Atlantic France is renowned for some of the most interesting island splattered, rocky tidal coastline in the world! No wonder some of the world’s best sailors come from this region.

Our navigation along this coastline was to test our skills!

The Thames Tango..
Whilst not particularly difficult, the approach to Saint Malo is to follow a series of leading lines amongst off shore islands. Just as all along the English Channel the tides and currents in Atlantic France are huge so it is quite common to enter the port via a lock. This requires boats to plan their entry and exit to twice a day for a couple of hours each side of the tide.  As it happens we and 4 other boats had to hang around for about 30 minutes for the lock to open whilst keeping our boats steady and not smacking into each other.
Time for the ‘Thames Tango’.

I named the ‘Thames Tango’ many years ago when we had a boat on the River Thames and it describes the antics of cruising launches on a summer weekend circling around and around for up to an hour whilst waiting for the lock to open. Each skipper wanting to show their prowess at keeping their boat absolutely still and keep their all important place in the queue against all odds. It’s important that absolutely NO effort in achieving this miraculous feat be outwardly shown by the way.
But the odds are stacked against them.
Eventually currents, winds, distractions and other boats take their toll and each skipper has to take a dance. Forward, reverse, left, right, clockwise, anticlockwise bobbing in and out of other boats doing the same thing – until the final scrum for the open gates! Great fun.

Back to Saint Malo. With only 5 boats waiting and a huge lock with enough space for everyone this wait was very civilized.  – The Saint Malo lock is really huge and deep. You need at least two  20 meter ropes to hold the boat in the lock it’s so deep. The lock team hand down a small rope to your boat to which you tie your rope.  He then pulls your rope back and around a bollard for you to take again. Simple – when you know the drill.

Yet again we found ourselves with too much draught to fit in the normal marina and so we ended up with a great spot next to the old town and next to various coastguard craft. It was a really good spot.

The old town of Saint Malo is all contained within huge battlement walls and has to be on your list of places to visit. Fantastic restaurants, markets, boutiques and food in general. Fantasist food!  We were perfectly located for morning foraging for croissants and baguettes in the old town. Either eat on the boat or at a restaurant the food was amazing wherever. As I write this (4 weeks late!) I’m thinking St Malo had to be THE place for great food on our adventures so far.

After 4 days and stocked up on groceries (gosh! that ham!), we were on our way again excited to embark on our longest sail on Timeless to date.

270 miles to Concarneau in Southern Brittany.