South Brittany

Saturday 26th May… It’s been a rather murky day with rain, yes rain, our first rain of the Big Adventure. Still you can’t let it stop you from doing something. Off we went on a walk from Sainte Evette to Audierne. It’s about 2.5 miles each way and we always return by a different route when we go walking. We wanted to see what Audierne was like as there’s a marina there. Now having seen it, we’re not that impressed really. So we think we made a good choice by going on a buoy in Sainte Evette, besides there’s no charge at this time of year. After tonight’s sleep we will have done four consecutive nights without getting the wallet out. That makes us very happy. 

We had just reached Audierne when we noticed a Saturday market going on, well just finishing really and so we managed to buy half a massive crusty loaf, a lettuce, three apples, and a punnet of extremely red strawberries. All the shops and restaurants seem to close at lunchtime for 2 to 3 hours. How stupid is that? We did however manage to find one that was still open at 1.30pm and we had lunch there. The food was very good, once we had translated half the menu to find out what to order. 

Tonight we’ve had crusty bread, cheese, apples, and strawberries for dinner, whilst sitting watching a DVD. That’s the first time we’ve put the TV on in over 3 weeks, since we started the journey. Here’s some photos taken today from our first stop in South Brittany.

Lifeboat station at Sainte Evette

Yet another quaint Church

Thesee in the bay with all the other colours

What a great way to advertise your restaurant

Looking down on Audierne harbour

Our fantastic lettuce from the Saturday market

Sunday 27th May... We had to get up at 6am because it's about 35 miles to our next destination - Benodet - and because it's on a river you need to get there at slack water, which was 4.30pm. Bething is always difficult if you arrive at mid-tide because the water is running at its fastest. So we left Sainte Evette at 8am sailing out into the bay.... a little off course because the wind was on the nose. For our efforts and about midday we were joined by a pod of dolphins, there must have been 50 of them swimming with us all around the boat for about 10 minutes. They were having a whale of a time....and so were we. It's the best dolphin sighting we've had so far. 

The sun eventually came out and it turned into a warm day. Still no fish caught i'm afraid. Dean's getting fed up with it. We're now tied up in Benodet Marina safe and sound. We're planning on staying here for 3 days to do some shopping (hopefully), washing, and generally sorting ourselves out. 


Monday 28th May… Market day today in Benodet, so we had to go along and see what it was all about, and infact it was the best market so far. Bought some veg and a cooked chicken (10 euros!) it’s not cheap to eat here. Stopped for coffee and croissants, then back to the boat. Dean washed the dinghy off and put it away. Linda took the washing to the marina launderette. We like it here and the facilities are very good and the cost is only 32 euros per night. Thumbs up from the three sailors. It was so warm this afternoon we hung the washing out to dry on Thesee. An hour later a storm came over and it poured down. Luckily the washing was almost dry and we got it in quickly. Dean tried out the Transcool machine. It’s a mobile air con unit that we bought at the boat show. It worked well and kept the boat cool, Saffy was happy about that. It’s nice to have a chill out day. 

St Thomas Beckett in Benodet

The Breton church spires are just so intricate

Monday wash day on Thesee

The handy mobile air con unit

Tuesday 29th May... Dean was happy this morning because he got a campingaz refill at the local marina shops for 26.50 Euros, that's a bargain compared to the price in the UK. On a high we walked the coast path to the Carrefour supermarket about a mile away. Oh it was so nice to be in a real supermarket again, they had so much choice and we managed to get beef mince and a pork joint that we will cook on the Cobb BBQ sometime this week. We (Dean) carried all the shopping home in a backpack and on Dean's foldable trolley, it's come in so handy for shopping. 

The morning was a little stormy but after lunch it soon warmed up a treat and Dean cleaned out the starboard lazarette whilst Linda made Lasagne (oh i've missed Lasagne), and Saffy snoozed to her heart's content on Thesee's deck. Then all three of us took a long stroll along the coast into town and to the bay where we believe you can anchor. 

Dean cleaning inside the starboard lazarette

Saffy on deck in the shade of the roving fender

Now it's time to get out somehow

Benodet's cute little road train

The River Odet just down from our marina

So after Dean washed up the evening dishes he mentioned we should try some fishing from the pontoon. Well the fishing rod had no sooner come out when the heavens opened and we got another torrential downpour. No fish tonight then.

Wednesday 30th May... Onwards today to Port la Foret, which was only 15 miles away tucked up in a bay just to the east of Benodet. We're trying to bide our time a little as Dean has a replacement plug socket being delivered to a marina in Lorient next weekend, and we don't want to get there too soon and have to hang around. 

Arrival at La Foret has to be around high water give or take an hour or two, and by 4pm there was enough tide to get across the shallow patches and into the marina. The marina was busy and we couldn't find a suitable place to berth, so Dean called up on the VHF radio and they sent us to a berth the far end of the marina. It's a cracking little spot right out of the way and overlooking the woods. It really warms up late afternoon and we just had to have a Rum & Coke in our special Friday Thesee glasses, even though it's only Wednesday. 

 Dean gives the fishing another go before we leave 

Tonight's view, how very pleasant

Thursday 31st May… Today we were up early for a walk into the pretty village of La Foret-Fouesnant. It was such a delightful place, just how you would imagine it would be… the Boulangerie, Patisserie, Boucherie and all with real nice looking food for sale. We bought croissants, pain chocolate, a baguette, chocolate brownies, citron cake, and some onions. It really was a delightful walk into the village, around the lake, and back along the path next to the golf course. Linda’s favourite village so far. The only thing spoiling it was the main road running through which was very busy. 

How sweet....a home made for insects at the rear of a factory

In the village, major Church renovations

It's that road name again

We got back to Thesee at 11.30am and both went for yet another shower, because the shower block here is so nice and modern, the best so far. We only paid for one night here as it’s the last night of winter rates, tonight the price doubles! That meant we had to wait for enough tide this afternoon to get out of here, and that was at 3pm. 

In the marina.... the first time we've come across disabled pontoon access

One of our neighbouring boats

Saffy gets a wipe down after the wet walk

Dean's clever makeshift cleat as there wasn't one at this end of the pontoon

We left without any problems and steered a course to our next destination… Port Tudy on the Ile de Groix. It was about 35 miles and the sea swell was unpleasant. It was difficult to keep in a straight line and we took it in turns at the helm. When it’s like this it takes a lot out of you. The wind was up to 20 knots from the South West. After 5 hours we arrived at Port Tudy, the inner marina with pontoons was full and so we had to berth in the outer marina picking up fore & aft mooring buoys. Linda was panicking, we’ve never done this on Thesee before, but Dean was amazing. We neared the buoys and he picked up the rear one, then drove the boat towards the forward buoy, walked up the boat and picked up the buoy. He made it look easy, especially as he hasn’t done this since he had his other boat Jasmine, back in the 90’s. So now we’re tied up nicely and not going anywhere. 

It’s been quite a day and we both feel tired now, but not too tired for blogging of course. This is the last day of our first month as live-aboards. We’ve calculated that on average we spent 27 euros per night on berthing fees (that also takes into account the 6 free nights in anchorages etc). We wrote a list of what we consider were our most useful items. Here it is…

Dinghy Wheels

AIS

Solar Panels

Handheld vacuum

Hydrovane

Folding Bikes

Saffy’s bike basket

Self threading telescopic boathook

Big pink rucksack for shopping

Folding trolley for shopping

Dean’s Gill bi-focal sunglasses

And here’s the one thing we just can’t seem to find in the shops….. Pickled Beetroot

Friday 1st June… I had forgotten to write about Dean and his recent refrigeration exploits this week. He thinks the fridge and freezer are using too many amps and that they are overworking to keep cool enough. So he’s been doing some rather in depth calculations and timings of when they are on/off and how long for. He’s had all the cupboards out and put some lagging around the gas pipes and it seems to have helped. He’s also going to try and add more insulation when we can get to a supplier which could be at our next stop in Lorient. We don’t want our Carte D’Or ice-cream melting after all. By the way it’s really cheap here. 

Can Dean fix the fridge and freezer issues?

Now for today’s news… It was a rambling day today to investigate the delights of the Isle de Groix. So we set off from Port Tudy about 9am to find our way to the main town Le Bourg. It reminded us of Sark except with traffic. From there we headed to the south of the island to Locmaria, a lovely little place with a peaceful harbour, and we sat on a bench and ate our fruit and kit-kat. 

The Saint Tudy ferry arriving in Port....we've got the best scary view from Thesee

Here's Thesee moored to fore and aft buoys

Climbing the vertical ladder from the dinghy landing stage

Not easy with a dog in your arms

Is this a house or a school maybe?

In the village of Le Bourg

Which way now? Ask the fishes

On the way to Locmaria

Lunchtime stop in the harbour

The Church spires are different here

What a lovely abode

We didn’t have a map and so with the help of google on our mobile phones we arrived at the East coast and we were not disappointed. It was just beautiful, the coast path fabulous, with crystal clear water in the bays and anchorages. We followed the coast all the way back to Port Tudy and sat outside for lunch at a lovely harbourside place called ‘Café de la Jetee’ with Thesee in view. 

Arriving at the East coast bays

Lovely coast path here

Dean i'm not peeing in these toilets

Birds eye views from this nest

What a house, shame the weather seems to have won this battle

Looking south 

It's just like the Caribbean

Views down to the crystal clear waters

Then we found a robot lawnmower!

Here's din-dins, mmmmmmmmm

It’s been a great day, very warm, and after paying our dues to the Harbourmaster we got the Cobb BBQ out on the boat and cooked a pork joint. The smells were gorgeous as they kept wafting our way whilst we (Linda) sunbathed. It turned out really well, so that should keep us going for a few days. We've just got back from a quick evening walkies with Saffy, and the lifeboat was in the harbour with a blue flashing light. Turns out an ambulance was transferring someone to the lifeboat to take them to the mainland. 

Saturday 2nd  June… So it was Bon Voyage to Ile de Groix today and Bonjour Lorient. It only took an hour across to the mainland and as we reached the very entrance to the harbour a whole flotilla of large sailing boats came out, there must have been about 100 yachts, obviously all out today for a race. So it was a matter of who to dodge first. Dean was helming at the time thankfully. Just after we managed our zig zag course we arrived at Kerneval marina. There are five marinas in Lorient Harbour and we had arranged for a replacement plug socket to be delivered to this one. Dean called them yesterday and they confirmed our package had arrived. 

Au revoir Port Tudy

Some of the yachts heading out of Lorient for the race

Berthing was easy, plenty of room and good weather. We settled down, washed the dinghy down, and did a little hand washing as it was a beautiful day. Dean did his thing with the harbourmaster and picked up his post! It’s an absolute bargain price 28 Euros per night, that’s brilliant for a marina, and the marina is really nice too. Some marinas charge summer rates for June, but not this one, it’s still mid-season. We paid for two nights as there is a storm coming through tonight and tomorrow. 

Well done Dean for arranging your package to be sent to France

It was so hot, but we had to walk to the DIY store about 2km away to get more lagging for the fridge/freezer pipes. It’s 8.30pm now and the temperature inside the boat is 25.6 degrees. Just heavenly. 

This is Keroman submarine base in Lorient - built by the Germans in 1940

Fancy this in your back garden?

Sunday 3rd  June… Oops, seems we slept in until 9.30am, well it doesn’t happen very often and today we had no plans to go anywhere. It was a leisurely day, apart from Dean fitting the replacement plug socket, lagging the fridge and freezer pipes, and replacing the genoa furler line! I know I keep going on about the plug socket but it’s a special one you see. Not only is it a plug socket but it has two USB charger points enclosed and it’s very useful. 

The super duper plug socket

Pipe lagging for the fridge compressor

This afternoon we had a little walkabout and along the very long wavebreak where all the catamarans are moored. Some of them are massive, like a big sea monster. I think Dean had his eye on a couple of them. When we got back to Thesee we decided to give Saffy a haircut. It wasn’t as easy as we thought, so we did our best. When the sun is out she gets very hot. Today it was cloudy and stormy but it was still warm enough to walk around in shorts and Tshirt.

Chateaux alongside the marina

Wall art

More wall art

Dean on the catamaran pontoon. The German U-Boat base in the background.

Trimaran, but not the one that moored by us

Thesee's berth here in Kernevel marina

Bring on the Malibu and Pineapple Juice

Saffy's new look

....and here's our trimaran neighbour this evening

Tonight we are planning our next move, probably tomorrow morning to Port Haliguen in the bay of Quiberon. We’ll have to dodge the storms though. So if all that goes to plan this will be the last blog post in South Brittany. The next blog post will be called ‘Into the Morbihan’.

Thanks to all Thesee Followers for reading the blog 

and sending your emails and best wishes xx