Vannes and the Morbihan

After getting all the chores done in Crouesty - provisions and 2 weeks of washing - we set off for a short spell in Vannes. The forecast had been very mixed but in fact generally we had lovely warm and sunny weather - ideal for wandering around the town. The flower beds around the ramparts were looking beautiful, much more mature than when we had been earlier in the summer. We also celebrated 35 years of wedded bliss - there were plenty of good restaurants to choose from but we elected to try one from the Michelin Guide, Roscanvec. It was an excellent meal, we opted for the 'degustation' menu which meant it was up to the chef as to what he decided for you. There were 6 courses and the food was fantastic.

After spending 3 nights in Vannes we headed out to one of the islands - Ile D'Arz - which was much more peaceful than when we were last there in July. Its a beautiful area for walking and the weather gave us the opportunity to see much more of the island than we had done previously. Unfortunately the batteries on Cabernet gave out in the middle of Saturday night, she's a power hungry boat and I like to keep the fridge operating which causes a big drain. Still she started ok on just the one engine battery and we pottered around to Ile aux Moines, where we hooked up to shore power and were once again able to enjoy the civilised side of being on the water.

We will probably remain in the Morbihan until Wednesday, after which we'll start wending our way slowly back to the Vilaine.

Belle Ile

After the traumas of Houat we had a couple of quiet days in Port Haliguen, although the wind was still stronger than the crew would have liked! We set off on wednesday for Sauzon on Belle Ile - we had visited Le Palais on the island earlier in the summer but had not been too impressed, probably influenced by the fact that it had been pouring with rain at the time. However the settled forecast for the following few days encouraged us to give Belle Ile another try.

Sauzon was just delighful and so quiet now that the main French holidays have finished. We tied up bow and stern in the inner harbour intending to dry out for the first time. However even at low water we still had about a metre under our keel - the skipper on one of the other yachts was taking advantage of the glorious weather to clean his hull but my skipper was not at all inclined to follow suit!!

After a very quiet night in Sauzon we set off down the coast for Le Palais, all of 5 miles away. Again it was much quieter than our last visit and we decided our first impressions had been far too hasty. We took a trip to the citadel - very well cared for and I was treated to afternoon tea in the hotel which forms part of the premises - very posh.

The next day was skipper's birthday so we hired a 'car' to tour the island, particularly the Atlantic coast which turned out be be spectacular, especially in the hot sunny weather. The car was good fun but a real effort to drive - give me a sophisticated gearbox any day!!

We could have stayed longer but the forecast for the forthcoming week looks as though the weather is going to break down a bit so Sunday saw us heading once again for Port du Crouesty. Another fab day, all the sails flying but not quite enough wind to make sufficient headway so, with a bit of engine, we managed 7kts on the 16 mile trip across the Quiberon Bay. It looks like Vannes will be a good option until the weather settles again.

France - Take 3

We arrived back in Foleux on 24th Aug having managed to catch an earlier ferry from Dover. This enabled us to reach our hotel in Caen at a very respectable 6pm as opposed to the scheduled 9pm.

Off early the following morning with an easy drive to Foleux, arriving before 10am. Cabernet was in fine form, having been berthed very cosily by our mini dodos at the end of their very successful holiday. It was a glorious day and we had high hopes for the next stage of our 2010 French Tour. Regrettably that optimism didn't last and it proceeded to rain very heavily for the next two days - we stayed put in Foleux rather than get wet somewhere else! The forecast was for an improvement on Friday but we woke to yet more rain this time accompanied by thunder and lightning - it looked like yet another day in Foleux but by lunchtime the sun had re-established itself and we were on our way once more. We went through the Arzal lock at 4pm and spent the night just down river, ready for an early start on Saturday.

We arrived in good time in Piriac on saturday morning - its every bit as pretty as we'd been led to believe so had a couple of days chilling out in glorious warm sunshine. We even managed a scramble over the rocks at the headland - skipper was in his element. However the inevitable strong winds returned and gave us a restless night but we set off bright and early on Monday for the island of Houat, just 10 miles off Quiberon Bay.

We had a splendid sail all the way there and found we had the pick of the buoys in the bay at Port St Gildas - that should have sent out warning signals! We spent the warm and sunny afternoon on the beach - described in our pilot book as the best beach in Brittany and it certainly rates that description. There was some trauma when we experienced a man overboard - fortunately just John off the back of the dinghy. He floated and came to no harm!! Lovely barbie in the evening on the back of Cabernet and just one other boat on the moorings - and then we found out why. The wind got up about 9.30pm and we started to roll, fairly gently at first but strongly enough for skipper to set the anchor alarm in case we started to drag for any reason. The sea and wind just built and built and by 11.30pm we decided it would be prudent to get dressed in case we had to take action. Poor Cabernet took a terrible battering and I felt very seasick - I didn't feel so bad once I'd learned that the wife on board the other Brit boat on the next mooring HAD actually been sick 3 times during the night!!! Skipper suggested we initiate 2 hourly watches but the idea of looking at the bouncing shoreline in the dark didn't really appeal so we took our chances with the anchor alarm.

At the end of the night Cabernet was still in the same place, we hadn't moved at all but were both suffering badly from lack of sleep. At first light the wind was still blowing strongly, it was not an option to stay there a minute longer than necessary and, after reviewing the situation, we set off down wind for Port Haliguen - the sea was roly and we were experiencing gusts of 36kts so it was a case of life jackets and harness lines being used! The benefit of the wind was that it was a very quick trip(!) and we were safely tied up in the marina by 9am. I now understand that Houat is well known for that type of experience......it will be a day trip in future, if we decide to return!!!!! Having said all that the weather is now undoubtedly the best we've had all trip - long may it continue.

The arrival of our mini dodos!

We had a bit of engine trouble on the friday we were due to leave Crouesty to head for the Villaine - there were a number of 'discussions' between the skipper and his crew but eventually common-sense prevailed and we had a visit from a mechanic who sorted the problem in double quick time so we were able to leave the marina in great haste in order to get to the Villaine that evening - for once the wind was in our favour and we had a fantastic sail all the way to the mouth of the river. Unfortunately there were loads of yachts waiting to get through the lock when we arrived so we decided that the best move was to leave them to it and we transited the lock at our leisure the following morning.

We spent a couple of very peaceful days in the river before Andrew and Annie arrived last wednesday to take charge of Cabernet for their 10 day holiday. Skipper sailed with them to Arradon over a couple of days - I was charged with taking the car! They had a chaotic transit of the lock at Arzal with boats everywhere but were not put off at all by this - even the Force 6-7 up to Crouesty didnt put them off so we left them to their own devices on Friday afternoon and made our way to Calais.

We arrived home much earlier than expected on the saturday morning after getting on a friday evening ferry. We return to France on 24th August for the last stage of our trip. We're hoping to revisit Belle Ille, Piriac and of course make a last visit to the Morbihan before seeing Cabernet settled at Foleux for the winter.

Morbihan - take 3

We are really enchanted with the Morbihan and, after leaving Crouesty, spent another few days happily pottering around a few more anchorages and moorings. We spent one night at anchor off Ile D'Arz - bit of a mistake as the Rallye Passport Morbihan fleet (30+ boats) decided to use the same anchorage for their lunchtime stop. It got pretty hairy as they all started to drop anchor in 28kts of wind. Several yachts dragged their anchors and we came very close to having to fend one off Cabernet. However peace prevailed by mid-afternoon but, having seen the escapades of the other boats, we didn't feel happy to leave Cabernet unattended whilst we went ashore. After one rather sleepless night I'd had enough and we spent a couple - more peaceful - days at Arradon and Ile aux Moines. We walked the length of Moines - a good few hours - which made up for not getting off the boat earlier in the week.

By the saturday we were back in Crouesty to do some much needed washing, provisioning etc. We discovered that there was a regatta day on at Port Navalo so that provided us with a good opportunity for yet another strenuous walk. The weather was not great so we watched the Breton dancers and then headed back to Crouesty.

By this time our old friends from Glasgow, Chris and Lorna, had been in touch and were planning to be in our vicinity on their way back home in their motorhome. We were thrilled to find they managed to find a campsite within walking distance of Arradon and thoroughly enjoyed showing them the sights of Vannes the following day. Their visit was rounded off with a bbq on the beach at Arradon - by the time the tide had finished coming in we were left with a very small strip of beach on which to finish the eating and drinking of the evening!!

Morbihan - take 2

Sunday dawned a glorious day - fairly rare even in these parts - a cloudless blue sky and light breeze so we headed into the gulf shortly after 9am. We were nearly at high tide so expected an easy entrance - we got up to 10.5kts so i'm glad we didnt make the passage any earlier. We quickly found ourselves at Point D'Arradon where we picked up a mooring for a couple of nights.

Before we left there had been a fantastic firework display on saturday night in celebration of Bastille Day - many places had had to postpone their usual displays due to the strong winds on the 14th.

Its been a beautiful couple of days. Yesterday we took the dinghy to a little beach on an isolated island and today we walked into the town of Arradon - clearly a very wealthy area, the houses are just fantastic.

We're going to stay in the gulf for the next few days before heading back out to the islands en route to the Villaine to greet Andrew and Annie on 4th August.

Belle Ille - Le Palais

There was much 'discussion' between skipper and crew regarding our next destination - skipper wanted to visit Belle Ille and its associated island but the crew was mindful of the deteriorating forecast for midweek and didnt want to find Cabernet at anchor in a Force 6-8 wind! However compromise was reached - isnt it always and we agreed to visit Belle Ille for a few days, hire a car and explore the island at our leisure.

The trip from La Turballe was not without incident - the wind was already blowing strongly and at one point we lurched violently and promptly lost the solar shower overboard. Skipper was all for attempting a recovery until I pointed out that we had nothing with which to recover a bag containing at least 20l of water. We sailed on but as we started to put away our mainsail the boat got caught by another gust and lurched again...in the other direction this time so we lost the other solar shower overboard!!

The entry into Le Palais was a melee of yachts and ferries. Our plan to spend 5 nights on the island quickly changed when the harbour launch informed us that only one night max was possible. We rafted up in the Basin de Flot along with dozens of other boats and a visit to the capitanerie explained that they had to clear the basin by 7.30am as they were expecting a gasoline tanker - but we were welcome to return at 6pm!! We didnt see the town at its best as it poured down all evening. We were awakened at 6am by the departure of the boat next to us and we decided that we were not sufficiently enamoured by Le Palais to stooge around for 12 hours. We headed to La Trinite on the other side of Quiberon Bay and were safely tied up there by 10am. We will make a return visit to the island but not until end August when all the French holidaymakers have returned to work!

Unfortunately La Trinite is not a good place to be at spring (high) tides - we bounced around like tennis balls and by Wednesday the wind was howling as well. On wednesday evening it was virtually impossible to sit below, the boat was rocking so much, so we took ourselves off to a local restaurant to celebrate Bastille Day with the rest of the population.

By Friday however we'd had enough of the rocking and rolling and decided to make a dash to Port du Crouesty just 6 miles along the coast. The wind was gusting 35kts but it was behind us and blew us down the coast - I wasnt filled with confidence however when even the skipper commented that he hoped it didn't get any worse!!

We will leave here tomorrow (sunday) and head into the Morbihan - hopefully the wind will have eased and we'll have a few peaceful nights and barbeques as the weather settles back down again.

La Turballe

We set off early on Friday from Pornic and arrived in La Turballe in time for a late lunch. From what people had said we expected the crossing of the Loire to be a little choppy but it was perfectly smooth - in fact hardly a ripple on the water!

We had been advised to visit Guerande, about 6kms away. This time however we resorted to public transport as the roads looked anything but bike friendly. Guerande is a walled town, rather like Concarneau and we spent a lovely day exploring the area. Also found a great restaurant in a shaded terrace where we enjoyed a really excellent 3 course lunch for 25e.

La Turballe has a super beach just next to the marina and also provides live entertainment - free - in the evenings during the season.

The visitor area in the marina is quite small and another source of entertainment was watching the marina staff cram in as many yachts as possible into this small area - noone was turned away and no tempers got frayed!

Pornic

Having left Noirmoutier, our passage was all of 8 miles across the bay to the lovely seaside town of Pornic - easily the prettiest stop on our travels so far. The marina is a short walk out of town but the boardwalk passes Bluebeard's castle - another place we didn't get a chance to visit on this occasion.

There was a fantastic market in Pornic on a wednesday - we spent a fortune but the quality of the food was exceptional and our pigeon French got us by!

We took the dinghy out to explore the coast but, although being very sheltered in the marina, it was blowing quite hard in the bay so after I had got soaked numerous times we decided to head back in!!

Noirmoutier - L'herbaudier

After we dragged ourselves away from a great few days in Port Joinville, we renegotiated the lobster pots and set off back north to Ile de Noirmoutier - close enough to the coast to be joined by a bridge. We had been told that the marina a L'Herbaudier got very busy but actually we were shown straight to a berth...in fact its been much quieter all round than we'd expected for July.

This is another very flat island so, having been encouraged by our success in Yeu, we hired the bikes for 2 days this time! The town of Noirmoutier is very pretty with a big chateau which we didn't have time to visit on this occasion. The main occupation - apart from tourism - seems to be the salt flats covering much of the island, it certainly made for easy cycling! This time however there was more of a breeze blowing so skipper found it rather harder work! Our tour took us to a beautiful beach which, when we arrived, was completely deserted - again not what we'd expected at the height of their tourist season.

Ile de Yeu - Port Joinville

After a couple of days in Pornichet we set off for our most southerly destination this year - Ile de Yeu. We had hoped to get down to Ile de Re and La Rochelle but the storm at the beginning of march left so much damage that some marinas are still closed whilst others are only accepting a yacht for one night. Having heard all this from a number of sources we decided that that part fo the trip could wait until next year.

The passage to Port Joinville was made in glorious weather and we actually managed to sail for part of it rather than use our engine which has been the case on nearly all the passages to date. The entry to Joinville was littered with lobster pots and trying to avoid them was something of a challenge - one boat which entered the marina after us had not been so successful and required a diver to cut them free from the pot and its flag.

Since this was to be our most southerly stop for 2010 we decided to spend 4 nights at Port Joinville, a very pretty town with a Med feel - whitewashed houses and terracotta roofs. There is a large fishing fleet and I made several calls on the excellent poissonerie on the harbourside.

The island is very flat and I had suggested we hire a jeep to explore - we ended up with two bikes as skipper thought we needed the exercise....in fact it wasnt hard as there were dedicated cycle tracks which meant we didnt pose a threat to the motoring popualtions. We actually managed to cycle right around - all 30 kms - which was no mean feat in the temperatures we've been having.

Also used the dinghy to explore the coast near to the marina. We found a wonderful beach where the water was actually warm enough for us both to venture in.

This will definitely be on our list for a return visit next year.

La Baule - Pornichet

It was hard to drag ourselves away from the peace and tranquility of our Villaine anchorage but by Sunday we had decided that it was time to set off further south.

We had a - reasonably - uneventful passage through the Arzal Barrier, the only problem arose when skipper let go of the stern line before I had freed the bow and we ended up at 90degs in the lock. Skipper was horrified - to say nothing of the boat behind us!! However control was soon regained and we set off none the worse for La Baule. The weather was glorious and we sailed down for quite a bit of the trip on the crusing chute.

Pornichet marina is at the far end of La Baule's 5 mile beach so we spent a couple of nights there and explored the town courtesy of Le Petit Train!

Part 2 - The Villaine

We returned to France on 24th June after a hectic week at home - its been difficult since then to find suitable internet connections.....in truth the sun has shone, the temperature has been 25+degs and there have been other things to do!

Once we got back to Cabernet we decided we needed a couple of days rest and relaxation to wind down and get back into holiday mode so we left our berth on the friday 25th at Foleux and headed up the river for a couple of hours, finding a superb anchorage miles from anywhere and anyone, where we swam,read our books and generally enjoyed the fantastic weather.

On saturday skipper decided he needed a bit of exercise and we needed some bread so he set off in the dinghy - minus the outboard - in search of a boulangerie. After some 2 hours I was beginning to wonder if I needed to up anchor in search of him when the dinghy re-appeared around the bend in the river with one very hot and tired skipper but no bread. Fortunately provisions on board were raided for the partbaked stuff which has proved so handy!