Arr 18.00

An early start to catch the last of the falling tide down the Goulet de Brest before turning north with the next tide up the Chenal du Four , a narrow channel that runs north/south where it is important to arrive at the correct time of the tide.  It was quite misty when we started out and we were a little early but things improved as we motored north against the last of the ebb past this lighthouse and mark. The highlight of the day came soon after when two large bottle nosed dolphins came to play under the bow of the boat for about five minutes. We were going at over 5 knots and they positioned themselves just under the bow and kept there for some time before diving away. They would then come round, blow off at the side of the boat and then repeat the process. Apart from the excitment of the dolphins we had an unneventful passage to L’Aber-wrac’h where we motored passed the moorings and anchored up the river half way to Paluden. It was lovely and peaceful there, when the motor boats stopped charging up and down.

Arr 19.00

Mosquitoes rather active last night and our electric zapper did not seem to be doing it's stuff. Very foggy when we woke up so we had a lie in. It seemed to be improving by about 10 so we set but it was worse near the mouth of the river.  We found all the buoys on the route out, along with a couple of apparently lost boats, using the GPS and the radar but in open water the visibility was no better, worse in fact but we continued hoping it would get better. It Didn't! We saw absolutely nothing until we reached the rocks at the entrance to Trebeurden! The radar told us we were actualy in the company of another 3 or 4 yachts for most of the journey but could not see them. When they appeared to be very close we sounded the horn and listened for the reply so we could really identify where they were. It was hard, staring into cotton wool all day, for anything thing too small to show up on the radar. We found our way around the rocks and the bouys and into the entrance using waypoints based on our stored GPS track out from our first visit helped by the borrowed map cartridge data which was now on the screen. We arrived early evening and were tied up in time for dinner and a well earned rest as we both felt shattered although it had not been a very physical day.

Trebeurden

We slept late but still felt exhausted after yesterday so decided to stay here for the day. My eyes felt very tired. I put some bread on to cook and we wandered up to the village to stock up with some supplies.

On our return it was low water so we left the bread to cool and went out to the beach. Barry had his fishing net and bucket to catch shrimps. He eventually caught a handful of small transparent shrimp. Only two were really big enough to eat but he cooked them all and ate them later. While shrimping we noticed that all the locals were out with their rakes as it now seems to be the clam season. There was no one sitting on the beach, everyone was busily raking, digging or netting sea life. It was amazing. Barry caught lots of little fish while he was netting the shrimp but he put them all back(obviously not big enough to eat!) . Later, during a thunderstorm, Barry went back ashore as there seemed to be ethnic music being played on the front which we could hear from the boat. He came back much later saying it was the natives having some sort of folk dance and music festival with lots of food and beer stalls . He enjoyed it even though he had to take shelter at a beer stall while the natives carried on dancing in the rain.

We were going to carry on along the coast today but the wind has got up and gone into the east so we decided to stay put hoping for a better forecast tomorrow. We went out and bought a rake and spent the afternoon digging up the beach and collecting a small bucketful of clams. I never knew that clams, cockles etc. buried themselves in the sand, some were four or five inches below the surface. Barry stayed to try and get some shrimp from under the seaweed when the tide came in. No luck. Barry cooked up the clams a la Marinier and we had them for dinner. Quite good, some a bit sandy and chewy. He had been up to the town later in the afternoon ad bought strawberries and cream for dessert. I expect they will be the last of the season. They were good.

cont.

The weather forecast is worse today, even stronger north easterlies and it looks like we will be here until Monday. We decided to take the bus to Lannion however when we arrived at the bus stop we found that the bus was not due for 2 hours but we met an English family going the same way and we shared a taxi with them. We walked around the town but most of the shops were shutting for lunch including some of the restaurants as it is a bank holiday in France. We found a small restaurant that was open and had a lovely lunch washed down with a bottle of local cider, infact we think that their business card described their phylosphy as "fresh food ,no chips"! We then walked up the 142 steps to the Brelevenez church which was first built by the knights templars in the 12 century. After the church we walked back down to the river which was mostly mud as the tide was out.

On the opposite bank of the river was St Anne’s monastery.

The bus route is a circular one so we took the long way back which took us all the way round the rose granite coast from Peros Guirec back to Trebeurden.

Trebeurden

The couple from Ossian Warrior (another Warrior 40) were interested in our clam expedition and borrowed our rake. They came back later to suggest a pontoon party later that evening and we agreed to show them the clam hunting technique in the afternnon before we went exploring the island, on the other side of the beach, which gets cut off by the tide. That afternoon the four of us collected a good bag of clams before we left them to it went off to explore the island.

From the top of the island we had a good view of the off shore islands and rocks. There were also some buildings with posters giving information about the island but all in French.

There was an ancient stone structure which one felt had been reassembled.

We then walked out to a boarded up building where we could see the rock formation called "the old man" for obvious reasons. Later the British, all held up by the weather, met up on the quay with wine and nibbles for a very pleasant hour or so chatting. The Ossian Warrior's were very uncertain about the clams so we agreed to share them as a starter on their boat. They were cooked under Barry’s supervision and we all enjoyed them. We then returned to Lucia to eat the crab Barry had cooked and prepared earlier. I then needed my bed but Celtic Spirit next door invited Barry in for coffee.

St Peter Port Guernsey Arr 23.00

The weather forecast was now good so after sorting things out we set out planning to go overnight to Alderney and then on to Cherbourg or possibly directly to Cherbourg. The wind died soon after we passed the Sept Ile so on went the motor which we got fed up with after a few hours and decided to head for St Peter Port for the night. After a few hours on our new course the wind came back on the quarter and the visibility deteriorated but we continued to motor sail to make best speed. We were getting a little worried as we approached the coast as we could not see the light on the S/E corner of Guernsey but then we heard the fog horn and soon after spotted the red sector of the light which soon turned white so we were happy. As soon as we turned north up the eastern side of Guernsey we could see the lights of St Peter Port. We were met near the entrance by the harbour launch who found us a spot rafted out as the harbour was very full. And then to bed.

Cherbourg arr 14 30

Cherbourg

A busy day of housekeeping and stocking up with booze for the next year from the warehouse in the marina. We then had a clean up below decks before trekking to the supermarket fro food and more boose. After lunch Barry emptied his can of red diesel into the tank and had a wash down of the decks. Gary, July, Paul and Karen joined us  onboard for a drink before they headed into town for dinner.

St Vaast 14.00

Fuelled up just after 9am (enough to motor all the way home!) and had an uneventful but fruitful (mackerel for dinner) motor past Barfleur light to St Vaast

There is a gate to the marina as the entrance dries. The gate opened a little late  but when it did there was an armada of boats coming out so we had to wait however when we got to the gate a sign told us that boats entering have right of way !. A bit of a narrow gap for our mooring but we managed it, it's amazing the help you get when you are trying to shove your boat between others into a space that is too small . We wanted to go to Tattiho a small island a mile away which is served by an amphibious craft but we were told the island was full so had a walk around the town instead.

We found an amazing shop that sold all sorts of new and old fashioned things.

Most towns we visit seem to have the odd anchor but here they have a propeller. We walked out along the grand mole and then back to the boat for dinner, the mackerel we caught earlier.

Arr 16.30

An early start to get out before the gate closed. Light westerly winds so we motored. Barry has decided he really needs a cruising chute for light winds, he misses the one he had on the Maxi. A fairly uneventful day dodging the odd big ship en route to or from Le Havre or the Siene.

As we entered the marina we saw two enormous trimarans tied up 50-60 foot long! We rafted up beside a very new Dutch Halberg R the owners of which proceeded to get out the hose and scrub down their decks and anything else that wasn't moving!! We slovenly English got out a drink. We felt almost guilty crossing their freshly scrubbed deck to get ashore until we noticed that a seagull had already paid his respects.

After paying our dues at the harbour office we had an early evening walk along the sea front which is very touristy. One thing here we had not seen before was bungee trampolining !

arr 12.05

Another of the big trimarans had arrived during the night.

The swell (scend?) in the harbour, which Fecamp is famous for, gave us quite an uncomfortable night so by morning we were glad to leave.  We found a fair bit of swell in the entrance which is normal here with a South Westerly wind but when we saw the boat in front , the Dutch Halberg, almost get airborne we slowed right down and just got a little wet. There was a bit of a swell on the quarter but the S/W wind on the quarter gave us a really good ride. It was hard work though as the auto pilot couldn't handle the swell so it was hand stearing most of the way to Griz Nez. Our highest recorded speed through the water was 9.9knots as we surfed down the waves. Our average speed to Calais entrance was 6.00 knots. 15 hours to do 95 miles. As usual ee had to troll about outside to get permission to enter between ferries. A long but successful day’s sail. We picked up a buoy in the outer harbour as we had missed the last lock opening for that tide.

Calais

We entered the marina at the first lock opening at 8am and got ourselves sorted out before going into town for our last shopping trip in France.

After lunch we decided to have a trip up the lighthouse as we had never been before. It is a long way up but we had a good view.

After the lighthouse  we looked in various restaurants and booked a table for dinner that night in what looked like a nice place (Le Detroit, next to the yacht harbour) but later we had a very ordinary meal but quite pleasant all the same.

BST

Everyone seemed to be up and moving for the first opening. There must have been twenty boats all streaming through the opening just to come to a stop as they met three reds on the port control lights. Some half a dozen or so boats ignored the lights and had to scoot into the side as a large ferry bore down on them. Eventually after another ferry entered we were given permission to go and we all set sail across the channel. It was a good north easterly wind now which gave us a cracking sail across the channel and as we freed off a good sail up the estuary even though we were so early we were sailing against the tide until we reached Sheppey. It was an amazingly clear day as we could see the white cliffs of Dover as soon as we left Calais and the Grain chimney not long after we rounded North Foreland and entered the estuary. Not wanting to go looking for a bouy in the dark we anchored in Stangate for the night.

Hoo