ELORN RIVER TO THE PORT DU MOULIN BLANC, 27 MAY

We had ordered two sails to be made by Sanders Sails in Lymington, and they were due to be delivered to some mutually agreed address, so we made arrangements with the Port Du Moulin Blanc in Brest to have them delivered to their offices. We therefore booked into the marina to pick them up and do some last minute shopping for provisions and equipment.

FROM CAMARET INTO THE RADE DE BREST, 25 MAY

We left Camaret and sailed at 10 Knots through the Goulet De Brest, into the harbour of Brest which is called the Rade De Brest. Again we had a beautiful sail right to the North East corner, into the River L'elorn. Here we dropped anchor and enjoyed the tranquility and calm of the estuary.

Naval base

beautiful relaxed sailing

we sailed under these two bridges into the Elorn river

L'ABER BENOIT TO CAMARET SUR MER, 22 MAY

The day was calm, wind was minimal, and it turned out to be one of the nicest sailing days we have had. First leg from the L'aber Benoit river to the Four lighthouse was motor sailing, then from the lighthouse to the Goulet De Brest was gentle sailing with the tidal stream.
At Camaret we entered the Port De Vauban and stayed there three nights.
We had our first two experiences of the well known French "Rafting". The first event we managed to chase away but the second was a Swiss crew on a rented yacht who rafted late in the evening. We were friendly and helped them with water hoses and the pass codes for the showers and lavatories etc.
Camaret was quite a nice small town situated around a bay. Plenty of restaurants and some grocery shops proved useful. Strange to see the wooden trawlers pulled up on the beach and abandoned.

Kwanza on the pontoon

old stone town house

abandoned wooden trawlers

restaurant where we had lunch (I had moules.!)

FROM ROSCOFF TO L'ABER BENOIT. 20 MAY

The departure from Roscoff on the Wednesday 20th May was initially quiet. We fuelled up at the fuel pontoon in the marina then casually headed North to round the island of Batz. As we emerged from the shelter of the ferry port which is located beside Roscoff marina we saw the 'Overfalls' extending as far as the eye could see. We decided to continue because there were several other boats in front of us (viewed on the AIS) which meant that it was passable, and the weather was in fact quite reasonable with a steady head wind of about 15 knots.
It turned out to be one of the roughest rounding of a headland that we have experienced so far. The reasons were that there had been some storms the previous days so the swell was high. Then with the tide against wind it resulted in shear pandemonium.
Anyway we survived, and overtook some other yachts as we cruised West to L'Aber Benoit.
This is a river just beside the famous L'Aber Wrach where all the yachts position themselves before rounding the Chenal Du Four further West.
L'Aber Benoit was a bit of a squeeze for the size of our yacht to anchor, so as the night progressed we found a mooring boy and used that for the two nights that we stayed.

LEZARDRIEUX TO ROSCOFF

We originally planned to sail to Port Blanc a mere 20 miles to the West of Lezardrieux, but when we were out of the entrance of Trieux river the wind was good and our speed was averaging 10 and 11 Knots, so we pressed on past Les Sept Iles and on to Roscoff.
It was good going with a following tide although dropping wind speed, and after 6 hours we were calling Roscoff Marina (Port de Plaisance) to ask for access. Eventually the marina manager arrived with his dinghy and showed us to a berth inside the massive marina walls. Well sheltered. Our Dock-and-Go system worked efficiently for once and we lined up nicely into berth number 17.

On the following day we set about doing our washing in the marina facilities, and then walked into town to have some lunch. Local specialities here are Crepes and Cider..

PICTURES OF ROSCOFF:

8 METER TIDES IN ROSCOFF OLD HARBOUR

THE FISHING FLEET LANDING THEIR CATCH

 BEAUTIFUL OLD BUILDINGS IN ROSCOFF TOWN

CROSSING THE ENGLISH CHANNEL, DESTINATION LEZARDRIEUX

We weighed anchor in Cawsand bay on the night of Tuesday 12 May, and heading out of the outer Plymouth harbour, past Eddiestone Rocks light house, on a bearing of 150 degrees. This would allow for tidal drift  as we crossed. Our destination was Lezardrieux in the Trieux river in North Brittany. We chose this as our first visit to France because it promised 'all tide access' and good shelter from the winds.
After a gruelling 16 hours we dropped anchor in the Trieux river just North of the marina of Lezardrieux.
It was certainly peaceful and rather beautiful..

Here are some pictures:

OUR AIS SYSTEM HELPED DURING THE CROSSING

Like a rabbit crossing a motorway... Ships everywhere. But our excellent AIS allowed us to see what their headings and speed was

Close but safe.!

THE TRIEUX RIVER (pictures taken while we were leaving on the 15th May)

view South (up river)

view seaward

little green yacht beside us at anchor

early morning.. bliss.!

CRUISING AGAIN 2015.

So we are now on the Brittany coast of France. The weather is good (some sunshine..) and we are settled down into a cruising rhythm.

We spent a month in Plymouth Mayflower marina waiting for our stern arch to be built. It was a busy time for the yachting industry in the area, because it was the Easter period and most "yachties" have this habit of getting boating fever as soon as Easter long weekend looms on the horizon. In addition lots of the workforce take their holidays.
Our arch was built by a Stainless steel metal works in Queen Annes Marina in East side of Plymouth. We had been speaking with them since summer last year, and had narrowed our options down to choosing them as the provider.
They required 4 weeks to make the arch so we booked into Mayflower marina for a month from the 18th March until the 18th April... On the 16th April had it fitted.
Soon after the installation we bought a wind turbine (generator) and solar panels.
In the meantime we had contracted a rigging company to build an inner stay so that we could use storm jib and inner staysails. Then just to be more extravagant we bought a spinnaker pole with related stowage track and hardware.
With all the extra work our stay in Mayflower ran into the month of May. In fact we didn't sail out of the marina until Saturday 9th May 2015...

THE STERN ARCH
Here are some pictures of our arch.

The famous stern arch enables us to have a wind generator, solar panels and some kind of dinghy lifting davits

THE WIND GENERATOR and SOLAR PANELS

REBUILT THE BIMINI TO FIT THE ARCH

We had to cut and resow the bimini so as to join the arch forward side.

NEW ROCNA ANCHOR (33KG !)

One of the best anchors available ..

NEW INNER FORE STAY WITH 'WICHARD' ADJUSTER

Extremely expensive bit of rigging.

COMPLETED THE WATER MAKER INSTALLATION

Pump and filters in the bilges and the unit itself under the settee bench

Including some detailed rework of leaking parts...