Search Results for “belle”

Search Results for: belle

Le Belle Isle – Pt 2

What do most people do on holiday?

eat too much
drink too much
eye up the local talent
hire a scooter

Well it seems that on Le Belle Isle all of the above. It’s stuffed full of bars and eateries that are just right for people watching.

And when you get bored of that then why not hark back to your youth and do something you haven’t done for years?

Yes – hire a scooter. OK I have to admit to never having ridden a scooter in my life, being an ex member of the loud, proud and oily British Motorcycle Owners Club.

Belle Isle is about 17km long and 3km wide: too much to walk but grease the palm of the local hire place (right on the quay) with about fifty squids and you have a trusty Honda 110cc scooter for the day.

Easy, rider

The last time I rode a motorcycle was in 1984 – a different epoch. Perhaps my reactions were faster in those days but wobbling along with trusty wife on trusty steed was a whole new experience. 30mph has never seemed so scary….

…at one stage we even reached 50mph! But trusty wife on the back of trusty steed bottled out at this pace and requested something a bit slower. We settled on island buzzing at around 40mph…..

We buzzed to the South – the tiny beach at Locmaria overlooked by ancient manor house:

Locmaria small beach, overlooked by ancient manor house

easy rider with a lighthouse

We buzzed to the West: Le Phare Goulpar: one of France’s premier league lighthouses

We roared to the north – don’t park your boat here:

Ster Wenn on a nice day

But here is supposedly safe – not far away at Ster Wenn on the NW cost. Apparently exposed to a NW swell, which was indeed running that day and the boats at anchor looked very uncomfortable.

Via Sara Bernhardt’s castle:

(she got so tee’d of with hangers-on visiting her that she had a new place built for them, the roof of which happened to be a great place to take this photo)

And our last stop was beautiful Sauzon: belle isle 111

We would really like to get back to Sauzon: although just a few miles away from Le Palaise the pace of life was just so completely relaxed it could have been a different planet.

So there you have Le belle Isle

In less than a few words. it can be summed up as frenetic. It never stops, it’s noisy, it’s fun, the port is busy 24 hours a day, people buzz around on scooters and all sorts on small hire cars. It’s that kind of active holiday place.

Having completed this post after visiting Ile D’Yeu and chi chi St Martin on Ile de Re it’s worth waiting for the completed posts from those places as they are all very different kinds of islands.

Martin, 12 August, 2013. Category: Ports and Places.

Le Palais, Belle Isle pt 1

They say New York, New York so beautiful they named it twice. (I’ve been there, I think they couldn’t think of much else to say).

But think of Le Palais, Belle Isle, an island off the west coast of France: now doesn’t that conjure up all sorts of imaginations. I’ve now been there as well and it is worth talking about.

But first let’s get the stressful bit of arrival over with:

The pilot guide says:

“when will we ever learn, Le Palais is rapidly gaining an unenviable reputation as a place where not to park your boat. Many folk visit and vow never again!….

Ok, if you still insist, get there early, bring plenty of fenders and a king size sense of humour

”
Well we did insist. Our only other choice that day would have been Port Haliguen, a marina so vast, soulless and particularly unpleasant for visitors (eg nearly 1km walk to the loos) we care to avoid if at all possible.

So to Le Palais, Belle Isle with joy and anticipation – a new place for us. Arrived early as per instructions, fendered out to the max, mooring lines on every cleat ready to take on the challenge.

First unusual thing: they have 3x 3.1m ribs with 10HP engines. They buzz around the harbour, locating, directing, shoving, tugging and cajoling boats into spaces. They do this with a demonic verve because at peak times there’s an awful lot going on.

So a quick intro to the mooring system will set the scene.

there is a big granite harbour wall with substantial chains hanging off it every 15m or so. Number 1-8, 1 being the outermost
there are 8 mooring buoys set around 60′ from the wall, roughly in line with the chains.
Another 4 buoys set around a further 40′ out, but inner the harbour

This is how it goes:

One of the guys on ribs, let’s call him Mr McEnery, locates us and becomes our man:

“Monsieur -vous allez en reverse la bas” pointing somewhere to chain number 3 and buoy number 4
Quoi, je pense. You want me to reverse toward that granite wall, in the hope that someone (possibly wife aided by McEnery) will put a warp onto our buoy before I hit the wall?
“Oui monsieur”
OK. we go backwards toward said granite wall.
Amazingly a warp does indeed get put around buoy no 4

We stop. Buoy 60′ out, warp 5′, boat 40′ leaves us 15ft adrift of chain, stopped, wind and boat momentum carrying us sideways.

Towards, in sort of reverse, our nearest neighbour to be. Actually very, very close to our fortunately unpopulated neighbour to be. Hmm -a bit of forward power needed to avoid le crunch..

Meanwhile McEnery has whizzed around the back to take our longest line, thread through chain and back to boat. We could be moored in a jiffy… mais il y a un probleme…

– “You ‘ave a longeur ligne?” dit McEnery, on account that a) our longest ligne is no longer long enough as we are now heading forward on account of my desire not to get too friendly with our yet to be neighbour’s home.

So we pause. Boat going forward, Michele holding on the bow, McEnery holding the not long enough ligne whilst I dig down in the locker for another bit of not used very recently rope.

With not used very recently bit of rope now tied on and other end delivered to McEnry on his rib now simultaneously holding shorter than needed warp, standing in rib with power on preventing us meeting soon to be neighbour sooner than needed, smoking a gauloise, steering with foot AND on the phone, tying both bits of rope together.

(well maybe I exaggerate a bit for the benefit of creating the scene that must now be in your mind’s eye)

And then we are there…attached…nous sommes arrives. relax

A McEnery. Note absolute regard for personal safety…

McEnery buzzes off to deal with the next crisis. Adrenalin levels reduce. We are fully attached in our own bit of water in an interesting harbour overlooked by Le Palais and the Citadel. Nice.

Read on..there’s more..

We are not the on the only ones to visit Le Palais

So armed with a nice cuppa and reducing adrenalin levels we decided to sit back, take in the scenery and watch what happens to other boats.

Fascinating. Hypnotic.

First of all remember the 8 inner buoys, now with with a couple of boats on each and, in my mind, looking a bit full. A bit short of space.

How wrong can one be?

First of all the “ram them in tactic” gets used. This is where boats are encouraged to drive on and “open a space”. Everyone on board a stationary boats sees a new neighbour coming in, grabs and pushes against them as they arrive. Self preservation again avoids le crunch and magically opens a new boat sized space for new neighbour.

All in good humour because that’s how it’s done.

Secondly, after the “ram them in” tactic has resulted in no more obvious boat sized gaps left, McEnery and mates reappear and use their ribs to push boats apart. More spaces open up and instantly get filled with boat.

Finally, when the number of boats crammed in = space available less 1x fag packet each, the place is full. Really full. A new commune of boat people forms, fenders squeak, fenders groan, and everyone is cordial and happy because we‘ve “got there”.

With the outer row of buoys also now full that’s it. The poor souls on the inside are not going anywhere.

So what else goes on?

It’s a bit hypnotic really: across the fairway the McEnrys do the same for smaller boats.

Ferrys come and go with astonishing regularity. The whole harbour is hyper.

Late arrivals get turned away (nous sommes desole, mais nous sommes plein!)…= you should have got here earlier

Peace at last.
The view over to the quay wall. Ramparts of La Citadelle on the left. Filibuster somewhere in the middle.

Enough of the mechanics of hi stress boat parking, the next post will cover what we did on Belle Isle.

Martin, 3 August, 2013. Category: Ports and Places.

Places

OK, this isn’t an almanac. it’s a collection of things humorous, odd events and a light hearted look at some of the people,places and events that made up our travels in Filibuster.

You can use the search box on the right or click one of the shortcuts below

Here’s a list by place, it’s not an exhaustive list of places visited, just the ones written about:

Le Belle Isle / Le Palais / Sauzon

St Martin / Ile de Re

La Rochelle

Rochefort

Spain

Viveirio

A Coruna

admin, 21 August, 2016.

St Martin, Ile de Re

Well I’ve already written plenty about St Martin and this year it looks like the turning point of the journey again so I’ll write a bit more.

Already we are in Port Joinville, heading North. Dodging bad weather (again) so the 4 fine days Zoe was with us become a memory.

But First: And the crowd applauded

So we arrive in St Martin. A slightly longer journey via half way to St Dennis, Ile D’Oleron, re routed due to slightly tender nature of daughter’s stomach when subjected to windier than expected windy sailing.

The harbour is a bit full, but not full. The harbour master asks how long we want to stay: 1 semaine. Hmmm he goes. He wants us nicely parked and not having to move every day to let other boats out. He wants us alongside the pontoon and we want to be there as well.

He looks at the options: V1 has 3 boats rafted. V2 has 1 boat. V3 has 3 boats rafted. No other solutions. He parks us temporarily on raft V1, 4th out.

But V2 boat is leaving later and he tells them to shove off to another part of the marina, thereby creating the desired pontoon space.

Great, you might think. Except that the now ex V2 boat wasn’t that big and the space left doesn’t look Filibuster sized.

Harbour Master asks our size: 12.5m. He paces out the gap: 14 paces. “Ici – c’est bon pour vous”. Glug thinks me on the basis that his measurement device isn’t very accurate and even if it was, that leaves me with placing Filibuster sideways into a canyon, 3 boats rafted either side.

Leaving 3/4 of a pace fore and aft. Did I mention it’s windy? Have I ever mentioned we don’t have a bow thruster? And I probably don’t need to remind anyone that sailing yachts can be particularly truculent beasts when made to go sideways slowly.

We get one chance at this. It’s High Noon at the OK Chapparal. The crews on the boats lining the canyon are armed and ready. We make ready. The wind blows. Tumbleweed rolls down the fairway. The wind whistles. etc.

All eyes on us because this could go so badly wrong. We commit.

Now before I come to the outcome let me tell you about a fantastic French word called “doucement”. I learnt it in L’Aberwrach. It’s a lovely word and pertains to the art of doing things “lightly”. In L’Aberwrach it was used by a French lady against a gung ho incompetent trying to park his boat in a tight spot. He failed. Using everything his engine had he went backward and forward, crunching French lady’s boat and eventually running aground. He was not Mr Doucement.

We are committed. Filibuster is in the canyon. No way back now. With less than 2ft space either end to play with a lot of doucement is used. Forward a bit, backward a bit, let the wind take her in a bit. Repeat.

Then a line goes ashore and is made fast. We are in. Touchdown. A perfect landing: 10/10.

I really can’t remember much about it, except that at the end the crowd applauded. “Un belle manoeuvre” a new neighbour says.

Palps stop palpitating, Palms stop sweating. I take a bow. Brit Honour upheld.

The rest of the canyon filled so quickly I didn’t even get time to get a photo.

And the rest of the stay?

Was delightful.

We cycled up to the unfortunately named Ars. If someone were to ask where we were going I could have replied “the ars end of the island” and be perfectly correct.

We had a party with our new neighbours, one of whom owns his own vineyard and contributed wine from his special selection

Special Selection. See bottom right, reads limited release, bottle number is 5. mmm.

And on the final day we made Zoe eat Oysters in the afternoon, drink some fine wine and finish with Lobster Thermidor for dinner.

Zoe’s facebook compilation. A perfect day.

The lobster came from the market 200m away. He was hiding in the tank trying not to make eye contact….

Martin, 14 September, 2015. Category: Ports and Places.

Hotels for Liz

Not a boaty type?

Our good friend Liz isn’t really a boaty sort of person. in fact the world of boats is an alien one to such an extent that much of that written in this diary isn’t applicable.

Liz is a First Class sort of person in every sense of the word: “Why stay on a lumpy, bumpy, slow, small boat when you can stay in a nice hotel that you don’t have to buy?”

So dedicated to Liz, and anyone else who doesn’t quite see the point of life on the ocean wave, I’m building a list of some of the finer hotels we have come across in our travel:

The Hotels

St Martin-de-Re, Ile De Re

Just off La Rochelle and connected by road bridge. A few minutes from the airport by taxi.

Hotel de Toiras. Right on the corner of the harbour. Step out of 5* luxury right into the crowd.

Rooms from €420 a night at the peak of the season.

Just a short walk away from the centre and away from it all is the Hotel Clos St Martin.

4* with room rates €210 to €560 in high season there’s something for everyone’s budget.

Le Palais, Belle Isle: The Citadelle Hotel. Superbly located in the Citadelle overlooking Le Palais and the sea.

Castel Clara, Belle Ile. Away from it all across the other side of the Island, a place to

you can spend some serious bucks here: it makes a mooring look good value for money.

Le Corderie-Royal e, Rochefort. On the banks of the Charente River and right next to the marina. The Hotel is located in a part of the old rope making factory:

….more to come as we find or remember them

admin, 14 July, 2015.

And so to Sauzon

Amazonas Sauzonas. Capitanerie Girl showing how meet and greet and park is done. The following evening doing the same job in a dress!.

Oyez! Oyez!. All you creek crawlers, bilge keelers, flat bottomers and lifting keelers. Welcome to Sauzon, Belle-Ile, for this is your heaven.

This is the place that perfectly exonerates your decision to acquire a boat that “can take the ground”.

Along the astonishingly pretty quayside of Sauzon is a huge, sheltered, drying harbour, complete with moorings to assist your arrival, which of course you do when there is water in the harbour.

Fin keelers (like Filibuster) whose decision to visit Sauzon is always a gamble on how much swell you can tolerate. Swell whilst mooring to a buoy in the anchorage outside the harbour (lumpy) or swell whilst mooring fore-and-aft in the outer, non drying harbour (also lumpy).

Happily, nay smugly , the “take the grounders” chug past all the fin keelers. Smiling inwardly, smiling visibly, smirking, going onward to a nirvana where no fin keeler can stay.

Filibuster, bobbing about in splendid isolation. We remained so despite the fact that the other moorings had no less than 3 boats each by the end of the day (something to do with size: the capitanerie people like to keep similar sized boats together, and with Filibuster bang on the maximum allowed length, no one else of our size came in to join) . That night the wind turned to the North making the outer harbour uncomfortable and it emptied quickly the following morning

View looking into the harbour at low tide, showing smug bilge keelers happily parked.

The ground in the drying harbour is mainly hard sand, so if you can get off your boat it’s easy to walk ashore.

The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared

Have you read the book? It’s very funny. Essentially a long shaggy dog story. But there’s a bit missing, entitled “and so to Sauzon” I include it here.

And so to Sauzon.

Henri, the hundred year old man, found himself on the West Coast of France. He’d heard that Sauzon was a nice place and that sailing a yacht was a nice thing to do.

So he decided to borrow a yacht. He’d never been sailing before but reckoned it can’t be that difficult as you can just switch the engine on and go. So he did, and off to Sauzon he went on a pleasant summer’s day.

On arrival he was pleased to see that Sauzon was indeed a beautiful place and happy he’d made the decision to visit. He had only one problem to settle and that was how to stop and stay.

Observing a nice big British yacht already moored in the harbour, Henri asked the skipper “puis je fair a couple avec vous” (which is not a request to get over familiar with someone, but just to come alongside).

Martin, the skipper of the nice big British yacht says “mais bien sur, fair un turn (because he was facing the wrong way round ) en retour ici”.

Hundred year old man goes round and starts to come alongside. Martin notices he has no fenders prepared. Or lines to attach with. Typical French. Martin “advises” him, “ou et votre lignes et defensoirs”. Henri points to a locker as if to say “obviously in here, you stupid Brit, where else?”.

He’s passing. He realises that lines are the key to stopping and staying. He gets a line out of the locker and passes one end to martin. And the other end. And the middle. All of it, not attached to anything.

Incroyable.

“What do you expect me to do with this?” dit Martin en Francais. Henri looks at me genially as if to say “you’re the expert – you tell me”. I throw it back, all of it.

So I tell him, in French, kindly “attach your lines and fenders first, then come alongside”. Blank look returned.

Is it my French that’s the problem? (could be: my inner French man quite often says things that my inner English man doesn’t understand). Perhaps Henri got the last missive as “put out your washing line and install your fence before coming to my place”

I recruit the next nearest boat to translate from English to French for Henri. Blank Henri look again. A discussion in French ensues. The centime drops. A little wave of a Henri hand acknowledges in a “righty ho” sort of way.

Henri, being a hundred years old, doesn’t do anything really quickly. He slips, nay slides or possibly slopes into the task now in his mind.

He chugs off for another turn. Connects an end of the ligne to his boat. Forgets about the fenders. Comes alongside. One line attached and he’s stopped.

At this point the Capitanerie boat gets involved and takes control: gives Henri a parking place alongside a similar sized boat . Henri now remembers fenders and starts to attach whilst we hang on to Henri’s boat.

Capitanerie man moves Henri. Zut go the new neighbours. Phew go we.

He doesn’t have a dinghy so sits on deck reading and then goes to bed. He left early that morning and for all we know is still out and about.

And as I write this in Port Haliguen a smart Beneteau 45’ comes alongside the other side of our pontoon. Fully crewed by Henri-relatives and driven by an incompetent Henri-alike who commands with an air of authority-without-experience. No lignes, no defensoirs on a boat probably worth £100k. Much snarling and gashing of engine. Backwards, forwards, over the Irish sea sort of thing, nearly over the boat in front, Michele goes to help. They throw a line, in the water. Eyes look to heaven. Etc….

PPS above mentioned boat has 13 people aboard. Several generations of family, not all happy about being on granddad’s boat together. Noisy, at least whilst awake and then an absolute calm descends on this quiet, flat corner of the marina.

PPPS Rather shyly they aplogisied for the enthusiasm of their gang on holiday. Apology graciously accepted, but it was still nice when they went to bed….

And so back to Sauzon

I’ve digressed and dithered a bit, and I’m sure you want to know a bit about Sauzon.

Some observations:

It’s on Belle-Ile. A popular holiday island for French rich and/or famous and it shows, especially in Sauzon.
It’s very pretty
The quayside is closed to traffic Friday and Saturday evenings, making promenading, people watching and checking out the many restaurants a pleasure
It has resident quayside bands – we pitched up at a bar and listen to “The Golden Jakes” Jazz Band. Niiice.

: The Golden Jakes play on the quayside. Note what’s floating the boats

: More or less the same viewpoint the following day. Note abscence of floaty boats

It’s a must visit place. We did a couple of years ago by scooter and a few days later by car…

If you feel daring and just want to stay long enough for an meal, springs tides will float your boat in the inner drying harbour for long enough to enjoy a peaceful evening meal or lunch if the tides are neapish.

Waterside Sauzon
Taken a couple of years ago.

admin, 11 July, 2015. Category: Ports and Places.

Ile D’Yeu

From Belle Isle to Isle D’Yeu is a long day sail (and we did sail most of it).

You cross the mouth of the Loire and with it witness the change from solid granite walled, slate tiled buildings to whitewash and clay tile.

A distinctly Mediterranean feel washes over everything. And it’s warm without a night time dew as in the more northerly ports.

There are bicycles everywhere….

We have to rush off from here to meet Zoe in La Rochelle so there’s only a couple of photos to show right now:

one of many relatively quiet, safe beaches

Our last night was outstanding as we got together with our neighbouring brit boat and created this meal on board:

olive bread sticks and humus

prawns in batter with dipping sauce

pain fougass

anchovies in spiced olive oil

fresh green salad with mint, tomatoes and challotes, basil and chives

pan fried tuna steak marinated with crushed black pepper and olive oil

washed down with water & a couple of bottles of wine

All in all costing about €7 a head

Eating out on the back of Filibuster and chatting till dark

…..Heaven….

…we will be back, hopefully soon..

(written in a bit of a rush, en route and 10nm out of La Rochelle)

Martin, 4 August, 2013. Category: Ports and Places.

We are in…

2023 part 2 – Ready to head South

15 Sep Port Arzal – Camoël. Good call leaving La Turballe early. A midday departure had us slowly up the Vilaine on the rising tide (least depth 0.1m en route) with warm sunny weather. Summer came to an end that evening…and the forecast, unsurprisingly has gales on the equinox 🙁

14 Sep La Turballe. In their nice new marina. Much improved. A delighful sail across the mouth of the Loire- warm sunny weather, light NE breeze giving a beam reach without any swell.

We were going to stay 2 nights here but the forecast for the 15th is dire and we want to be back at base along with many others…

13 Sep L’Herbaudière, Noirmoutier. Last time we were here (Aug 2015) we vowed to avoid this place due to the rude nature of the fishing boats trying to cause maximum disturbance to yachts moored on the visitors ponton. Things do seem to have improved in the intervending years but there is certainly still problems. Still it’s only for 1 night to break up the race back to Arzal due to impending bad weather.

Click here for a bit of l’herbaudiere humour

10-12 Sep Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . We had it all except snow! Thunder, lightening, some wind, no wind, rain, hot sun. Motor / motor-sail all 17nm.

9 Sep St Gilles Croix de la Vie . Pleasant sail up after passing Les Sables. A couple’d so difficult to get the bikes off.

7,8 Sep Bourgenay. motored up in hot weather.

2-6 Sep – St Martin, Ile de Re. Sunny, warm, Saturday. The last day of many boaters holidays and the place started off rammed. We are 3rd out with 2 more outside us as I write.Keep calm and carry on 🙂

Another joined our trot to make it 6. But the following day a space opened up at the rear of the marina and by way of a bit of negotiation we bagged it for the remainder of our stay.

But the late hot summer weather was too much and we left a bit earlier for the cooler north

1 Sep La Rochelle, Les Minimes Mega Marina. They wanted us out by the 3rd so we booked 2 nights on PE to comply. BUT they really wanted us out quicker so they can get on with building the Grand Pavois (Boat Show). To help us on the way the electricity wasn’t working. Coincidence or not? Anyway we refunded the extra PE night and headed to St Martin.

31 Aug Bourgenay. lumpy and cool sail down, but it was a sail.

26-30 Aug Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . The chart has it as 43nm, we covered it in 6 1/2 hours with a maximum SOG of 8kn. The average speed was 6.6kn 🙂

25 Aug Piriac sur Mer. We’re out! Looks like just 1 night here as the weather says go south tomorrow…

22-24 Aug Port Arzal – Camoël.Arrived at past 630pm CET. That makes it 530pm UK so it really is 12 hours from early morning alarm to setting foot on board. Do the necessary and head to the (busy) restaurant.

2023 part 1 – Start of a normal year?

30 June – Arzal. That’s it for this trip 🙂

29 Jun Piriac sur Mer. Super sail across in light Northerlies.

28 June Port Blanc, Ile aux Moines. Late high tide meant an afternoon departure from Vannes so we camped out for a night in one of our favourites. Departure the following morn was not one of our best due to strong currents….

26,27 June Vannes We co-ordinated all our travel to be in Vannes for a meal at La P’Tite Souris only to find, with 1 hour notice that they’ve goner on holiday for 2 weeks! Never mind – a nice meal in the best table above the Capitainerie woent down well.

24,25June Port Blanc, Ile aux Moines. An early start to get into the Morbihan with the tide. Left PH at 0710.

22,23 June Port Haliguen, Quiberon. We toyed with the idea of going to Le Palice on Belle Isle – but it would have been for just one night so came to PH directly. It’s on our way to Vannes where we want to be next week.

20,21 Jun Port Louis At last – a super sail down – beamy – runny upto 6.6kn but pretty sailed all the way. Hoorah

19 June Concarneau – back again! The same 12m in reverse, more or less. This time with flappy things the whole way. Woo hoo.

17,18 June Loctudy. A favourite due to the superb poissoniere in the fishing port + the nice view from the back of the boat to Ile Tudy. No wind on the way but it’s only 12nm. Super gourmet crustacean meal with Ian & Rowena tonight.

15,16 June. Concarneau – Fascinating walled fort is always worth a visit but first we had to get here: 25nm of which the first 20 had wind bang on the nose. The last 5 had a superb beam reach with boat speed over 7kn 🙂

13,14 June. Port Tudy, Ile de Groix. Hot weather, no sailing on the 6nm crossing. Met up with old friends John & Julia on Wyldwind. Our paths haven’t crossed in 6 years so it’s great to meet up again. A well timed 11a.m. arrival gave us the last inner harbour berth.

10,11,12 Jun Port Louis First time back in one of our favourites since 2016! What happened: 2017 -Spain, 2018 – missed due to crew changes, 2019 – missed out, 2020 &21 – didn’t make it this way due to Covid. 2022 – Hosting a Ukrainian family resulted in minimal June cruise.

8,9 June Port Haliguen, Quiberon. Out on the 8am lock 6h journey only 40mins under sail. Hot. rain coming.

6,7 Jun Port Arzal – Camoël. Boat launched, Ferry delayed by 1 1/2h, we arrived just before 8pm. Long day.

2022 part 2 – here comes the rain!

16 Sep Port Arzal – Camoël. Back home & end of sailing for this year 🙁 But a fine end of season meal last night with friend Ian & Rowena at 17bis.

14,15 Sep Piriac sur Mer. Motor-Sail-Motor-Sail all the way. The weather turned cool for the first time. Maybe Autumn’s finally on it’s way.

11-13 Sep Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . Arzal have announced new locks this week which means we can get back in and continue our original itinerary. We’ll lose something on the new flights we booked but hey ho.

10 Sep Bourgenay. Plan A was to go the who 55nm to Yeu. Plan B was Les Sables D’Olonne. There was no Plan C. The sea was still lumpy but a strong following tide combined with an early start made B accessible so we did. Friends staying in Les Sables regretted it due to noise ashore into the early hours.

2-9 Sep – St Martin, Ile de Re. Same spot at the back as last year. Perfect. Very quiet in the town with many restaurants closed, even on a Friday night.

1 Sep La Rochelle, Les Minimes Mega Marina. Tides were not good for the next leg to a quicky for a peaceful night

30,31 August. St Denis D’Oleron. Wow – for the first time in some years a new place for us! We’ve tried to get here at least twice before and have been thwarted. This time a warm motor/sail via Ile D’Aix and the tides just right we made it.

28,29 Aug La Rochelle, Les Minimes Mega Marina. Mainly a sail in v.warm conditions. 28th seemed to confirm what we have come across on this trip: it is very quiet on the water but the towns are buzzing. That might change on the 29th (a Monday) as the schools resume later this week.

26,27 August Bourgenay. Nice run down pretty much all the way in pleasant warm weather. The visitors pontoon was empty when we arrived: it’s quiet on the water this year.

25 August St Gilles Croix de la Vie . Nice sail down, running at an average of around 5kn in warm weather.

21-24 August Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . Pornic was rammed with holidaymakers in this last full week of the summer holiday so we left to find our favourite very quiet. Motored all the way.

20 August Pornic. A pleasant motor with virtually no wind or swell. We haven’t been here since 2014 when Michele retired! Follow the link to find out more about Pornic

18,19 AugustPiriac sur Mer. The secherage (drought) in France has resulted in even more draconian restrictions on the lock. Now only 5 locks in a week. Getting out was our priority, as it was for 21 other boats in a very full lock. We got there early (3.5hrs early) to make sure and were rewarded. Motored all the way to Piriac when we could have sailed a bit but we got there.

15-17 August. Port Arzal – Camoël. Back in France for second time – the first in 3 years!. And after the long drought it rains.

2022 – First time in June for 3 years!

16,17 June Piriac sur Mer. Why hang around in Haliguen when you can go for a beer on Ile d’Hoedic? We upped and went. A fine glass of Leffe in the heat followed by sail-motor to Piriac and finally a superb meal at Restaurant 17bis.

15 June Port Haliguen, Quiberon After 2 delightful days at Ile aux Moines we find ourselves in the not so delightful marina. A meal tonight at the Creperie du Vieux Port would have held promise, but its Wednesday and they are closed 🙁

13,14 June Port Blanc, Ile aux Moines . Up before 8am! to get out of the otherwise locked in Port de Vannes. Tickover trip for the 5 of so miles in bright but cool sunshine.

10-12 June Vannes Whereas Crouesty is a modern marina, Vannes is an ancient city, inland with a port. Plus some fantastic restaurants to boot. Le P’Tit Souris being one we like most. It’s a 13nm trip made shorter by the incoming tide.

9 June Port du Croesty. It’s a modern purpose built marina surrounded by modern purpose built shops, houses, flats etc. We stopped here once on the way in to The Morbihan and we are doing it again.

8 June Piriac Sur Mer. A 9am lock out and we were the only boat in it. F5/F6 Westerlies made for a lumpy journey down but the sun then came out. Very quiet in Piriac.

5,6,7 June. Port Arzal – Camoël. The previous 2 years have had trips in June cancelled due to Covid. But his year we made it.

We had planned to go West then North but the weather is against us. Over an inch of rain forecast for tonight (7th) – that’s over 25.4mm for those not bilingual

2021 – Covid still a nuisance

10 September. Port Arzal – Camoël. 9am start to get to Arzal before the water ran out. Even when your calcs are right and you know you are right, it’s always a bit stressful going up river on a falling spring tide.

That’s it for salty sailing this year. In 4 weeks voyaging we covered 259nm, needed only 50l of diesel at a rate of just over 2L/hr. Not bad at all.

8,9 Sept Piriac Sur Mer.First and last salty stop, 50% motor up from Port Joinville. Still v.warm despite more seasonal westerlies.

6,7 Sep Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . We’ve been here when it’s wet, we’ve been here when it’s windy. But on the 6th it’s neither: Maximum sun, no wind, 29° in the shade. Arrived after an early start and slow sail from St Gilles straight into our favourite berth: inside the hammerhead on ponton B.

3-5 Sep St Gilles Croix de la Vie . Pick up James from Nantes airport. We hired a car just in case the flight was late and he missed the last Sunday train. Did Noirmoutier on the way.

2 Sep Bourgenay. Bang on forecast the wind died. But not before a lovely sail 13 out of 20 nm. about 5 of which with the cruising chute. Still very sunny & warm unlike back in the UK which seems covered in cloud & cool.

27 Aug – 1 Sep St Martin, Ile de Re. In a repeat of last year: headed out and dropped anchor off Rivedoux-Plage for lunch in fine weather. From there the journey is just 8nm to St Martin with plenty of spare time and having not much on took a slow boat up with just the main up. Doing about 3kn and arriving on time for the 1715 opening. Perfect.

Today, Saturday 28th August marks the end of the French holiday month and a return to a quieter time on the water and inland.

But the weather: 6 days of warm sunshine and F4 gusting F6 during the day is a bit wearisome.

26 Aug La Rochelle, Les Minimes Mega Marina.A fine beam reach all the way. 30nm in 5h40 door to door.

Unlike Bourgenay it still seems very busy here in the sunny and warm last week of the French holiday season.

24,25 Aug Bourgenay. 33nm sail down that should have been nice, but the wind is in the E/NE and creates an unpleasant chop. We did sail all the way. On leaving Port Joinville there were 18 other boats at 10am either heading South or North. The marina had been packed -possibly only 1 or 2 spaces left. That’s the Grand Migration in action and will end soon. The Capitanerrie tells us Bourgenay was rafted 4 deep last week so we are glad to have arrived in calmness.

19-24 August Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . Left Piriac in the dark whilst the flap was still down. The forecast w F3-4 never materialised so we motored the whole way. Just tying up on the long pontoon and lo, a B berth comes free. Then another nearer the end. We are in and made up.

Classic use of Passeport Escales gives us 4 nights – a cost otherwise of €168. Add in the 2 nights at Piriac and that’s 10% of the annual mooring bill saved already.

17,18 August Piriac Sur Mer. With a tidal departure problem/ If we leave at a “sensible time” then getting to Ile d’Yeu would be around 8pm. It will be rammed. We could be even later in the light winds.

We could go via Pornichet but the weather most likely means motoring the whole way to both Pornichet and thence Ile D’Yeu.

Or we could get up early and leave Piriac at 0630, arriving Yeu mid afternoon with about 50-50 sailing. Next post will reveal all.

12-17 August. Arzal. Similar to last year: no May setup week, no June cruising month but again we’ve made it out. Portsmouth-Caen this time. Boat up together with the exception of the anemometer cups that dropped off over winter.

2020 – The year Covid hit

18-22 September. Port Arzal – Camoël. That’s it for this year. We mananged to get nearly 6 weeks on board, the majority of it in fine warm weather. The day we left the weather broke leading to cold and wet at home, not much better in Arzal. As I write it’s 7degs outside. brr. Heating and fire on for the first time this season. We are, at least for the time being, softies.

15-17 September Piriac Sur Mer . Long haul – 44NM nearly all under motor in calm conditions. Leaving at dawn (0730) and arriving just after 1400.

10 Sep – 14 Sep Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . Left at dawn to make the best of the wind. It became increasingly on the nose so we motored that last 6NM (out of 33). Confidently expecting the port to be empty based on previous visits at this time, we found it almost full. A pontoon berth was had, the last of 2 decent ones. We think the continuing fine weather and a season curtailed by lockdowns is bringing out many who would normally have given up the season by now.

9 Sep Bourgenay.It’s 20NM from St Martin, we did it in 4 hours of which 3 were motor sailed and the final hour was a beautiful reach in 10kn, 25°C, bright sunshine 🌞and no swell. If only it was always like this 😎

31 Aug – 8 Sep St Martin, Ile de Re. Gentle motor to pick up a buoy off Rivedoux Plage, Ile de Ré. Lunch, followed by another gently motor to port, arrived in no wind at around 1615. On 2nd we decided to stay in France longer to avoid UK quarantine and watch the end of Stage 10 of the Tour de France.

29,30 Aug La Rochelle, Les Minimes Mega Marina. Quiet though. A leisurely start from Bourgenay followed by a good running sail all the way. Cruising chute again proved too powerful in the gusts.

27,28 Aug Bourgenay. Sailed all 33nm in a lumpy F4-F6.

23-26 Aug Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . A pleasant enough, mainly sailed but with unfriendly swell emanating from previous day’s weather. It even became warm. The marina is well used, but not of migration standards. Many boats left on Wednesday, mainly heading north.

20-22August Piriac Sur Mer . Staying a bit longer than expected in Arzal due to poor weather, we finally made it out. Two and a half months late, but better late than never. Persistent F6 winds on 22nd and overnight built a large swell so we stayed put and paid for a night!

13-19 August. Arzal. 3rd time lucky and we finally made it on the day the UK government announced quarantine restrictions starting early Saturday. Crazy or what.

Just one month short of a year since we last were on board.

2019 part 2

4 September. Arzal. We could have stayed another night in Piriac but the forecast said go today. One day earlier than planned. Another sunny dawn start 🙂 But that’s it for this year. 🙁 Can’t wait for next year.

3 September Piriac Sur Mer After a nice 44nm sail departing before dawn on one tack, motoring a bit in the middle and finishing off with a smooth sunny 7.66kn ride up to Piriac sur Mer. Heaven. But really could have stayed long on Ile De Yeu.

30 Aug – 2 Sep Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . Unlike the super sail on the way down the forecast for the way up was 6 gusting 12 on the beam and sailable most of the way before the wind was to die. We got up at 630 to make it happen but the reality was ahead of us. more like 2 gusting 6kn. We motored the whole way.

28,29 Aug Bourgenay. Sailed about 2/3 of the way until wind died and came noseward. Inital 1/3 with cruising chute but the better tactic would have been close hauled near Ile de Re then turning more northward to keep the wind beamy.

23-27 Aug St Martin, Ile de Re. Left La Rochelle at 8am and enjoyed a glorious run, beam reach all 12 miles to St Martin 🙂 . The forecast was ENE 10kn gusting 22, the reality was ENE 15-22, mainly toward the top end. Sunny and warm with temperatures topping 30 °C later.

21,22 La Rochelle, Les Minimes Mega Marina. Quiet though. An early start from Bourgenay yielded a good sail for two thirds of the way before the wind died

19,20 Bourgenay. Motored the whole way in light winds and a rolly sea. And the sun came out 🙂

15-18 Aug Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu . Forecast for today was a no brainer. Get up prompt, leave before 0830 and sail all the 45nm on one tack. The forecast for tomorrow (Friday) to Sunday also looks like a no brainer. Storms a coming. Stay put…

14 August Piriac Sur Mer Captain Slog. As did the galley slave. the forecast of 12kn gusting 26kn turned out to be 20+kn gusting near 30kn. With rain. A thoroughly unpleasant journey all in the cause of getting us further along (11nm along out of 54) toward Ile D’Yeu in pleasant beamy westerlies tomorrow. Next log will tell all.

12-13 August Arzal.

2019 part 1

4 July Arzal. End of session

3 July Piriac Sur Mer . Gav & Daf leave for home. The forecast said go East so East we did, at up to 7.7kn on a hot blustery 3rd reef run

2 July Vannes.

1 July Ile aux Moins.

30 Jun Port Tudy, Ile de Groix

28,29 Jun Concarneau. Stayed the extra night for the music festival….that happened last week 🙁

27 Port la Foret. The Marina is a marina, but walk across to the old port for some better ambience and super Cafe du Port. Still hot at over 30 and lobster tonight…

26 Loctudy. single tack all the way from Lorient in sunny and hot weather

24,25 Jun. Lorient-Kerneval.

22,23 Jun Locmiquélic, (Lorient). Ian & Judy have now left. We are chilling out as there’s not much else to do here.

21 Jun Port Tudy, Ile de Groix. Great time touring the island on electric velos.

19,20 Jun Le Palais, Belle Ile. Every used a mini moke (or French equivalent) We have. Once , possibly the first and last time !

18 June. Late departure from Vannes due to tides, stay the night at Ile aux Moines

15-17 Jun Vannes. John & Sharon left on the 16th, Ian & judy arrived on 17th

14 La Trinite sur Mer. Super 25nm beam reach in sunny F4. Marina surprisingly full

11,12,13 Piriac Sur Mer Early departure through the barrage on a grey day that became a wet day. left on 13 but had to return to sort out the furling main.

10 Jun John and Sharon arrive. Pick up at Redon followed by a quick up river beer at La Roche Barnard and back to Arzal for the night

6-8 Jun. Port Arzal – Camoël. Arrived yesterday, provisioned this morning. It’s Thursday. We should have left by now but a storm is coming and will hit overnight and on in to Saturday. No point in moving to a less sheltered spot so we are staying put.

2018 part 2

9 Sep. Port Arzal – Camoël. Super sail: cruising chute became over powered in near 15kn. Sailed under Genoa & Main the rest of the way to up river to Arzal in warm sunny weather. Through the barrage without incident and that’s it for this year 🙁

8 Sep. Piriac sur Mer. We hung on in Yeu and enjoyed warm weather and sandy beaches. Waited for favourable winds, left at dawn and sailed the majority of the 44nm.

4-7 Sep Port Joinville, Ile de Yeu. The wind looked right for a nice sail across and indeed it was. We left St Giles a day early and had 17.5 miles (almost) all under sail.

3 Sep St Gilles Croix de la Vie

1,2 Sep Bourgenay. Still warm and sunny.

25-31 Aug St Martin, Ile de Re.

23,24 La Rochelle, Les Minimes Mega Marina.

22 Aug. Bourgenay. Warm, sunny, windy. Excellent trip down under cruising chute and just a bit of motor.

18-21 Aug Port Joinville, Ile D’Yeu. 6kn following wind = motor all 44nm from Piriac. Sunny & warm to boot with no sign of previous problems. Phew. We love it here and so do many others: each night the marina has been full as a result of the “grande migration” of boats going home before the end of the holidays. On the 21st it was full-full and late comers had to find space on the fishing boat quays.

17 Aug, Back to Piriac Sur Mer. Our earlier schedule had us arriving on Isle D’Yeu today. Expect to be there on 18th so we are 1 day behind.

15,16 Aug Departed for Pornic, ended up in Arzal – unusual noise neccessitates checkup by mechanic. All apparently OK.

13,14 Aug Piriac Sur Mer. First sail of this year and a brisk 7kn into a lively Piriac. Jam packed in this holiday week.

11,12 Aug La Roche Bernard. In a thunderstorm as I write.

8 – 10 Aug Port Arzal – Camoël . Warm sunny, relaxing.

part 1 didn’t happen – broken boat so we motored a voiture to the places we would have gone to!

2017 part 2

8 Sep. Port Arzal – Camoël . Full Circle.

Camoël side, in a very sheltered berth. We broke out of Piriac this afternoon hoping to get into either evening lock. A 20nm blat and straight in. Apparently after 3 days of closure there were 69 boats on the waiting pontoon last night!

That’s it for 2017. Some stats: The boat has covered 1400nm. We fed it with 819l of diesel. Sailed around 100nm 🙁 Pretty awful really.

7 Sep. Still in Piriac. Hobsons choice – stay sheltered or risk F6 approach to the Arzal lock. We stayed on.

5-6 Piriac Sur Mer. Almost home. Would have preferred to stay longer on Ile D’Yeu, but the forecast said “Go today and you will be rewarded, go tomorrow and you will wish you left the day before”. So we left and were rewarded with a single tack 44nm beam reach with speeds up to 7.8kn. The route took just 6.5hours. Best of the year 🙂

4 Sep Port Joinville, Ile D’Yeu. We actually sailed most of the way!

2,3 Sep Bourgenay. We love it for the calmness….

30,31 Aug & 1 Sep St Martin, Ile de Re.

27-29 Aug La Rochelle, Les Minimes Mega Marina. 8hr motor in calm conditions gets us another big leap Northward (50nm). Arzal can be reached in 2 days from here, but Filibuster is done passage making and is now a slow boat: we have 3 weeks to play with before going home

26 Aug. Another free night in Port Medoc. If there’s one thing we’ve learnt about marinas is the combination that produces a good night’s sleep. Port Medoc: enclosed, no swell or wash, fishing boats, noisy roads, airport or rail lines fits the bill. Calm.

25 Aug Port Medoc. Yep, where the wine comes from. We were heading across the the Gironde to Royan but a slightly faster pace and siltier entrance made for 0 depth. Tired, we popped across to Port Medoc. Total journey 156nm in abt 28hrs. Cream Crakered.

24 Aug -en route to Royan

23 Aug Bermeo. Pretty old port with much of the historic centre in tact.

Martin’s covered 1060nm and Michele 746nm so far. We’ve filled our boots with sailing (motoring) and tomorrow head back to France. About another 350 or so nm to go before Arzal!

Update to South Biscay Pilot: There is a recent addition to the port aimed at transiting boats. A new pontoon with 4 long fingers accommodating 8 boats, nominally up to 14m. Water + electricity in abt 2.5m. No reservation possible. Located on the wall next to F.G. Wash from small boats is a nuisance.

22 Aug Bilboa. Marina del Abra wouldn’t take us (even on Passeporte Escale) so we had to go to Marina Getxo. Free washing m/c + dryer tempered the outrageous €54 for the night…

21 Aug. Short but long slog to Laredo. Huge marina with plenty of space…

20,21 Aug Santander. Long long 75nm slog (motor of course) via St Vincente de La Barquara where there was no room at the inn. Neither at Marina Santander. Finally berthed in Marina Cantabrico around 1230am…zzzz. Nice marina, welcoming and helpful staff. Shorter walk to the airport than often around & inside Gatwick, but like Gatwick, it’s nowhere near the centre of town.

18,19 Aug Ribadesella. Think Ambleside-by-the-sea. Gateway to the Picos Europos. Run by the Home Guard, no English but charming and polite all the same. Excellent & clean facilities ashore.

Update to South Biscay Pilot: Space for visiting boats is available on the long eastern pontoon of the marina. Water & electricity in 2-2.5m. Enter from the NE along a line of small red port markers, turn left and follow the marina round to the long pontoon.

15-17 Aug Gijon. A long day’s trek 66 miles in 10.5h avg 6.2kn in benign conditions. All motor of course. The coast between Ribadeo and Gijon is largely mountainous, with a narrow strip of usable land before steep to cliffs. Not many places of interest to stop so today gets us a good way east.

Gijon (pron more like shee-shon) is a superb city. More to come in the blog.

14 Aug Ribadeo.

12,13 Aug Viveiro, . Up early to beat the adverse winds and swell. But they are quicker and had left already. 6 hour journey: motor for 2/3rd in light easterlies then superb beam reach 7kn in 11kn of wind back to Viviero. Full circle.Viveiro: sheltered, super flat. Good zzz Nice olde shopping street.

11 Aug Cedeira. We leave A Coruna full of diesel but no wind. Motor. I go down below to check the charts. Wind pipes up to 16+kn on the nose. We pass Cabo Prior, turn 45 degrees to head North East. Wind responds by remaining on the nose and increases to 20+kn. At least it’s sunny but otherwise it’s a slog to Cedeira. 🙁

9,10 Aug. 48nm/9hr slog to A Coruna. Sometime under motor, sometime under sail, most of the time under both

8 Aug – 2 months on:- back in Muxia.

7 Aug – back to Muros from home: car, train, train, hotel, 4am start for Easyjet to Santiago, taxi to bus station, bus to Muros. On board before mid day….

The journey so far:

2017

23 Jun and on.Muros. Back again. Tonight is the “Night of the Witches”. Pedro promises music and noise all night. The God bombs started soon after our arrival at Midday….

22 Jun Portosin.At 34nm the last long leg of this trip brings us to Real Club Nautico de Portosin

20, 21 Jun. Porto Nova. It’s hot, damn hot. But there’s a bar overlooking the marina and we know how to use it.

19 Jun Islas Cies. Spanish National Nature Reserve island. At anchor.

17,18 Jun Sanxenxo.

15,16 Jun Vigo. About 13 miles from the Portuguese border and as far South as we planned to go. Weather hot, wind plenty. Sailed more today than the whole 2 previous weeks!

13,14 Jun La Puebla Do Caraminal. Nice enough town, nice enough marina.

10,11,12 Jun Muros. lovely. We liked it so much we actually paid for an extra night!

9 Jun Finisterre, yep the real one. The most Westerly point of mainland Europe.

8 Jun Muxia. pron something like murcia but with a “th” as in murth-ee-a. Super place, excellent and deserted marina, plenty to see & do ashore for a day or so. Add to that €9 pp lunch and fantastic hardware/chandlery and we are made up.

7 Jun Camariñas. What can I say…nice marina, laid back staff, shop. That’s about it. Sorry.

6 Jun Porto Corme, NW Spain round the corner of NW Spain. Stopover at anchor to break the journey toward Caraminas.

4,5 Jun A Coruna!. Fine sail down and in. In company with 2 other French yachts. Bad weather forecast for Monday night but we are tucked in nicely. Monday night unbelievable Galician cooking at Meson El Serrano

3 Jun Cedeira. At anchor. James departed, Michele, Daphne, Sharon and John arrive. 6 go forth. No wind.

1,2 Jun Viveiro, Spain. 307nm, motored across the whole of the Bay of Biscay except for a couple of hours.

30, 31 May. Motoring across the Bay of Biscay. Boring.

29 May. Arzal. Boat prepped, Gav and James crew on board. Here comes Spain 🙂

2016

13 Sep Arzal – that’s it for this season.

12 Sep La Roche Bernard. The lock is closed 14&15 Sep so we decided to go through ahead of the certain bun fight tomorrow. Hot hot again – thermometer say 30 deg C

10,11 Sep Piriac Sur Mer. Super beam reach.24nm 3h 50m including departure, breakfast on the go and tying up. 7kn much of the way with a top of 7.75kn.

7-9 Sep Port Haliguen.

5,6 Sep Ile de Groix

3,4 Sep Port Louis

29 Aug – 2 Sep Loctudy. Had to pay for 1 night!

27,28 Aug Saint Marine. Delightful.

25,26 Aug Port Louis

23,24 Aug Ile aux Moines, Golfe de Morbihan. via Hoedic.

22 Aug Piriac Sur Mer. Great meal aboard Wombat with the Carlsons.

20,21 Aug La Roche Bernard

16-19 Aug Arzal. Arrived in 32 degree of heat & humidity. Too hot to sleep with a quilt, but by morning it had all gone and too cold ….

4-6 Jul Arzal. That’s it for now. Sadly no new posts due to absence of good materiel: will try to make one …

2,3 Jul La Roche Bernard Faffing, cleaning , fixing. Even us boaty adventurers need to do it…

1 Jul Piriac Sur Mer. Yet another lumpy sail round. Last stop before the Villaine.

30 Jun Pornichet.We were heading for Pornic but got the spelling wrong….lumpy sea and better course of sail wins…..

28,29 Jun. Ile D’Yeu. As our new friends would say, we “put some donk on it” to get the boat north as far as Les Sables D’Olonne then the wind piped up and sailed the rest. 53nm in in 8 hours.

21-23 Jun St Martin, Ile De Re. The rain stopped, the wind came from abeam: 6kn boat in 9kn wind!. We arrived in St Martin, the sun came out and temperature climbed….heaven at last :-)…and with the warm weather, nice neighbours, good food etc apathy sets in. Still resident on the 25th and heading for the 2 free nights to make it a full week!

19,20 Jun Bourgenay.. See here. James left Sables D’Olonne by train this morning and we trekked 6.5 nm down the coast to get on with the domestic jobs ….

18 jun Les Sables D’Olonne.

17 jun St Gilles Croix de la Vie. Laurie leaves us by train.

15,16 Jun Ile D’Yeu. 35nm with a forecast of a fine F4 on the beam – super. Reality was a F3 on the nose – motored all the way…..16th : fine sunny hot sunshine in 18 deg…

13,14 Pornichet. Weather turned to rainy F6 as we arrive. 7kn+ most of the way.

12 Jun Piriac Sur Mer. Weather turned….

9-11 Jun La Roche Bernard .Launched in hot humid weather. Previous night we stayed at Michelin rated restaurant/hotel L’Auberge Bretonne. Yum. James arrived on 11th.

28 Apr -3 May Arzal . Unpack and get ready for the season. Poor boat looking very green this year after a mild& wet winter

2015

21 Sep Home. 🙁 🙂 . Flat beds, no tink tink tink, slap slap or howl & shriek. Just the pigeons….

19,20 Arzal . Pack up and homeward bound. But before that the season ended with a restorative sail from Pornichet to Arzal in light sunny airs on a calm sea. What a difference a day makes. fab.

18 Pornichet: We broke out and had a lumpy run up. We could have sailed but settled for an easy life.

13-17 Sep Ile D’Yeu. Stormy tonighty, Stormy Wednesday. 110km gusts forecast. Another sail ripper..

12 Sep Bourgenay. Heading North as fast as we can to stay ahead of the next storm

8-11 Sep St Martin, Ile De Re. With Zoe

5-7 Sep Les Minimes, La Rochelle. Officially they are not taking visitors due to the preps for the Boat Show, but getting in early was rewarded with one of the last “unofficial” visitors spaces.

4 Sep Bourgenay

2,3 Sep St Giles Croix de la Vie

28 Aug – 1 Sep Ile D’Yeu

26,27 Aug L’Herbaudière, Noirmoutier. Reworked visitors pontoon helps

22-25 Aug Pornic. Still Holed up

21 Aug Pornichet, La Baule. West Coast mega resort.

18-20 Aug Arzal: start of another cruise – this time going south to La Rochelle

16 Jul Home

15 Jul Back to Arzal and the end of this holiday

13,14 Jul La Roche Bernard. For Bastille Day Celebrations

11,12 Jul Piriac Sur Mer for the big holiday weekend

9,10 Jul Le Palais, Belle Ile

7,8 Jul La Trinite sur Mer

5,6 Jul Port Haliguen

3,4 Jul Sauzon, Belle Ile

30 Jun – 2 Jul Port Louis

28,28 Jun Port de St Catherine (Loqmicuelic), Lorient. There’s a washing machine here and we need one….

27 Etel

24-26 Jun Port Tudy, Isle d’Groix

22,23 Jun Port Louis. Shiny new Capitainerie (harbourmaster’s office)

21 Jun Isle d’Houat

18-20 Jun La Roche Bernard. Chilling out after a hectic few days

14-17 Jun Vannes -staying at an airbnb place whilst we get the boat ready

2014

11 Sep Home. 🙁 🙂

8-10 Sep. Arzal. Full circle and end of cruise.

5,6 Sep La Roche Bernard

3,4 Sep – Piriac Sur Mer. Last saltwater stop before heading up the Villaine.

31 Aug – 2 Sep Pornic. Stylish.

29-30 Aug Ile d’Yeu. Top port:.One of our favourites

28 Aug. Back to Les Sables D’Olonne. Heading North slowly.

27 Aug Bourgenay-Dullsville. zzzz. Why do we do it?

20 – 26 A whole week in St Martin, Ile De Re. Heaven. Jazz Festival on the 22nd-25th. great.

19 La Rochelle, vieux port, Bassin des Chalutiers

18 Aug La Rochelle – Les Minimes Marina to pick up Laurie

11 -17 Aug… Rochefort, old naval port. Let the ambience just wash over…we did for a full week 🙂

7-10 Aug La Rochelle, Les Minimes, La Rochelle

5,6 Aug Bourgenay-Dullsville

3,4 Aug – Les Sables D’Olonne. Home of the Vendee Globe yacht race and others

31 Jul- 2 Aug Ile D’Yeu

30 Jul L’Herbaudiere. For 1 night only.

27-29 Jul Arzal

2013

29 Aug Lawrenny. To pick up car. Full circle and the end of travel reporting for this season.

28 Aug Broad Chalke ..sad to be home, glad to be home….

27 Aug Port Arzal-Camouel, a different berth this time.

25,26 Aug – back to La Roche Bernard (4 miles)

24 Aug, Port Arzal-Camouel, trying out our new home

21-23 La Roche Bernard. Up river. End of salty sea sailing.

19,20 Aug Pornic .Nice. Especially after awful night and poor service at L’Herbaudiere

18 Aug L’Herbaudière, Noirmoutier (after a very fast sail, beam reaching upto 9kn)

15-17 Aug Ile D’Yeu

14 Aug Bourgenay (nice, but nothing more than a handy stop between LR and Ile D’Yeu)

12,13 Aug La Rochelle – Les Minimes Marina

11 Aug La Rochelle, Bassin des Chalutiers

8-10 St Martin, Ile de Re (no internet)

7 Aug La Rochelle Vieux Port

4-6 Aug La Rochelle – Les Minimes Marina

2-3 Aug Ile D’Yeu

31 Jul – 1 Aug Le Palais, Belle Isle (no internet)

29,30 Jul Port Louis (Lorient)

27,28 Jul – Loctudy

23-26 Jul – Camaret Sur Mer (NW France)

20-22 Jul – Tresco / Bryher

19 Jul – Lawrenny