweiss come in, kind of a bit sideways, which is what happens in the rip of the tides. But with nothing untoward; the crew were soon ashore and we met up for a meal together – more delicious cuisine!
Goodbye to Sainte Marine – take a close look… is that a church or a lighthouse?!
Later we hosted a shared dinner on board Boni; Monica supplied an impressive bar for Kir-style appreitifs with Cremant and homemade mackerel pate starter. Bob’s chicken and vegetable curries went down well (despite the heat on the veg) and Shaun and Nick supplied the most stunning Tarte Framboise that I have seen in a long time – it didn’t disappoint! (Are you beginning to get the idea that these cruises are not just about the sailing?!) 
The evening concluded with a bluffing (lying) dice game called Perudo and Shaun secured victory just after his new crew arrived.
We arrived at Port Tudy at 1530; there were no spaces on the visitor berths (pontoons) inside the small marina, so the fun started…. Mooring was on trots – single line attached to a forward buoy and another to an aft-wards buoy; and then more boats arrive…. and everyone has to have someone, or two, or three other boats rafted-up alongside… all on the same mooring buoys, all tied up for’d and aft. More boats arrive, more shouting – ooh la la! Monsieur – quest que tu fait?! Attention, attention (you get the picture?) In the meantime the ferry arrives or departs every hour or so, spinning itself in a very restricted space and letting off three short blasts to warn everyone it is about to move backwards. Three short blasts are all part of the international collision regulations (known as ColRegs) meaning that a boat/ship is about to go astern – in such a small, busy harbour, this was all very dramatic! 
Bob and I paddled ashore in our dinghy against the 25knot wind – it wasn’t far, but it was seriously hard work! After all the necessaries – booking in, showers and a bit of a reconnoitre, we came back to Boni – a second trip ashore we got the outboard engine out and found the proper pontoon place to land. We ate out with the crews from the other boats in a local restaurant.
The rest of the day was spent out on the bikes and a great way to explore this island on our E-bikes together with everyone. Ile de Groix is a quiet and charming isle with a mixture of tarmac roads and off-road tracks (which hard work for us on our little bikes) but very enjoyable. There is so little traffic, so it makes a massive difference to the cycling experience. Here we are at Pen Men Light and later at Sables Rouge. 
Adieu to Port Tudy and we are off to the next island called Belle Ile, which is about 22 nautical miles. Guess what – wind? Yes – Nor’westerly still blowing 13-19 knots, so a great sail with very little motoring (only to get in and out of port).
There was time for a bit of knitting; but one also has to keep a watch (always) especially for one of our favourite pastimes: Spot the Pot – this is avoid all the little buoys that the fishermen put out and some are very well marked – brightly coloured or even flagged and some are very indistinct. We employ Izzy (self-steering gear) for much of the time, but she is blind and doesn’t know about pots or oncoming sailing boats.
As we approached Le Palais the harbour-master comes to greet us in his RIB and we explain that we wish to use the fuel berth. It is a rising tide and enough water for us to do this, so we come alongside what is the slip-way – fuel is above this at the end. Do you ever encounter a dry mouth, when things are a little bit unknown and potentially hazardous? Well, this was one of those moments for me: a bit of a swell, coming up alongside a wall, very shallow – what do we hang on to, etc. etc? And then there is the business of selecting the correct pump Gazole for boating types like us (the fishermen get cheaper fuel), pass the pump down to Bob – pull out the heavy hose – don’t splash diesel everywhere… Once all done, reverse without scraping the side of your boat along the side of the slipway (why is the fender never in the right place?) – well we didn’t scrape so that was OK. 
Coastal sailing takes into consideration what are known as tidal gates – where the tides run faster, usually running around a corner or between islands (or both) – you may have heard of the Portland Race which runs around the tip of Portland Bill or the Alderney Race (between the French mainland and Alderney). The Raz de Sein is the stretch of water between the outlying islands of the Ile de Sein (pictured) and the Pointe de Raz on the mainland. It is clearly marked by two very distinctive lighthouses: La Petite Vielle (smaller) and La Vielle (the old lady) – and very handsome she is! 
We had a great sail to get to the Raz, and went through on slack water, closely followed by the Brittany Ferry Service from Plymouth to Santander. And here is our track around the corner:
This became a bit of palaver, so we took it all off and continued on our way. After a while we decided to motor-sail, to make better progress and eventually we came along to the small tower named Men Hir (I saw no men!) but we did have many porpoises come and play on our bow waves – always a delight to see. Some of the sailing included “Goose-winging” (a sail on either side as pictured) – I love this way of running before the wind; it is balletic and requires spot on helming, anticipating the surf and the way in which the waves affect the movement of the boat.
Day 16 – a quiet day in Sainte Marine, as I was not well in the night (enough said – you don’t want to hear the details!) So we had a slow stroll into town, the market was on and then we popped into the beautiful and small chapelle de Sainte Marine, which has some absolutely stunning stained glass windows!
The day dawned bright and we had slept so well as the storm had gone – yesss! Ouessant was bathed in the early morning sunshine as we made our way out of the Baie and turn towards the mainland. This is not as easy as it might sound as there are many rocks in this area and navigation has to be done precisely. For once the NE wind gusting only up to 23 knots was absolutely in our favour and we only ran the engine for less than 10 minutes at the beginning of our journey and for only about 30 minutes at the end.
On arrival at Camaret, after re-fuelling, we came into the Port Vauban Marina (named after the large Vauban Fort). A dredger was busily working amongst the pontoons, pirouetting around, and it continued it’s noisy work for the rest of the afternoon.
After a quick lunch, we went and checked in with the Port and then hot-footed made for the showers. They were in rather temporary looking cabins and weren’t the best facilities that we had encountered, but they were a hot shower – I was thankful for that!
Our next objective was the Baie de Lampaul, the SW sector of the Isalnd of Ushant or Ouessant (pronounced “way-son”) which is all part the of the westerly part of Brittany, known as Finnisterre (Finnis = end, terre= earth) – so the end of the earth. We motor-sailed, but the wind was disappointing, approaching the island from the NW arriving in the Baie at 1555, attaching to one of the many free mooring buoys. 
We had a little explore of the local town and booked ourselves dinner.
After a few jobs: checking the engine – one of the belts was a bit slack, so we tightened that up – cleaning the heads, pumping up the dinghy etc., we came ashore: a small VE celebratory ceremony was occurring at the local Marie (Town Hall) with important folk dressed in their uniform. But we went on to find the best deal on electric bikes (bringing our own ashore was not an option here – to ambitious/risky on transfer). Half a day’s hire was 17 Euros and these were excellent mountain e-bikes. We soon cycled to the top of the island (only about 4.5km) to Port Ligoudou and then onto Stiff to see the lighthouse – listed as an ancient monument.
I
We had booked ourselves into the Duchess Anne Hotel Restaurant for a meal and this was the most incredible Seafood Platter that we could barely finish! Did we want dessert? No way!
Before we got to turn into towards L’Aber Wrac’h, we passed the most impressive duo of lighthouses: Ile de Vierge. The second, taller one was built between 1896 – 1902 and was for a long time, the tallest lighthouse in the world, measuring an astonishing 82.5metres!
We were greeted by a flotilla of green-sailed mini-catamarans, part of the sailing school here and arrived safely into the harbour. On checking in, we asked if we could move to a different position; to do this we had to get around the rock that is in the middle of the harbour – it is well marked, but it begs the question: why build a harbour with a rock in the middle? So we found ourselves on the pontoon with fishermen and vedettes – busy and a bit smelly!
In the afternoon it brightened up so we went out for a cycle ride around the coast, ending up in the nearest small town of Landeda (up a steep hill). Sadly the church – L’eglise Saint Congar was not open; but the supermarket was, so we stocked up on a few essentials!
The actual sighting of other vessels becomes quite exciting – although the photo of this fishing boat doesn’t belie anything of that ilk! The most important thing is to keep away from these guys; one doesn’t want to fall foul of their trawled nets! Soon we encountered several ships, although this part of the English Channel doesn’t have delineated Shipping Lanes it is still essential to keep a good watch. The visibility dropped to about 2 miles, but our AIS system kept us informed of local maritime traffic.
Gradually the wind came in and we were able to sail for about 3 hours; coupled with this came the rain, so keeping wrapped up and warm was essential. I always start with several layers including my thermals on days like this and I was just about warm enough! The rain cleared after about four hours and then we were back to motor-sailing. Eventually, everything calmed down considerably and we could play a game of Scrabble (Bob was the winner this time).
Day 6 greeted us cool and grey – continuing with showers – some quite heavy. We re-fuelled and checked in with the Marina. Then we set off for the Gare Maritime to get “stamped in”. Roscoff being a ferry port, was all set up for traffic and ferry passengers/freight etc. The signs were appalling, but after a quick phone with the Douane (French Customs) we located them and presented ourselves and our “PAF” form. They took our photos and right hand finger prints (for their biometric system) and we had officially crossed the border.
Being a Sunday, time was pressing on and the shops mostly close at lunchtime, so we hot-footed it into town (only about a mile) for our stores and then decided to treat ourselves to our first French meal – such superb cooking – langoustines, hake and creme brulee, and the necessary pichet of white wine – bien sur!
On Monday we got out our new to us electric Brompton bikes – wow! These are a serious bit of kit and worked really well.
The weather was much better and we took our time to explore Roscoff which has been a seafaring centre for centuries.
