On Monday we made the very short hop to Brest where will leave the boat for a week until Iain and a few others come out to sail back to Lymington where Alma will be wintered.

So this is the end of the cruise. It’s been an extraordinary summer. We’ve had all sorts of weather, visited wonderful places, met some great people, learned a lot about Alma and (we hope) about sailing and about ourselves. We’re excited about next summer when we plan to sail to Spain and Portugal in the first part of the summer and then on to Malta for the autumn. Can’t wait.

So this is the last Alma blog until next May. Hope it’s been interesting and helped us keep in touch. We look forward to catching up with as many of you as possible over the winter and seeing many of you on board Alma next summer.

All the best, Iain and Helen.

Pornichet to Brest 7th to 16th September

Left Pornichet on 7th (in glorious sunshine but little wind) heading for Belle Ile (the largest of all Breton Islands) to the south of Quiberon Bay. Entering the harbour under the towering walls of the 16th century Citadel we moored in the tiny inner basin after waiting to get in through the lock at high tide.

On the way from Belle Ile to Concarneau, we had our first visit by dolphins in a pod of 8-10 which swam alongside us. Wonderful to see there’s still some marine life left. Ironically Concarneau, our next stop, is the capital of the French tuna fish fleet. The town does however have a beautiful walled centre (13th to 17th century) and was the setting of Simenon’s Yellow Dog (Maigret).

We sheltered in Concarneau for a few days, then made the short trip to Loctudy ready to make the long journey around the SW point of Brittany and through the notorious tidal race, the Raz de Sein, before turning NE for Camaret and Brest. The winds remained strong (F5 to 6, locally 7) so we stayed put an extra day. Then when Sunday’s forecast looked better (F4 to 5, locally 6), we made a break for it. For the first 40M we had a storming sail averaging 7 knots. We arrived at the Raz de Sein so early we had some tide against us but as wind and tide were together, the race wasn’t rough (except over some shoal areas we avoided). The next 17M were directly upwind so harder going but still a great sail and we moored up in Camaret by 1900 – tired but delighted to have had such a good sail along this very exposed coast.

After Tim and Chris left on 1st September we had a short break in Provence (we took a train to Nantes then Ryanair to Marseilles) with friends Tom and Carolyn from Kilmacolm, Scotland - very different from life onboard – visiting vineyards, a game of golf, swimming and many excellent meals out.



Plan to be in Brest by 16th September and then one leg remaining before the end of the season. Report to follow…..

All the best
Iain and Helen

LATE AUGUST/EARLY SEPTEMBER

28th August friends Tim and Chris joined us in Pornichet after a very long drive from Reigate via Calais and Deauville. As soon as they arrived they kindly took us out in the car!! We visited Guerande (a medieval walled town famous for its sea salt still collected by hand in traditional salt pans). Had a great few days sailing with them visiting Roches Bernard on the Vilaine river and the small island of Hoedic south of Quiberon bay. Both places are beautiful but Hoedic especially – it’s a small wonderfully unspoilt island with lovely beaches (with masses of oysters just growing naturally on the rocks) and great views – would love to have spent more time there. After mooring up in the tiny harbour in the early evening we were welcomed by a Breton bagpiper on another yacht playing “Amazing Grace” and several Breton tunes – sounded like we were in Scotland!!

Finally, we received an important lesson when we berthed in Pornichet. I know many people wonder how we fill all our time but we seem to be working really quite hard not just sailing the boat but with the constant round of cleaning and maintenance, normal chores like washing clothes, shopping etc, and of course the inevitable level of admin in modern life (bills, investments, pensions, dealing with properties we let etc etc.). After we’d berthed, we were busy on ALMA with jobs when a French boat came in alongside and we helped them with their lines. Immediately the boat was tied up the French couple on board disappeared below decks only to reappear within a minute (at most) in their swimming costumes, with cushions, drinks and books and settled down on deck in the sun while we continued with our polishing, mending etc!!! Now their boat looked a bit worn and maybe hasn’t been polished in a long time but perhaps we need to reflect on just how shiny the boat needs to be. These guys looked very relaxed!!

Well next time we’ll be on the last leg of this summer’s cruise. Look forward to catching up with you when we’re next in UK. Enjoy the rest of the summer.
All the best
Helen and Iain

The dredger in fog, just a few metres from our mooring buoy in the vallaine river

QUIBERON AND THE LOIRE

After our friends Nick and Lindy left from Concarneau we continued east along the Brittany coast towards the Quiberon bay and the Loire visiting en route Lorient (just an overnight stop), Crouesty (great base for exploring the nearby Golfe de Morbihan – but as it was a strong spring tide and very busy we stayed in Croesty; we explored the Morbihan on bikes and Helen took a vedette cruise – looks a great area for nice anchorages but just too busy in August), Les Roches Barnard on the Vilaine river (this is a really beautiful and peaceful river – we stayed 3 days but we could feel ourselves getting settled down and seduced by the tranquillity and could have stayed a long time just chilling out – we met a British couple on an Endurance 45 who had arrived early July and were still there mid August!! We will go back there), Pornichet/La Baule (one of France’s main seaside resorts with a fabulous long sandy beach; we also cycled to the nearby village of Guerande famous for its salt – wonderful, ancient walled village) and finally south of the Loire to Pornic. We’d thought this summer we would get quite a bit further south but there’s been so much to see we’ve made slow progress so now we’re heading back north again. We returned to Pornichet and have left ALMA there while we return to the UK for a week to catch up with family and friends. When we return to the boat on 26th Aug we have friends Tim and Chris visiting for a few days then we plan to get ALMA back to Brest by 17 Sept for a final leg back across the channel to UK for the winter. So sad that summer is fast coming to an end. But now planning for next year!!

The weather has been great on this leg of the cruise and we’ve had some wonderful sailing – incl a few days with the gennaker up enjoying lovely reaches in 8 to 12 knots of wind, sunny blue skies and 25 deg C – just perfect!! Still not confident about gybing the gennaker with just 2 of us but with a snuffer its easy to just snuff it, gybe the boat and then fly it again. Great fun.

We’ve also managed to do a bit of fishing on this leg and had our best ever catch – Helen caught 3 lovely plump mackerel within minutes of putting the line out!! Lunch within an hour – so fresh; superb. Great feeling to eat so well for free (well almost, we spent 85cents on bread!). Next step is to start catching lobsters!!

Iles de Glenans

This is a beautiful archipelago of small islands about 12M off the coast. Its famed for crystal clear waters and white sandy beaches – the pilot book describes it “as close to the Caribbean as you can get in Brittany”. Its also the home of the Iles de Glenans sailing school – reportedly the largest in Europe. We anchored off Ile de Penfret for the morning/lunch and while Nick and Lindy explored the island I dived under the boat to try and clear the fridge cooling outlet. Even in paradise there is maintenance work to do! We sailed to Concarneau in the mid afternoon in a great breeze – which we needed as we only had a small storm jib since our normal jib was in for some repairs. Anyway we still had a storming sail across the bay in 14 to 16 knots of wind.

Concarneau

This a very busy marina – esp when the sailing school boats come in for changeovers. However good news was we were able to get our sail repaired here. The best feature of the town (for me) was the old walled town “La Ville Close”, a heavily fortified (by Vaubin of course) town. Concarneau is also one of the principal fishing ports in France. We also made a trip to nearby Pont Aven as there was a Breton festival on (I think these might be quite a frequent occurrence! This one was the Fete des Fleurs d’Ajonc. Traditional Breton Costumes were brilliant.). Pont Aven is an art centre – Paul Gauguin moved here in 1886 and developed the new style of symbolism. A Scottish artist William Scott even came here just before WWII to teach at the art school but of course left when war broke out. The festival was great fun and as well as more Breton dancing and music, I was intrigued to find a stand with the men all dressed in tartan kilts. It seems each of the 9 regions (referred to curiously as “countries”!) within Brittany has its own tartan. Had a good chat with the boys from the Association “Amis en Kilt” and although we had language difficulties we seemed to understand each other well enough as they soon produced some Bretagne whisky – very good I can tell you. I thought it had a slight peaty flavour like an Islay whisky. So all in all a great day and most interesting to find so many similarities between Brittany and Ireland and Scotland. Must read more on this.

Now we’re going to head on further south east into Quiberon bay and towards the Loire. Weather looking more promising for next few days.

Hope you’re all well and enjoying the summer.
Best wishes
Iain and Helen

The Belon River

We visited Belon twice we liked it so much – once on our own and then a few days later with our friends Nick and Lindy who came to sail with us for 3 days. Belon is famous for its flat oysters (different from Creuse and Pacific oysters). Belons have a delicate sandy coloured flesh with a velvety texture and a lingering hazelnut flavour – a distinctive gout de noisette. We ate at Chez Jacky’s – the place to eat Belon oysters. Belon is not really much of a village – there are no shops and the only thing one can buy is fish – but its great unbelievably fresh fish. Its also a very friendly, quiet (except when the fishing boats go out at 4am!) and relaxed place and has a wonderful Breton fete which was on when we visited. We enjoyed Breton music and dancing – some similarities with Scottish/Irish dancing and music. I was very impressed with how friendly people were - we were invited to coffee the next morning by one couple, Daniel and Daniella (who also kindly went on the internet to get the weather forecast for us – as we had no reception on wireless) and when we were in the shop in the next village (a 2 to 3 k walk) we were offered a lift back to the boat by another customer! Wonderful.

Also walked a bit more of the French coastal path GR34 – great views. But came across a sad memorial to 15 local resistance fighters and one English para – captured and shot only days before this area was liberated at the end of WWII. Terribly sad. we’ve seen a lot of similar memorials around France and mostly very well kept with fresh flowers still laid each year. Feelings must still be strong.

Only slight downside to visiting Belon when we were with Nick and Lindy was that high tide was 0515am so we had to get up at 0530 and be away by 0615 just as it was getting light – and it was raining! However, we got over the bar at the mouth of the river with 1.4m under the keel so all OK. The weather improved and we set off to visit the Iles de Glenans.

St Marine/Benodet

Back on board 28 July – ALMA all ok after our week away in the Alps. We had a great time in Les Carroz – enjoyed seeing the Tour and catching up with friends Tim and Chris and Aubin and Jackie. Also greatly enjoyed catching up with David (our son!) as we haven’t seen much of him over the last year or two – he’s gone out to Les Carroz to write his Masters dissertation in peace and quiet. Enjoyed talking with him about his work on the environment and resource allocation – he has really caused us to think about how we are using resources and the legacy we leave for future generations (quite apart from the debt burden!!).

Journey back to St Marine was quite easy – French railways seem to operate very efficiently and there’s a great bus service between stations in Paris and also from Quimper (where we got off the train from Paris) and St Marine – we enjoyed the bus journey through the Bretagne countryside and fare was only 2 Euros each!!

One of the “events” in Benodet/St Marine was the arrival of the langoustines – it’s the season! “L’Arrivage” was scheduled for 6.30pm according to the notice board outside the fish shop and everyone seemed to be talking about this. We passed the shop at 5.30pm but it was all locked up so we went for a cup of tea. We strolled back about 6.20 and yes there was now a big queue!! We just managed to get some fresh langoustines but the last of the large ones were taken by the customer (German) in front of Helen – she was a little unhappy at this but I managed to prevent an incident. Anyway, they were delicious – as also were some fresh mackerel.

This is a beautiful river and a great place for a holiday.

17 TO 19 JULY SOUTH COAST LOCTUDY AND BENODET
Our first port of call on the S coast was a lovely little fishing port called Loctudy. Fish shops are on the quay and the fish is the freshest you'll ever find. Wonderful lobster and crevettes.
Last step in this weeks journey was the shortest - only 5 miles to Benodet - again in the rain! But Benodet (actually we're in Sainte Marine directly across the river Odet from benodet) is a lovely place. Must be a favourite for Sweden Yachts as we met another 3 SY owners here. Proposed we should have a SY regatta here next year! We'll leave ALMA here for 10 days as we go to Les Carroz in the French Alps to see the Tour which is going through the neighbouring village on Wednesday (I should explain that we're keen followers of the Tour and each days sailing is planned to get us into port by about 4pm so we can rush into the nearest bar with a tv and watch the end of that day's stage of the tour!).
So next update won't be for a couple of weeks. Hope your enjoying the summer.
Best wishes
Helen and Iain

15 AND 16 JULY DUARNENEZ AND OFF TO THE SOUTH COAST
On Wed the weather settled down enough for us to move on to Duarnenez (about 30 miles) although the first part of the sail as we headed out of the Camaret bay was quite rough as there was still a significant swell after the storm. Surprising how long it takes for the sea to settle after strong winds. Duarnenez was interesting - it used to be the world's leading city in sardine exports in the 19th century and still claims to be the place where the best canned sardines are to be found. Duarnenez sardines are fried, dried, and then put in a can ("préparées a l'ancienne"), whereas most other countries processing consists of steam cooking once the fish is canned. Sadly the fishing of sardines in the bay has died out as the sardines just stopped coming - not surprising really when you consider the vast quantities that were caught each year.
We'd decided to visit Duarnenez to see two friends who work in one of the restuarants in Flaine in the Alps where we ski. They were shocked, but I think delighted, that we'd made the effort to visit them in Duarnenez. I don't think they see many UK visitors in Duarnenez!
Thursday the weather forecast was just good enough for a major part of the journey - from Duarnenez through an infamous channel called the Raz de Sein and round the SW corner of Brittany onto the south coast. It was a long day, 64M, and as the wind was from the SE, almost dead ahead, it took us nearly 12 hours. But finally we were in south Brittany. The weather is supposed to be significantly better on the south coast. Well it wasn't this week. its been wet, very windy and quite cool. Grim in fact. We'll keep heading south until it gets better.

12 to 14 JULY BREST AND CAMARET
A mostly wet and windy week. At times very windy and we had to stay put Tuesday and Thursday as gales went through. However gave us a chance to catch up with emails/admin and have a relaxing couple of days.
On Monday we'd left Brest for the short trip out of the Rade de Brest and round the headland to Camaret. Another former fishing port but now converted to tourism. But having a tough time this year - headline in the local paper was Ou sont les Anglais?! The poor Euro:Sterling exchange rate and the gloomy economic situation are obviously having an effect on the area as more English (the biggest group of foreign visitors to the region) choose to holiday at home.
We had several interesting surprises in Camaret. Firstly, a famous old (1898) classic wooden yacht called Pen Duick moored alongside us.Quite a contrast between the boats and I'd have loved to go out for a sail on Pen Duick but for cruising I prefer the comforts of ALMA. Pen Duick belonged previously to one of the most famous sailors of all times, a Breton Eric Tabarly. He was lost overboard tragically in 1998 in the Irish Sea.
Second surprise was the arrival of the British navy - well 4 patrol boats. They were on their way back to UK from Spain but came into Camaret to shelter from the storm. I was surprised we still had even 4 boats.
Third surprise was a dolphin arriving just outside the port - literally across the pontoon from where we were berthed. Seems everyone was keen to shelter from the storm.

Sailing into the Rade de Brest (the large natural harbour/bay outside the port of Brest) was a special experience – not only because of the beauty of the scenery and the exceptional natural harbour (with the entrance, the “Goulet de Brest” less than a mile wide) butt also because of the naval history here, especially the English blockade of Brest for years on end from 1803 to 1815 during the Napoleonic wars. The blockade prevented the French warships getting out to sea greatly aiding England’s naval supremacy and strangling French supplies. The English ships had to patrol in all weathers in an area with strong tides and dangerous rocks – what wonderful sailors and tough seamen they must have been. We had a kindly wind, calm seas and no guns firing at us so really quite an easy entrance!

Now in Brest doing jobs – just like being at work, there are always problems to solve and jobs to do! (perhaps it’s best always to expect to have to deal with problems rather than expect a perfect world and be disheartened when problems arise!!) Currently, I need to resolve the chafing halyard I mentioned above, determine why the battery charger doesn’t always come on automatically, fix the electronic drain pump, find out what’s making a curious buzzing sound when the engine is on as well as the normal cleaning, polishing etc etc. I used to get paid to work this hard!! Also resting up after a tiring week and planning next stage of the journey from Brest to the south coast of Brittany. Will let you know next week how the next leg of our adventure goes.

Best wishes
Iain and Helen

Monday sailed to Lezardrieux past Ile de Brehat – thru another minefield of rocks. Had an incident when a French boat bumped into us twice as he tried (badly) to moor up. Fortunately no serious damage I think but not impressed. But just like their car driving in France, a few bumps while sailing seem to be just accepted as fair game! In a bar in Lezardrieux noticed another particularly French approach – this time re enforcement of Regs prohibiting smoking in bars etc. A sign in the bar indicated smoking is allowed only by those having something to eat or drink!!

Tuesday we had a new experience – we set out about 0800 and were back in the same port by noon! Early weather forecast had not been good but I decided to go out and see how bad things were. When we got out of the estuary the seas were quite rough and later forecast was for gusts up to 35knots – time to turn around!!

Over the next 3 days we sailed from Lezardrieux to Trebeurden, L’AberWrach (passed the world’s tallest lighthouse Ile Vierge) and Brest. Wonderful coast – esp the rose granite rocks. We had quite fresh winds and as always along this coast strong tides so we made fast passage times even although mostly the wind was from dead ahead and we had to tack upwind (why does the wind always seem to be blowing directly from where one wants to go?!). Weather mixed but one excellent sunrise (conveniently on the day we got up at 0500!!). Uneventful passage past Ushant and through the notorious Chenal du Four but sobering to see so many shipwrecks (literally hundreds) marked on charts. In bad weather (which it gets often) this would not be a good place to be. The worst disaster was I believe the sinking of the Drummond Castle in fog in 1896 – only 3 survivors from 246 mostly women and children who had been evacuated from South Africa during the Boer war.

Left St Malo Sunday 5th July and arrived in Brest Fri 10th – distance of 225M approx so a busy week sailing with some long days, quite windy, great scenery and terrific experience. Doug and his son Edward were on board with us. Sadly Lesley and Simon had to call off as Lesley’s Mum was very ill. Hope her Mum gets better soon and hope they’ll be able to join us later. Difficult time as parents get elderly.

We arrived in St Malo on overnight ferry from Portsmouth – great way to cross the channel! Had dinner on board, Doug and Edward watched a movie (Angels and Demons) and had a good nights sleep. Got boat ready on Sunday – including having yet another attempt to solve a problem I have with the main halyard chafing (rope that hauls up the mainsail – extremely expensive rope so not one I want to get damaged!) and set out around 1730. Fairly breezy and a strong cross tide as we left St Malo and threaded our way thru the maze of rocks offshore so lots of concentration to make sure we dodged the rocks! Once we were out of the channel we had a lively sail in beautiful evening conditions until wind died off Pointe de La Latte on which there is the most magnificent castle – used in the Kirk Douglas/Tony Curtis film The Vikings – the first film I ever saw!! From there (about half way) we motored to St Quay Portrieux. Fortunately we’d been there a few weeks ago, as we arrived from St Malo in the dark (about 2330) and again (as in most places in N Brittany) the approaches are littered with rocks. Difficult to see the unlit mark to keep us off the N end off the reef but moon was bright enough for us to make it out as we got closer and then we followed the marked channel into the port.

ALMA's SUMMER PLANS

Just to let everyone know our outline plans over the next two to three months. Dates are a bit flexible a few days either way but essentially the plan is to coastal hop down to La Rochelle by late August then make our way back north in September. Its fairly likely now that we'll bring ALMA back to Lymington for the winter. So plan is roughly as follows:

5/7 to 12/7 St Malo to Brest (with Doug, Edward, Lesley and Simon).

12/7 to 19/7 Brest to S Brittany

28/7 to 20/8 S Brittany to La Rochelle

26/8 to 10/9 La Rochelle to La Trinite (but alternatively may be in Les Carroz 26/8 to 1/9)

14/9 to 18/9 La Trinite to Brest

29/9 to 9/10 Brest to Lymington

Let us know if you'd like to join us for some sailing this summer. We'll update the timetable/plan when we see how we're progressing and we hope we'll be able to base ourselves for a week or two late July/early August reasonably close to Nantes and then later in August in La Rochelle, both of which should be good locations for flights from the UK.

Next update from north Brittany/Brest!

Best wishes

Iain and Helen

Now in St Malo, city of Corsairs, after a great sail from St-Q-P - but encounted our first fog with viz at times down to a few hundred metres. Thankfully we were well away from shipping lanes and very thankfully Alma has radar! However, it's still sobering when a fishing boat suddenly looms out of the mist.

A great walk around the old walls of the St Malo with lovely views of the Rance and the fortresses protecting the bay of St Malo which has been rebuilt after WW2 and still has an old feel even though approx 80% was rebuilt. (Jacques Cartier who discovered the St Lawrence River in 1534 while seeking a NW passage to China was born in St Malo)

We are in the Bassin Vauban (named after the architect of Louis XIV) on the edge of the old city - great location.

Now closing up the boat. Next few weeks in the UK - look forward to catching up with everyone there - then in early July, we're planning to sail from St. Malo to Brest and then on to southern Brittany in search of warmer weather!
Best wishes, Iain and Helen.

Enjoyed wonderful seafood in this area esp. oysters (the very best apparently come from Cancale just east of St Malo), lobster, crab (esp. araignnees), mussels, prawns, langoustines, shrimps, scallops (unfortunately the season is Nov to April and this area is said to be the capital of the scallop industry) and the shellfish(not so popular with Iain), bulots(whelks), bigorneaux(winkles), petaniques etc

Jersey, Saint-Quay-Portrieux, Binic, Paimpol, St-Q-P, Binic, St-Q-P to St. Malo

Left Channel Islands on 4th June - we really like its Britishness, friendly/polite islanders and the unspoilt countryside with lovely beaches.

We had a great sail to France (42 miles), arriving at St-Q-P as it is one of only a few marinas in this area with no tide restrictions on entry. It is a big modern marina but in a nice village with a great coastal path GR34 - the old customs path is now part of this path along the French coast from Calais to Nice.

Pete and Steve arrived on Saturday - great to catch with 'old' friends. They have a 28 metre Dutch barge on the River Saone near Dijon and live a life of permanent summers with 6 months in Melbourne and 6 months in France - sounds tough, doesn't it

Had a great week sailing with them. Visited Paimpol and Binic (both major ports in 19th century for cod fishing in Newfoundland and Island. For some unknown reason, the Paimpol cod fishing boats were called the 'Dundee' - must be a Scottish connection. These ports dry to about 6 metres. Timing critical wrt entry)

We spent a very wet day on the Isle of Brehat (France's first protected countryside area, wearing all of our wet weather gear!

SARK, HERM AND JERSEY

We're now in Brittany at St Quay Portrieux about 35 miles west of St Malo. Decided to bypass St Malo as we're keen to see smaller ports and we've been to St Malo before - although it is a wonderful town. Also crossing directly here from Jersey saves us a day's travelling so hopefully will enable us to get to south Brittany earlier.

We greatly enjoyed the Channel Islands - definitely recommend a visit. Friends Geoff and Shirley joined us in Guernsey and we set off immediately for Sark about 10 miles east of Guernsey. Wonderful, peaceful island - no cars! Just to the west of Sark is the island of Brecqhou owned by the Barclay brothers - owners (last I heard) of 10% of InterContinental Hotels!! They've built an extraordinary castle there - quite weird.

Next day off the Dielette on the French coast SW of Cherbourg - another lovely small port - great moules et frite!! But no shops so had to walk 2k to nearest village - luckily caught a bus back. Following day sailed back towards Sark and Herm but too rough to anchor overnight so went back to Guernsey. Sailed over to Herm on Sunday and anchored up for a few hours so we could walk around the island - its only about 1 mile by 1/2 mile! Getting in the an anchorage is quite tricky as the island is surrounded by rocks and the tides are fairly strong but GPS and electronic chartplotters are a great help. Scenery is magnificent - wonderfully unspoilt (again no cars) with beautiful wild flowers. The island is leased by Guernsey to private individuals - at one time the author Sir Compton MacKenzie.

Unfortunately Shirley had to return to work on Sunday (well I suppose someone has to) but Geoff was able to stay on for the trip to Jersey. Another beautiful day and a great sail. This is an exceptional period of good weather - not only sunny but winds almost perfect for sailing.

We'd been told that Jersey was much more commercial than the other islands and so it is but away from the capital St Helier there is lovely peaceful countryside and charming hamlets. Geoff and I cycled round the island (about 40 miles) - Geoff is in training for a cycling holiday so had no difficulty but I took a few short cuts! Great scenery and great food - especially seafood and of course Jersey Royals (new potatoes). Would be a great place to retire to!

Met up with some ski friends here - Doug who lives here and who kindly took Helen around the island (she preferred being driven around to cycling with Geoff and me) and another friend Mike who Helen met when she was a ski rep in Andorra - small world!!

Geoof left for the UK on Wed and so Thursday 0600 Helen and I set off for France (high tide was at 0430 and we had to get out the marina early while there was still enough water over the sill at the entrance). Terrific sail and arrived in St Quay to begin the Brittany leg of our tour. Friends from Australia, Steve and Peta, are arriving Saturday (from Burgundy where they spend their (Northern hemisphere) summers on the canals on a fantastic Dutch barge. Look fwd to catching up with them. Next blog will update on the N Brittany coast. Also, will add some photos from Channel Islands shortly.

Hope everyone's well.
Iain and Helen

ALMA IN CHANNEL ISLANDS

Now in St Peter Port, Guernsey after a brief stop in Alderney - both in the Channel Islands, both very English despite being so close to France - only 8 miles from Alderney to France! (Alderney made a great decision in 1204 to side with England even though English possessions in France had been lost.) Had a wonderful sail both from Cherbourg to Alderney and then from Alderney to Guernsey. Cycled round Alderney - some wonderful beaches, extraordinary bird islands (puffins which we didn't get close enough to see as it's nesting season and gannets which we saw thousands of - there are about 6,000 nesting pairs here - exceptional flyers, bit like the red arrows but they also dive into the sea) and also many forts and gun emplacements both from Napoleonic times and WWII. Alderney's population was evacuated in WWII and even now has only grown again to about 2,500 - so beautifully unspoilt, unhurried and friendly. Great history from Roman times, through Elizabethan (a leading Elizabethan warship recently found off Alderney) and Napoleonic times to WWII. Now about to explore Guernsey. Photos to follow. Next blog soon! Hope everyone well.
Best wishes
Iain and Helen

Arrived back in Cherbourg after a week in UK and about to set off on Leg 2 of our adventures. Weather permitting we plan to leave Cherbourg Thurs 21 or Fri 22 May for Alderney – just Helen and me on board this time so we’ll be very busy, esp doing the navigation to deal with the tides and rocks around Alderney – pilot books are quite alarming re rate of tide in the Alderney Race (channel between Alderney and the Cherbourg peninsula) and the Swinge (channel to the west of Alderney). We hope to arrive just north of Cap de La Hague (NW corner of Cherbourg peninsula) just before tide turns so we can cross over to Alderney (about 10M) at slack(ish) tide and then get into Braye harbour in Alderney before tide becomes too strong in the Swinge. Helpfully it won’t have reached full spring tides (last quarter of moon is on 17^th and new moon on 24^th). Will be happy when we’re safely moored up in Alderney.

Plan to explore the island for 2 or 3 days then set off for Guernsey – earlier the better before its spring tide but on departure from Alderney it should be easier to time the passage to get out of the Swinge at slackish tide then have favourable tide all the way to Guernsey (25M). Around the Channel Islands it seems all our schedules will be dictated by the tides – huge tidal range here (can be 10 metres rise/fall – yes 10m!!). Plan to spend a week or so in Guernsey (also visiting Sark if weather settled). Friends from the UK, Geoff and Shirley, are with us for most of the time in Guernsey then we set off for Jersey for another few days then on to St Malo where our friends Steve and Peta plan to join us to explore North Brittany. Should be a seafood paradise!

Life as you’ll gather is dominated by weather and tides – but better than worrying about the economy/markets or reading about MP’s expenses (I’m getting upset already just mentioning these!).

Next update hope to report on Alderney/Guernsey.

Best wishes

Iain and Helen

ALMA IN FRANCE!!

ALMA's first blog!! We're in Cherbourg after leaving Lymington Sat 2nd May - Geoff, Shirley, David and Doug also onboard. Had intended just a test sail on Sat and then spend Sat night in Portsmouth ready for a very early departure Sun am. However, everything seemed OK on boat and weather was super (although would have been good if it had been 15 to 20 degrees higher!!) so we just kept going through east Solent past Portsmouth and Benbridge and headed for France. Had a lovely night sail - generally clear and a great breeze - and arrived Honfleur around 0530. After a short sleep we got into inner harbour when lock opened at 0830. Got a great berth alongside restaurants (photos to follow when I work out how to post!) and spent a relaxing day exploring this lovely old Normandy port - beautiful old churches, interesting maritime museum (wish the kids had been with us to see it) and great shops and restaurants.
Monday dropped Shirley, David and Doug off in Le Havre then headed for Deauville - another great town but chic and so expensive - top prize went to a jar of honey at E30!!!
Tuesday - bad weather so spent day in Deauville.
Wed - still quite windy in the morning but off to St Vaast (64m); rough at first esp leaving harbour but sailing got better and better as weather improved. Arrived St V 1900 just after lock had opened and we were in restaurant La Chasse Maree by 2030 - great as always.
Thurs - 0730 departure for Cherbourg - a stunningly beautiful early morning and wonderful sail. In Cherbourg by1300 in time to close boat up and get 1630 ferry to UK. Leg 1 complete. Thanks to all the delivery crew and also to everyone who helped in getting ALMA ready this year.
Looking forward to leg 2 - Channel Islands cruise. Hope weather improves!
PS One point of historical interest - in the ferry terminal in Portsmouth there is a display commerating one of the very first VC's awarded - to seaman Thomas reeves in 1954 at the battle of Tinkerman Ridge (Sebastapol). This battle was shortly after the battle of ALMA on 25th October 1954!! VC's are apparently cast in bronze from Russian cannon captured at the battle of Sebastapol.
Next blog in a couple of weeks. Hope to hear from you and/or catch up with many of you soon.
Best wishes
Iain and Helen