Back to France - doing the North, West and South Brittany Coasts

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North Brittany to South Brittany via the Channel du Four and the Raz de Sein.

We left Guernsey on the 18th of June and had planned to sail down to St Quay as it offers all weather and tide access and we thought it was going to be a pretty easy place to hit the coast and then make our way along the North Brittany coast to West and then South Brittany. We had thought about going to St Malo which was further east but were a bit reticent for some reason, not quite sure why as we had been told by so many people how nice it was. I guess one of the main reasons was that St Quay was going to be a lot less distance to cover for Luke on his first ever day at sea on a yacht and we wanted to make sure he was going to be ok.

Well the conditions were very calm and there was not much wind so, like so many passages we had undertaken, we did a combination of sailing and motor sailing on our way south. About two thirds of the way down we decided to alter course and head for St Malo. Everyone was having a great time on board, we were motor sailing under the main sail only and we were all sitting up on the bow section of the boat, sitting in the sun and chatting away, letting the auto pilot do all the work for us.

We arrived in St Malo that evening and Luke covered 78 miles on his first day and not only that but he also sailed to another country - not a bad first entry for his log. St Malo is one of those very old walled cities that dot Europe and our marina was about a half hour walk from the main part of the town. One of the main reasons we, especially Debs wanted to got to St Malo was to try and make it our to Mont St Michel, the famous abbey built on a rock that you see on so many tourist publications throughout the world promoting France and in particular this part of the coast.

We spent the first day wondering around St Malo and in the area surround the marina finding some beautiful little bays and promenades along the way. We found out we could catch a couple of buses to Mont St Michel and as the younger generation were not feeling enthused about the length of the bus trip and some coughs and colds that were not improving, they decided to have a day on board while Debs and I donned our tourist caps and headed off for our two our bus trip to the Abbey.

Mont St Michel was simply incredible, hundreds and hundreds of year’s old, incredible buildings, both historically and architecturally and it was, for me not being a church goer of any description, a truly holy place and it is no wonder that so many hundreds of thousands of people make a pilgrimage to visit it each year. We were able to witness a mass take place while we were there and just to sit and listen to the nuns and monks singing in the chapel was a pretty moving experience.

We left St Malo on Sunday the 21st of June, heading for St Quay again. It was father’s day in France and Debs and I got up very early with the intention of making our way to St Quay with the tide, making good time and then spending the rest of the day relaxing in this up market town on the coast. Well as it turned out, the conditions were fantastic and I was enjoying the sailing so much we decided to by pass St Quay again and head around to the village of Lezardrieux which was a few miles up a river from the coast.

We had the tide with us, we had about ten knots of wind, no swell and it was the epitome of the term champagne sailing. We made the 66 mile passage in really good time and got to the marina just as the tide was starting to make its impression. We had been warned that we needed to be berthed up before the full force of the tide became evident as the water simply poured through the pontoons like a fast flowing river. We berthed up safe and sound and added extra lines to make sure we weren’t going anywhere. The tides were coming up to springs and this meant a tidal difference of about 9 metres and high tides of close to 11 metres. Our informants were right; the flood tide was just that, it absolutely flooded in.

How terrifying this phenomenon could be was soon to become very evident as the next afternoon we were watching a yacht coming up the river, the crew putting their fenders out and it was obvious they were planning on coming in and trying to berth up, right next to our boat. It was absolute lunacy as their boat was just being carried along like a cork in a rapid and there was no way they could control it. I thought they were going to take out the front of our boat as they turned side on to the tide and the tide just carried them straight onto the end of the pontoon and they crashed side onto the big pontoon pylon. There were three crew on board, all French and were not spring chickens.

The boat was stuck fast and there were horrible grinding and crunching noises. I thought for sure the boat was at serious risk of cracking and breaking apart and thanks to the big bloke upstairs, the boat came free and instead of going forward and crashing into our boat, the boat went backwards, just missed another berthed boat and limped over to a visitors waiting pontoon that is set up specifically to let people berth up and then come over to the marina when the tidal flow has stopped sufficiently. They didn’t stay long and headed off and we head from another yachtie that they had put some serious cracks in their hull. A terrible tragedy that I think was caused by a simple misunderstanding of the power of the forces of the tide.

From that time we stayed on board watching boats like hawks as they came up the river. We and the next boat across from us strung a big line with towels across it to prevent any further attempts at madness to come into this berth with this much tidal flow. If it had not been so dangerous it could have been quite funny watching the boats come up and get tossed around and we spent a few nervous afternoons and evenings hoping that no other boats were damaged or worse still, people being injured.

Lezardrieux was a really nice place to stay apart from those dramas and one afternoon Debs and I jumped on the treadlies and headed over to another coastal village called Paimpol for a look around and whilst it was only 10 k’s over and back it was just great to be back on the bikes heading across French countryside.

We had thought about going over to the next river system and berthing up at a village called Treguier but as we were advised that the tidal flow was worse and far more dangerous than Lezardrieux we decided the risk to the boat was not worth it and decided on Treburden was going to be our next port of call. Our aim was to be though the Chenal du Four either the following Monday or Tuesday as that was going to be the best time with the tides in our favour and we wanted to be in a marina at L’aber W’rach a day or two before that as a good jump off point. That meant either a really long trip straight to L’aber W’rach or making way to Treburden and then onto L’aber W’rach.

We decided on Treburden and headed off on Thursday the 25th of June leaving about 10.00am to catch the outgoing tide and hook up with the west going tide to take us all the way to Treburden where we arrived about 3.30 in the afternoon, covering the 38 miles very comfortably until near the end of the trip when a pretty unpleasant storm was looming and it started to )^#@ down with rain. We had to tie up to waiting moorings for the sill to have enough water over it and as it turned out there was just enough water under the boat on the mooring at low water. We dried out and got over the sill and into the marina.

Treburden is quite a nice place and we did lots of walking, took some time out on the beach and just chilled for a couple of days. Debs and I took a long hike one afternoon about 3 k’s to the supermarket to stock up, which we did and were preparing to do our usual pack horse routine of carrying all the gear back to the boat in backpacks and big shopping bags when we had the fortune to meet a French lady named Christel and her young daughter Lily Rose. When we first spoke to Christel she spoke beautiful English but with a very strong Irish accent. It turned out her husband was Irish and she had no doubt inherited his accent. She and Lily Rose offered us a ride back to the boat in their car which was gratefully accepted of course, saving us the back breaking trip. Christel and her family were heading off to Greece the next day which was a real shame because I am sure our families would have had a great time together. Christel is a long haul hostie with Air France and whilst not having flown to Australia before was very keen to find out all about where we were from and what our lives were like.

We left there on the 27th and headed for L’Aber W’rach being told that we might run into a few yachts on a race from the Helford River in the Cornwall area to L’aber W’rach. Our passage was nearly 60 miles and we started for formulate and fine tune our watch system which we envisage will have plenty of use in the forthcoming months. The basic watch system worked and is working really well and makes the trips more interesting for everyone as everyone gets involved, takes charge of the boat and learns more and more about the boat and how things run. We had a great run down to L’aber W’rach and when we turned the corner to the near the marina there were boats, burgees of all descriptions, bag pipes playing and people everywhere. It turned out there were 75 entrants in the race and as it was the 50th anniversary of the race, everyone was in party mode.

The race was developed on the actives of the Special Forces in the Second World War who would sail over to this part of the coast with arms and supplies for the resistance and take back air crew who had been rescued and hidden by them.

We were directed by the harbour master to raft up to another boat and it turned out to be Songbird, a sister Hanse 470 owned by Phil and Di Giles who we had met at the Hamble when we took over Sunboy. It was great to catch up with Phil, he had entered the race with a few mates for a bit of a boys weekend away and we had a few good yarns about the boats and how we were going with them.

We also met a really lovely Aussie lady, Cathy Ferguson who lives on the Sunshine Coast who had been over doing some sailing with her English boyfriend and we enjoyed having a good old chat and a couple of drinks with them one afternoon. Cath told us that she had seen us come past in the marina and she was so excited about seeing a yacht flying the aussie flag she was calling out Aussie, Aussie, Aussie but obviously we couldn’t hear her due to all the shore based activities and celebrations that were going on. I guess we would have been pretty excited too because we have not seen one other Aussie boat yet.

The weather window was showing that Monday was going to be the day we were to head through the Chenal du Four which has the potential to cause ones boat some very serious harm if the weather conditions are not right. It was another of those motor sailing days and the trip was taken without incident and we arrived in Camaret about 4.30 on the 29th. The harbour was just below an old fort and church built some hundreds of years ago and the town was a bit touristy along the harbour promenade with heaps and heaps of restaurants and ice creameries. The sad thing is that eating out is just prohibitive for us in France, everything is just so expensive and even to go out and have a pizza meal would set us back about $150.00. We do have our little ice cream treats every now and again but even they are about $6.00 or so a hit. As such, we enjoy getting to the bigger supermarkets and stocking up so we can eat well on the boat. We had a bit of a splurge the other night and orders were given for steak eggs and chips so that is what we had and it was excellent.

Luke was getting a tad desperate to do some fishing and we spent some time over at the chandlery stocking up on the rigs they use in this area so we could try our hand at catching some mackerel. The time had come to start getting the anchoring worked out so our second night was spent at anchor in a nice bay just to the north of the marina.

Another passage had to be made through another potentially dangerous passage called the Raz de Sein, one that the pilotage books warn that can only be taken in calm seas and light winds with no wind over tide. Timing was critical as were advised that you should only go through the passage in a half hour time window at absolute slack water. Well through we went at slack water and very calm conditions and just after we got through, the water started to swirl up and got quite rough and this was in picture perfect conditions.

We then had a really nice downwind sail for about 20 miles before the wind died and we motor sailed the rest of the passage to Locturdy which the pilotage books advised had a beautiful traditional Breton Village and a magnificent beach. After the 77 mile passage, we tied up and unloaded the dinghy and outboard and headed over to the traditional Breton Village and magnificent beach, coming back deciding that we might not stay there the next day as it was not quite how the guide books had described it.

We took off very early the next morning and headed over to Benodet and St Marine where we had heard we could get some cheap moorings. St Marine looked lovely but they wanted to charge us 40 Euro a night (Summer holidays are here and prices have suddenly gone up) so as it was pouring with rain and looking pretty crappy weather wise we decided to go up the river where we are now, hooked to someone else’s mooring buoy just off this beautiful old French Chateau. The river is heavily wooded on either side and it is very quite and very peaceful. We spent the day playing monopoly, reading and researching our trip across the Bay of Biscay that we have to undertake pretty soon to get down to Spain and Portugal. The next day Debs and I got up to catch the low tide to get under the bridge and as it was pouring with rain we decided to turn around and go exploring further up the river. We motored a few miles up the river and it is simply stunning, trees of varying types come right to the water’s edge and they are so thick and so green and look completely impenetrable. All along the way there are patches of cleared land where some majestic chateau stands and for some fortunate few, there were the odd homes built right on the river’s edge. This really is an incredible place. The dropped the anchor about 7 miles upstream and Nik, Luke and I took the dinghy further up river that was too shallow for Sunboy to the city of Quimper. We wanted to reprovision and were able to find a big supermarket and re stocked and completely filled the dinghy with all sorts of food to see us out for the next week or so.

We headed back down the river and hooked back up to our borrowed mooring and feasted on some of the food we had bought earlier in the day. The trip back down the river was even better because the sun was out and it was just sensational cruising slowly back down, taking in the sights as we went along. One thing I won’t forget is the sheer thrill and excitement that the younger generation exhibited when we brought out a block of chocolate. Something that would have been totally taken for granted back home was now bringing levels of appreciation that had not been seen for years and years. One of the things that I wanted out of this trip was for our girls to have a greater appreciation of life and all things that go with it. I still remember when I was a kid and Dad brought home a block of chocolate one Sunday night. It was a cold and miserable night and we were all sitting around the little room in front of the cozy which was a heater that burnt coal. Dad brought out the bar of chocolate and we sat around and savoured every little bit of it. To see my kids treat such a simple thing in the same way was a pretty special moment for me.

We headed off the next morning, needing to refuel and get more water so we stopped at Benodet and got sufficient supplies of both. We considered staying there but decided to push on to Concarneau instead as the weather was showing it might turn a bit ansy for the next few days. It was only 16 miles across and we arrived here in the afternoon, hooked up to the pontoon and had a bit of a look around before having dinner on board. We are eating really well, lots of salads, vege, not much red meat except mince for spag bols and lots of fresh baguettes. We have a couple of little glitches to sort out and fix including re-running the third reefing line back through the boom. Double daylight saving is still playing havoc with our body clocks, seeing the sun still up at 10.30 at night is no recipe for getting people into bed at what we used to think was a reasonable time, the other side of the coin is that the sun still comes back up again a bit before 5.00am so peoples sleep patterns are changing somewhat.

The good thing about France is you can still buy really nice wine really cheaply and if you pay attention at the supermarkets you can generally buy good cheese at affordable prices as well. The amazing thing is the cost of parmesan cheese; it is off the Richter scale over here. We love the fact that we help each other prepare meals and we all sit down together to eat. Communication is absolutely essential on the boat. Of course there are times when things get very testy but the fact is, any problem on the boat just has to be sorted and that is what we do, it can be pretty tough at times but at the end of the day, we all, Luke included, work bloody hard to overcome the problems that we face and get them sorted out, I think those skills are also ones that the girls might be able carry with them as they move forward in life, hopefully so.

There is a live band playing at a bar near the entrance to the marina so I am going to stop babbling on and take Debs for a beer and listen to the music. Concarneau is a cool place. Well we went for a couple beers and listened to the French band playing rock and roll and blues covers, all in perfect English!! We had a table right at the front and it was bloody good fun. Nikki and Luke went over to the old walled city on Sunday and checked the area out, coming back with vital information about where was the best and cheapest ice cream stalls. The old walled city is actually quite small and there is one main street with the usual souvenir shops, restaurants and clothing stores. Even though it was a really nice day weather wise, it was a Sunday and also French School holidays, it wasn’t crowded at all and we took Layni over for a look around. I think Concarneau is one of the nicest places we have been to in all of Britany as far as towns are concerned and am very happy to be here for a few days. Debs has been very busy doing heaps of washing, doing all of our clothes, bedding and towels as we have heaps of water and electricity so she can wash and rinse to her hearts content. Also trying to catch up on internet needs but the wi fi at the marina is out of action so have to resort to an internet café at the moment.

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Photos

New crew on watch
Lukey Bill on his first watch

St Malo Marina
tides caused some serious movements of water in the marina and these ganways moved up and obviously down with them

St Malo marina
good for the glutes

St Malo Harbour
on the way to the old town

St Malo
On the wall around the old city

St Malo
afternoon walk around St Malo

Getting Buzzed
Got buzzed going through the raz de sein

Up river from Benodet
Now this is a river cottage

Comments

[rachael oberleuter]

at it again
glad to see u guys at it again,i just love the history lessons.hope u keep safe and have an amazing time.i may be going to england next year so i might be able to return the lessons...rachael from little sawtell....

[Inge]

Time for coffee??
Dear guys, how lovely to read your stories of your big escape.. In August we have 3 weeks holiday with the kids and we think of going to France with some friends for some weeks. Lets keep in touch those days so we maybe can catch up for a coffee or nice wine.. Big hug Inge

[Des Schuman]

GOOD TRAVEL TALE
Keep up the good story. very interesting especially with my grandson on board learning the meaning of life at sea.Thanks ...gramps

[patrick]

Rainy Europe?
Allthough it looks pretty shiny on the pictures it's not that good right now, is it? Well in Holland it's not that good but my parents have just been in the south of Spain and it was a 37 degrees overthere (what a difference!!). Your pictures look grat. I don't know that much about France but they have the greatest castles and views (as everyone now can see). Make the best of it and and enjoy your time until we'll have some mentalk sonewhere in november!!