Saturday 3rd October – Day 81
Piriac-sur-Mer – Pornichet
Having ascertained last evening from our friends Monica and Steve who had received the email (we still hadn’t!) and also been allocated Vannes as a winter mooring – there were restrictions there too… The lock at Vannes would be closed between 4th January and 22nd March – so what would the point be of allocating Vannes if you did want to go winter cruising? Also, the thing we were most concerned about was that the works on the Arzal Lock would indeed be finished by 26th March (last year it over-ran into May), which would seriously curtail the beginning of the season.
Bob and I chatted the whole thing through ad infinitum, looking into the extra costs, the parking of the car, the retrieving our car from La Roche Bernard & re-locating it to Piriac, the extra time that it would involve coming out again and the lack of sailing on our last few days here… we decided we would commit to the winter mooring at Vannes.
Up we got and out came the bikes; today was the day we would retrieve the car from La Roche Bernard and also this gave us the opportunity to go into the Capitinarie there to ask why we hadn’t received the email about winter moorings.
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.
It’s always heartening when you finally see a sign post for your destination!
We got to La Roche Bernard at about 1225; Bob’s bike battery was almost flat, mine still had two lights on.
After going to the Capitainerie, where they were able to re-send the email to us, we got to the car, which started on the button, so we folded up the bikes and 40 minutes later we were back in Piriac-sur-Mer and left the car in a free car park that our friend Steve told us about.
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.
High pressure clouds are always wispy and high up (Cirrus).
The high-rise flats and hotels are quite an unusual sight in France! But here, approaching Pornichet, by La Baule, there was plenty of it!
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.
Sunday 4th October – Day 82
Pornichet – Pouliguen
A lack of a shower becomes a bit serious after 2 days; so we went around to the Capitainerie. No-one was working there on a Sunday! However, there was a number to call, which I did and I asked for the code to the showers and the gates on the pontoons: 2944 (the same number for both). Relief and the shower ensued.
Back on board, we had ditched the hopeful plan of going further South to the apparently beautiful town of Pornic (looking forward at the strong Northerly winds coming up over the next few days). That will have to be on the list for next time.
Leaving Pornichet – mind that Tri-maran!
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.
Approaching Pouliguen and some very desirable properties:
As we get closer to the entrance we reel in the front sail and motor into the port. Tying up this time wasn’t my finest hour – as I was trying to lasso the cleat – trouble was, we were not close enough… ask me or Bob for further details!
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.
The weather is warm and sunny, if a little breezy, so we decide to walk into town and join the melée and find ourselves at Les Moussaillons – a very convivial little restaurant, so we treated ourselves to a meal of Moules for Bob and Caesar Salad for me, all washed down with a coffee after. We strolled back to the boat in the sunshine – 27˚ C and relaxed for the afternoon.
Here are some of the older properties in amongst the new:
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.
It was warm enough to have our supper on deck today and we sat chatting well after it went dark. (Sunset is at 1945, so getting dark by 2015).