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
Thursday, August 27, 2009
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!!
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!!
Friday, August 7, 2009
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
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.
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.
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.
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