Our last web diary came from Lorient, up the Blavet river, on 8 September. This was one of the bases for the German U-boat fleet and the submarine pens are still a grim reminder of this city's past. From there we reached down the coast and into Quiberon Bay; navigation was stressful as we negotiated many rocks and 6 knot riptides. Then we had a fast reach past Carnac, where Roland sailed in the 505 Europeans some 38 years ago!!! This brought us to Trinite sur mer. The only available dock was at the furthest point of the marina, so we rode our bikes the kilometre around to the capitaine's office. The tides all around here are enormous and at up to 6 meters it takes some getting used to. The tidal streams are also very strong at up to 9.1 knots, but luckily we did not run into these. The size of the French marinas are enormous, 75% of French yachting is done along this coast, all anchorages must be chaos in summer!!  Roland and I took our 2 bikes and rode for 2.5 hours out to the mysterious Megalithic stones, like a type of stonehenge, thousands of stones about 3ft high, set in a few straight lines, 4,500 years old or more. After staying 2 nights at the marina we motored on a glassy sea into the Golfe de Morbihan, a large inland tidal sea. This area, 50 square miles with about 60 islands, is a great cruising area, especially with a shoal draft boat. We had to get the tides right and Keir's workings were perfect as we slid into the entrance with the beginning of the flood. We were looking for the island called Er lanic, our Scottish friends Alan and Fiona's boat is named after it. We found it, and although very small and flat, it is famous for its megalithic stones marching down the middle. We found a place to anchor by Ille d'Irus, but ended up putting out two anchors, one in each direction as the tide was streaming past at over 2 knots. We took the dinghy to the nearby islands of Port Blanc, Ile Aux Moins and Arradon. We also took the dinghy an hour up the river to the medieval, moated town of Vannes, there is a bridge, a sill and a lock, and beyond it a marina, entry is only possible at high tide. The Capitaine was going to buy a kiwi flag to put up in our honour, as we were his first visiting NZ boat, but we offered to loan him a spare ensign. Roland's brother Oliver and his wife Jane would be joining us for a week, and we wanted to see whether it was possible to take Restless there. We locked in a couple of days later to enjoy market day, an open air Breton concert and do a ship clean before our new crew arrived. Vannes is on a train route to Paris, where they were visiting their son Peter and his wife Ruth. We decided it was a lovely place to start our time together.

 

 

 

 

After visiting the market, we left Redon and motored back on the Vilaine river to a quiet bend near Foleux, where we anchored very close to the river bank and the associated smells of the nearby farm. After a leisurely start on Sunday we motorsailed the 12 odd miles downstream to the diabolical Arzal lock, now only 8 boats, so a very simple descent, of about 3 metres. After another peaceful night and glorious red sunset, we set off out of the mouth of the Vilaine river and into Quiberon Bay. We had a quiet sail to Pornichet, a giant faceless marina with 1,150 berths, all full, and we tied up alongside another boat for the night. We walked around town, but it was closed (this was Monday). We had stopped at Pornichet only to break the journey, so early next morning we set off for Ile d'Yeu. A perfect day, but hardly a breath of wind, so Mr Perkins brought us the 31 miles to Port Joinville, where we wiggled our way into the tiny entrance and tied up at the visitors' marina. There is a lovely circular bay with cafes along the waterfront, very similar to St Maarten in the Caribbean.

 

We plan to sail to Spain in the next few days, and have been busy trying to learn Spanish by CD, we may have left it a little late. We have managed okay with our French, but between us we have a couple of dozen words: adios amigos is perhaps not very useful. Gazpacho and Paella maybe a bit more useful. There is a gale forecast, so we are waiting for more favourable winds before we set off, possibly for Santander or Gijon. We are booked to haul-out in Lisbon on 2 November, and still have about 550 miles to sail.