South Brittany 48 16.85N, 04 35.41W
We have now closed the circle, having left Camaret on 17th June last year to cross the Bay of Biscay. The only thing missing here is Caitlin of Argyle and the company of her crew, Bryan and Dorothy!
We left the murky waters of Royan and the Gironde Estuary on the 21st May on the first stage of our cruise north. The idea was to make good progress as the wind allowed and to take in areas which had not been visited before. There was only one problem, yes you’ve guessed it, the wind. It was blowing at a good strength this time but from the NW 99% of the time, exactly in the direction in which we needed to head. Nevertheless, we have managed to make good progress, using the occasional forecast of NE (which usually didn’t then materialise) to scurry NW, often needing eventually to motorsail or motor to make progress.
Our first stop an anchorage in the shelter of Ile de Rey near La Rochelle. The island was low lying and connected to the mainland by a spectacular 2 mile long bridge. The island itself was rather flat like the surrounding coastline and to our eyes, nothing out of the ordinary.
Our next destination, after another disappointing motorsail was the lovely little island of Ile de Yeu, the farthest of all the Brittany islands from the coast. We first anchored in a little bay on the south side where the contemplated swim was quickly abandoned when the water temperature read 15.4 degrees. We feel that we are definitely heading north! The following day we headed round to the north of the island and into the marina. We desperately needed to restock and take on fuel and water. We hired bikes in the afternoon and had a lovely tour of this little island.
Orange sands of Yeu
The weather seemed promising for the next day, with a predicted easterly wind which would be ideal for our next destination, Belle Ile. The wind dutifully blew easterly for a few hours but then swung determinedly around back to the NW. More motorsailing! At least we had the compensation of some friendly common dolphins who came to play at the bow for a while.
We had visited Belle Isle before but just had to go back as it is absolutely beautiful. We went into the main port of La Palais at first and hitched onto a visitors buoy and the harbour wall. La Palais itself is lovely with a narrow, deep harbour threading it’s way between the tall pastel coloured buildings of the little town. The mooring wasn’t great. The harbour faced N, the wind blew hard and all the visiting boats swayed bumped together on the rather inadequate moorings.
La Palais from the mooring
We moved on to Sauzon, a very picturesque little harbour 3 miles north. Here we enjoyed a lovely walk and a cycle ride to explore the inside of the island.
As the forecast continued to show N and NW winds it became apparent that we could not head towards the corner of Brittany (Point de Penmarc’h and the Raz de Sein) any time soon. We decided to have a look at the coast between Concarneau and Lorient. With a WNW forecast we set out, passing Ile de Groix on the outside and heading towards the south coast of the mainland. This time we ended up motorsailing because the wind was too light! Once again we were accompanied by several pods of common dolphins. One particular individual stayed with us for a time, regularly leaping right out of the water and landing each time with a huge splash of his tail.
For the next few days we explored the beautiful rivers and creeks of the Aven, Belon, Brigneau and Merrien. Just like south Cornwall and the Helford River, but smaller and quieter. A very typical Breton feature of these creeks was the presence of small fish stalls. We made use of these, like the French, waiting for a little fishing boat to come in, and buying the fresh catch straight away. Delicious mackerel and langoustines.
Low tide at Pont Aven, showing a bit of leg and a nice clean bottom!
Brigneau
Waiting for the catch
We had noticed a forecast of NE winds coming up so decided to make use of these and head around the Point de Penmarc’h to Audienne in order to wait for an opening to pass through the Raz de Sein, the tide through which runs at 7 knots at Springs. For the first time in months we had a fantastic sail in great winds, creaming along at 6 -7 knots in flat seas. We rounded up to anchor outside Audienne and to await an opportunity to continue through the Raz.
As we looked out the following morning we noticed “Phantom Lady” anchored behind, last seen in Las Palmas on the same pontoon as us. We hailed Mike as we sailed by after having made a spontaneous decision to continue through the Raz that morning timing our arrival perfectly with slack water. Once again we had a glorious sail in good strong winds, tacking along the coast towards Camaret. As the wind continued to blow strongly from the NE we stopped short of our destination and anchored in a sheltered bay on the south of the Crozon Peninsula for the night.
We are now in Camaret itself to restock, do the laundry and hopefully take the (at present) forecast W winds to cross the channel in a few days time, hopefully to Falmouth