BRITTANY

No sooner had we arrived in France than the remains of storms Lee and Maria were bearing down on us, bringing big swells and lots of rain. We headed inland to Chateaulin, way up the river Aulne, to sit out the worst of the weather. Here we could moor alongside the quay wall, in calm waters and 5 minutes’ walk from shops, all for the sum of €2.60 per night.

This is at the beginning of the Brest to Nantes canal. We couldn’t go any further by boat, as our mast wouldn’t fit under the low bridges, but we got the bikes out and followed the canal four locks along. The banks were lined with trees and it was really peaceful cycling next to the reflected autumn colours as leaves spiralled down around us.

I loved the simple idea of these picnic benches with a roof!

I did ‘school’ with the children in the mornings and Dave took them exploring in the afternoons, while I took the opportunity to build a new bookshelf. This is to house all the new home-schooling stuff. We have got off to a good start with school, doing a mix of workbooks, number and word games, and researching things that take the children’s fancy – yesterday was the Loch Ness Monster, after watching ‘Water Horse’!

Yesterday, we came back out of our hiding hole and visited a new place, Tinduff, on the recommendation of another boater. There wasn’t much there, but the kids had fun exploring the rocky slate beach, which at the tideline was covered in oyster shells.

From there, we had a lovely sail in the sunshine across the Rade de Brest. Dave had managed to whip up a new topmast two days before we set off, so he finally got a chance to try it out. It worked perfectly with a topmast and flying jib. He was careful to bring them down BEFORE the wind picked up near Brest.

So again we came back to Camaret, where we first made landfall. Another fun beach, full of pebble towers. We added a couple more to the collection!

Today, we came round the final ‘corner’ of Brittany, passing through the notorious Raz de Sein. We timed it wrong last time and had a very slow and rough ride past the lighthouses, against five knots of tide. Today, we obviously got it right and breezed past in glassy smooth waters. Phew!

 

Tomorrow, we head off across the Bay of Biscay, and hope to arrive in Spain sometime on Sunday.