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.