Chateaulin

We arrived at Chateaulin on the R Aulne yesterday, having left Brest on Wednesday morning. There was a good wind and we managed to sail all the way across and a good bit up river. There was a heart stopping moment as we went under the Pont du Terenez bridge - didnt seem a lot of clearance for the mast but we made it! After a lot of huffing and puffing between crew and skipper aboout wind direction etc we dropped anchor at Tregarvan a sleepy little hollow which wouldnt have looked out of place on the west coast of Scotland. We had to navigate a lock on the river yesterday but it was a doddle compared with those on Crinan canal and helped enormously by a very jolly lock keeper so we tied up in Chateaulin just before lunch. There was considerqble trauma shortly afterwards when another Brit yacht tried to also tie up alongside just in front of us. Unfortunately he got pushed back by the current from a sluice gate and managed to get himself hooked on our anchor and at 90 degs to us - what a palaver. fortunately with the help of most of the lunchtime crowd we managed to haul him off - little damage to Cabernet apart from a bent anchor pin but quite a bit to his stern. He was most apologetic and insisted we accept a bottle of Malt!!! The berthing here is free so the skipper thinks we'll stay here until Monday as the weather is not yet settled enough to encourage us to set off down the coast - bucket and spade will stay put for a little longer.