L'Aber Wrach to Audierne
Got up at 6am. Went to the loo block but couldn’t find it so I had to use a public loo in the pitch dark, a bit grim, no seat etc. Luckily I had my head torch on and luckily all the cottagers had gone home. Pretty grim, so I washed my hands well when I got back to the boat
.
A quick cup of tea, pack up the boat and off we went at 7am sharp. As we sailed down the channel the sun came up giving a flourescent and wonderful dawn. I got a bit excited and was careering about the boat a bit, I only managed to knock a couple of things, including the engine throttle … oops.
All of the dawn photos are on a separate post. I think they deserve their own page as it was one of the most memorable sunrises in my memory.
As we continued down the estuary to the sea the swell picked up a little, and the sunrise kept giving. The massive lighthouse we had seen the day before hopefully adding interest and uniqueness to the photos – I believe it is the Vierge light house.
Update: Apparently it is the tallest “true” lighthouse on the world.
As we left the channel , the swell picked up again, probably topping 2m (check out these pictures) and the weather closed in, what was the weather going to be doing, we could see rain I various places. A quick check of the BBC weather app and it all looked fine! Unfortunately the rest of the week looks a bit crap 
.
Meanwhile , there are always this little jobs to do!
Unfortunately the wind was head on, so we had to motor until we could get to the “corner” . Even then we couldn’t get enough power from the wind. Getting there at the right time was important as we were going to hit one of those “races” where the tide rushes through between land masses.
Once we got round the point, where the lighthouses were, it was going to get interesting. I think it is called “Channel Four” , not as in the TV station, and pronounced with a French accent! Apparently not it was Chanel du Sein, but I want to leave the Channel 4 bit in :-).
The sea literally looks like it is boiling. We were making 5 knots of speed with the boat and 5 knots with the tide. Lucky it was going in our direction. Sadly the wind was dead ahead, hence you can hear the mainsail clanking a bit!
After that excitement, the main topic of discussion was about when we could go up the river to Audierne. Before I left I was given a BIG book by Teresa ofCabin Boatyards (Bursledon ) which has details about all of the marinas and ports in Europe. This has proved invaluable as we look at where we stop next.
The challenge of Auderne was that we could not really approach it until 1.5 hours before high tide. While Captain Marco and John went through all this I did a bit of helming. Above is the approach from the sea. Trouble is, what was the state of the tide at this point?
As you can see we made it OK. John was in contact with the marina people (more on that tomorrow) and after motoring up the channel which was plenty deep enough (by 1.5m at one point 🙂 ) we we’re met and moored up. Right next to the high street with loads of restaurants.
It was a very popular place so we had to wait a bit to get our table at 8:30pm. It was at Aux Crepes d’Or . I think I had my best pudding ever … and here it is.
Back to the boat. We needed to set of tomorrow at 9am to take advantage of the high tide. John had to get the bus at about the same time. He had to pack when we got back. So after a small malt we all turned in. Tomorrow we would be down to 3.
Recent Posts
Testing out blocks for updates on the go
fabulous dawn
got up at 6am . Went to the loo block but couldn’t find it so I had to use a public loo in the pitch dark. Luckily I had my head torch on and all the cottages had gone home. Pretty grim, so I washed my hand s well when I got back to the boat😀😎.
got back for a quick cup of tea, pack the boat and off we went at 7 sharp. As we sailed down the channel the sun came up giving a fourescent dawn.
as we continued down the estuary to the sea the swell picked up a little, and the sunrise kept giving.
the massive lighthouse we had seen the day before should add interest and uniqueness to the photos.
Vierge light house
As we left the channel , the swell picked up again, probably topping 2m and the weather closed in, what was the weather going to be doing, we could see rain I various places. A quick check of the BBC weather app and it all looked fine! Unfortunately the rest of the week looks a bit crap ☹️.
unfortunately the wind was head on, so we had to motor until we could get to the “corner” . Even the we couldn’t get enough power from the wind.
going through Chanelle Four, getting 5-6 kn. over the ground we hit 12Kn
Boiling seas, or what! All quite exciting !!!!