We arrived in France for the first day of the heat wave. Beers and lunch in the sun were the order of the day, and after the long wet winter, it was definitely about time.
Our first port was Saint Quay Pontrieux. Checking in was easy as the marina collect the information and send it on to customs and immigration for you. No queues and no hassle. The town is an old seaside resort, which was once renound for its sea water bathing pool, coastal walk and casino. It was a sleepy sort of place, with very attractive Breton architecture.
We moved along the coast to Bréhac. Where we went of a very hot coastal walk. On our return I attempted a swim, as it looked extremely inviting. However, 15 degrees is really not warm enough for me and I stayed in the water precisely the length of time it took Phil to take the photo.
We had been to Île de Brehat before, five years ago, when we first came to Britanny to pick up Vagrant. Then it was rainy, grey and uninviting. This time around the sun was shining and this put an entirely different spin on the place. It is very picturesque. An island with no cars, lots of tractors, huge tides and a local tourist hot spot.
We needed to stop in a town for provisions and we knew Paimpol was good for shopping and eating out. We only spent one night in the locked in marina in the centre of town but even in this short time we were able to eat moules frites and stock up at the hypermarket the next morning.
No trip to Britanny would be complete without a trip to Tréguier, the place our boat was built and the home of the Philomenn brewery. We anchored just outside the town, on the bend of the river, and accessed the town by dinghy. Stocking up on Philomenn is essential for each and every visit to Tréguier and we achieved great success in this goal.
From Tréguier we continued west, however we mistimed our journey and ended up pushing against the strong tide, making it a much longer day than expected. The passage anchorage behind Île de Tomi rewarded our perseverance with a blue moon.
We were off, with the tide, the next morning, getting into Primel by lunchtime. The space for anchoring was limted due to the number of laid moorings but we lifted our keel and used the only available space.
The heat wave was definitely on the way out and we needed to find somewhere safe to sit out some strong winds from the west. Île de Batz is an island just across from Roscoff. It is a drying harbour with great protection from virtually all directions. As we can take to the ground we thought this would suit us, rather than paying to be in a marina by a ferry terminal. On arrival we had to decide were to put the boat. This is a tricky decision when you have not surveyed the bottom and there are lots of buoys and huge ground chains around. We picked our spot and crossed our fingers. The first time we dried out we were pretty good but a patch of very soft mud at the front meant we were a bit down in the bow. Once the water returned, we took up the anchor and moved ten meters further forward. We sat in this new position for four days, going up and down twice a day with the tide, whilst the rain and strong winds blew through.
L'Aber Wrac'h will be our last stop in France before retiring to Plymouth to get the boat lifted and finally sort out the issues with the engine alignment. Britanny has been fantastic and I'm sure that the good weather has helped. So lots more sunshine and beers in the sun please!
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