Brittany - Benodet, Concarneau, Port Tudy, Port de Crouesty, Golfe du Morbihan, Vannes, Piriac-sur-mer, Pornichet

4 - 20 June

Sailed round to Benodet and stayed a couple of nights - mainly a holiday village, very quiet as still very early in the season.

A pleasant sail a short distance around the bay was Concarneau with its old fortified island town (La Ville Close). Although very touristy, it was still charming and full of character.

A couple of days later we sailed to Port Tudy on the Isle de Groix - the pontoon moorings were very busy and tight so we moored up to buoys in the outer harbour and took the dinghy to get ashore for a walk. Again all very shut up as it is so early.

Had a lovely sail to Port de Crouesty by the entrance to the Golfe du Morbihan - a modern marina complex, but we needed to get provisions as we would be anchoring for a couple of nights. We also needed to service the wind vane which was sticking when we had tried it that day. For the first time the weather turned really sunny and hot for a couple of days.

Motored into the Golfe du Morbihan - a very beautiful inland sea with lots of wooded islands. Anchored off the Isle d'Arz, did a few odd jobs and lazed around for a couple of days before motoring up to Vannes - the historic capital of the Morbihan.

Vannes is full of historic buildings - a large number of them being mediaeval half-timbered houses and about half the ramparts still standing. The place is lively with a busy market 3 days a week. Well worth going out of your way for a visit if you are in Brittany.

Spent a further couple of nights at anchor in the Morbihan before sailing down to Piriac-sur-mer - a charming place of narrow streets with a more southern feel to it. Tried the wind vane again but were still having problems. Jim made a slight change to the angle of its rudder which seemed better, but we were at Piriac by then and didn't have time to properly test it.

On our next sail we again tested the wind vane - the alteration had improved its performance and it was now steering the boat as expected. Spent the night in Pornichet - an unattractive holiday resort - blocks of flats behind a 5 mile beach!

For more photos please click here

Brittany - Treguier, Trebeurden, L'Aberwrach, Camaret, Rade de Brest, St Evette

23 May - 3 June

Almost no wind, so a long motor to Treguier in Brittany where we moored in the marina. It poured with rain most of Saturday so we stayed another day to have a look round. A very attractive place with a great many old buildings - some 13th century - in the historic centre.

Bad weather again on the 25th so we finally left for Trebeurden on the Tuesday 27th - a small French holiday resort - but too early in the year for anything to be open. We stayed a couple of nights then continued on to l'Aberwrach - our last port of call in North Brittany before going through the notorious Chenal de Four off Cape Finisterre.

With good weather and the timing right for the tide, the Chenal de Four was no problem and we arrived in Camaret in the evening - a very attractive old fishing port, where we had a lovely meal out to celebrate. Stayed a couple of nights then sailed into the Rade de Brest and anchored overnight (it poured with rain). Returned to Camaret to get some provisions and prepare for the even more notorious Raz de Sein.

Again we were lucky with excellent weather, and got our timing right for slack water at the Raz (in fact we had left early and had to slow down) - the Raz can be very rough at times, but for us was very smooth. Whilst picking up a mooring buoy at St Evette for the night a dolphin came and played around the boat - incredibly distracting when you are trying to moor up!

For more photos please click here