We are now in France and enjoying lots of sunshine, although it has turned a bit grey and wet in the last couple of days. We filled up with diesel in Port Samson, Guernsey at 57p per litre so we squeezed every last drop into the tanks since prices in Europe are about £1.20 to £1.40!!! We headed to the Island of Sark for a few days and suffered some bouncy times in the anchorage because of the swell, the first evening we had to move to another bay it was so bad. After that we used bow and stern anchors to make sure we lay head on to the swell and things were much better, most of the monohulls around us were having a much worse time than we were!!! Mike and Pru spent a couple of days in Sark with us so we had to have a few drinkies to be sociable. Tried our lobster pots for the first time this year in Sark and caught two small lobsters on the first night.
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| Sue and Pru Partying in Sark | We Catch Lobsters as Well as Fish |
We left the Channel Islands with calm seas, clear sunny skies and barely any wind so we motored or motorsailed to the Ile de Batz just offshore from Roscoff, the 80nm trip took us about 12hrs and we anchored in the lovely harbour of Porz Kernof. The harbour dries out so we spent the night firmly sat on the sand with no rocking around for a change. We wanted to make a bit of progress southwards whilst the weather was nice and settled so we left the next day for a 40nm trip to Argenton, more sunshine and winds of less than 10knts all day, we did get the spinnaker up for about an hour but it was only enough to pull us along at about 3knts so we gave up and resorted to engines again – good job we filled up in Guernsey!!!
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| Porz Kernok, Ile de Batz | Dolphins in the Chenal du Four |
Just an overnight stop in Argenton, especially as it took us 5 attempts to get our anchor to set properly!! From there we headed through the Chenal du Four and into the Rade de Brest, we had about 8 or 10 very big dolphins with us for about 15mins as we went down the Chenal so that really made the day. At the eastern end of the Rade de Brest is the River Aulne and the weather was forecast to go downhill for a few days so we decided to head up the River to shelter for a while.
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| Beautiful Tall Ship Under Full Sail | On Our Way Up the River Aulne |
The River is a lovely 15nm trip through reed beds and farmland until you arrive at the lock at Guilly Glaz that lets you into the canalised section of the river, not much room for us in the lock but we got through with no hassles. A mile upstream we tied up to the canal wall at Port Launay with a varied selection of French liveaboard boats and cruising boats from the UK. As I said the weather has taken a downward turn for the last couple of days but Port Launay is sheltered and safe so we are just waiting for the sun to return. The weather out in the Bay of Biscay has been pretty horrible with winds of F6 – F8 and rough or very rough seas – we are not keen on sailing in that sort of weather so we can sit tight until things get better. We also met Dan and Rhianon in Salcombe, they had left their boat in Port Launay for the winter so we had the pleasure of giving St Anna a good check over and telling Dan and Rhianon that she is in great shape and ready for their summers cruise in a few weeks time.
Bonjour mes amies Sue ici!!
As usual the Captain has got in first and said it all!! What he didn’t mention though was we nearly lost our dinghys in Sark. We went ashore for a tour of the Island with Pru and Mike and came across a little pub called The Bell Air where it was £2 a pint, needless to say we stayed for one or two!! It was then we realised how late it was and the tide would be coming in and our dinghys were on the beach!! We made a hasty retreat for the beach where we found Mikes dinghy just floating and ours, although anchored, had got washed around the other side of a large rock. The swell was very big and it took us some time to get both dinghys off the beach, in which time I managed to get thrown forward and banged my head on the dinghy engine. I ended up with a very impressive lump over my right eye!! Anchor drinks were definitely needed when we got back to our boats.
It was a lovely feeling reaching France, we are finally abroad and well on our way. When we got to the loch at Guilly Glaz Chris insisted that I ring ahead to make sure we could fit in the lock. His reasoning being that I did my French O level, I had to remind him that it was 36 years ago!! It was a very interesting conversation but I got there in the end and the lock keeper was very amused!! I was trying to tell him we would be arriving at seven o clock and he thought i was saying we would be there in seven hours and kept telling me he would be in bed by then!! I have since been studying my French phrase book.
The weather has once again brought us to a standstill but at least we are moored up safely and have met some really nice people. Wine is very cheap here so no doubt we will be sampling a few bottles to decide which to get for when my sister and here husband arrive in two weeks time. We are really looking forward to seeing them and aim to be in the Gulf of Morbihan by then where hopefully we will find the sun again.
