NORTH BRITTANY ON PAI
NAI 2006
After various events i.e. Dave
sustaining a leg injury while crewing for a friend in May, me having a frozen
shoulder and my mothers very special
90th birthday, it wasn’t until the middle of June that Pai Nai was loaded up
and ready for our summer cruise. Last years summer cruise was fantastic, could
we better it this year?
SUNDAY 18
JUNE Marchwood YC to
Yarmouth Distance 20 miles
At 14.00 with a SW 3 and fine
weather we left Marchwood on the end of the flood tide for Yarmouth, by the
time we were off Beaulieu River entrance it was slack water so although it was
SW it was comfortable. We were moored in Yarmouth by 18.00 and being Sunday
everyone had gone home so it was very quiet.
The forecast for the next few days
wasn’t that brilliant so we weren’t too confident of being able to cross the
Channel until later in the week.
FRIDAY 23
JUNE Yarmouth to Cherbourg Distance 88 miles
Left Yarmouth at 03.00 moon and
stars out and just a hint of daylight. Wind Var 2.
Off the Needles at 05.00 with a bit
of foul tide and a little swell left over from the last few days strong winds
but the further across we got the
calmer it became. With very light wind and sunny spells we motor sailed with
just the Main but it wasn’t really doing any work. By halfway there was very
little wind at all and no other boats in sight. 5 miles off Cherbourg the wind
filled in from the NE 2-3. We had intended going in the Western entrance but
the tide had turned so we ended up at the Eastern entrance. Arrived Cherbourg
at 17.30. A very uneventful trip and very quiet in the Marina.
After a great night’s sleep we woke
up bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for the delights Cherbourg had to offer,
mainly Crevettes, wine, and wall to wall sunshine.
SUNDAY 25
JUNE Cherbourg to Guernsey Distance 45 miles
Left Cherbourg 07.45. With wind NW 3
and overcast we motor sailed with just the Main comfortably through Basse de
Brefort, when we altered course for Cap de la Hague we were able to carry a
little Genoa but still had to keep the engine running. By midday the wind had
veered NE 3-4 so we were able to sail for an hour and a half as we approached
south of Alderney. We then had to give up sailing as the wind went Variable
then SE so back to motor sailing again. Arrived St. Peter Port outer harbour at
15.30 and waited on the pontoon until 16.30 before going into the inner
harbour. By the time we arrived the visibility was starting to deteriorate and
half an hour after moving into the inner harbour we had mist and rain so we had
timed it well. We were in company for this passage with Paul and Valda, members
from Marchwood who had arrived in Cherbourg on the Saturday in their Westerly
Fulmar “So Spot”. During drinks that evening we told them of our plans and so
they decided to join us for a few days. The forecast for Monday included thick
fog so it was a day spent in St. Peter Port listening to the fog horn all day.
TUESDAY 27
JUNE Guernsey to Lezardrieux Distance 48 miles
Left St. Peter Port 09.30 under
engine and Main wind SW 2-3, by 11.30 the wind had picked up to a pleasant SW
3-4 and the vis down to a mile, by midday we had hazy sun and by 14.30 we were
at Roche Douvre lighthouse in SW 1-2 vis about 3 miles. We sighted the Brittany
coast at 16.00 and as we approached the rocky coastline and entrance to the
River Trieux we had S 2 and a strong tide setting us to the east. Lezardrieux
lies about 3 miles up river past Isle de Brehat, we arrived at 18.30 and Paul
and Valda who had arrived an hour earlier were waiting to take our lines and
offered to cook dinner! Although we didn’t get any sailing in it was a fabulous
trip and very interesting going round Roche Douvre.
We spent the next day exploring the
pretty town of Lezardrieux, which was lined with tubs of vivid red geraniums,
and walking along the river. There is an outer Marina with shore access and an
inner Marina accessed by an automatic sill, as it was such gorgeous weather we
opted to stay on the outer one with lovely views of the river.
THURSDAY 29
JUNE Lezardrieux to Pontrieux Distance 8 miles
Left Lezardrieux at 08.00 in company
with “ So Spot” for the short trip up river. It was quite misty when we left
and the further up river the thicker it got and not too many navigation marks
either. Using the chart plotter we made our way very slowly up river but then
the chart plotter runs out as you get further inland so we now had to use a
pull out reference from the Yachting Monthly magazine. The channel gets
exceptionally narrow and densely wooded on the banks, and then suddenly as you
round a bend out of the mist looms Chateau de la Roche Jagu high above the
river, very atmospheric in thick mist but a beautiful sight all the same. You
then reach a lock with very helpful staff and once through we were met by the
harbourmaster on his bike who escorted us up to the moorings alongside the
quay. There are excellent facilities, and you are moored in a delightful spot
next to the little railway station, and a few houses all decorated with tubs
and hanging baskets. Further along there are bars and restaurants. The
restaurant we would recommend is “La Sterne”, a 5 course meal with Kir Royal
and wine 28 euros.
We spent the next 2 days here, in
glorious weather being serenaded by the noisiest bull frogs you ever did hear
even in the middle of the night. There is a small train that runs from the
station to Paimpol following the river most of the way. We did this trip and it
was really scary looking down to see how narrow and shallow the channel we had
navigated was with the tide out. I’m sure had we seen how risky it was before
coming up river we would not have attempted the trip. Pontrieux is the
quaintest of towns just 15 minutes walk from the quay and brimming with
flowers, the river runs right through the town and alongside are the old
“Lavoirs” (wash houses) again decorated with flowers, one even had a display of
models showing how it would have been used before all the mod cons.
SUNDAY 2
JULY Pontrieux to Treguier Distance 31 miles
We left Pontrieux at 10.45 taking
rather a long time to get through the lock being a Sunday. It was a beautiful
trip down river this time enjoying the scenery which we had not been able to do
on the way up in the mist. As we approached Isle de Brehat we parted company
from our friends, they were heading east to St Quay, we continued to head west
out of the River Trieux and through the Channel de la Moisie, we had ENE 3 and
hot hazy sunshine. Very calm except for just a little swell off Les Heaux de
Brehat so it was engine all the way to the River Jaudy and up to Treguier. A
very different river to the Trieux, very wide and flat rural countryside. At
17.45 we tied up at the Marina just below the Bridge. A quick walk before
dinner in the early evening sun up the narrow streets to the square and St.
Yves cathedral.
We spent the next 2 days in
Treguier, plenty of lovely walks, good facilities and an excellent market on
Wednesdays. Although we were now into July it was still amazingly quiet
everywhere.
WEDNESDAY 5
JULY Treguier to Trebuerden Distance 32 miles
A morning visit to the market for
supplies and what a choice there was too, before our departure at 12.40. In a
NW 2-3 we motored down the river in sunshine with the help of the Main to Basse
Crublent, then altered course for Sept Isles and were able to carry the Genoa.
Inland it was looking decidedly thundery but Pai Nai trundled along quite
happily in hazy sunshine, as we reached Sept Isles the wind dropped so it was
back to Main and engine. There is a short cut which saves 6 miles, by cutting
inside Le Crapaud but this should only be attempted in quiet conditions and
good visibility. (Well detailed in Yachting Monthly North Brittany Cruising
Companion). We weren’t sure about taking this route but saw to other bigger
boats alter course and head down there so decided to follow. You enter the
Marina at Trebuerden over a sill, having arrived at 19.30 we were too early to
get in so picked up one of the buoys outside and sat enjoying the evening
sunshine with a G & T waiting for the green light. We waited and waited and
nothing happened, we decided that as the World Cup was on the staff were
probably preoccupied and had forgotten to operate the signal. We were just
about to turn into our bunks when at 22.00 the harbourmaster came out, asked if
we wanted a berth and escorted us in.
We spent the next 4 days at Trebuerden,
a very clean holiday resort, not too large and still very quiet. This is the
Granite Rose coast with the most incredible pink rock formations.
There are lots of coastal walks; one
we particularly liked was out to Pont de Bihit which looked across Lannion Bay.
Quite a hike but well worth it. We used the bus to visit Lannion viaTregastel,
Ploumanac’h and Perros Guirec, a good way to decide whether or not to call into
these harbours with Pai Nai but Ploumanac’h was a bit disappointing and Perros
Guirec a huge marina very busy bars and restaurants, ok if you like big holiday
resorts but not for us. Lannion was very interesting with cobbled streets,
medieval buildings, a good selection of shops and a river running through the
town again all decked in flowers.
The last night at Trebuerden turned
out to be entertaining, the World Cup final was in progress and during the
fracas when Zidane had just head butted another player and was sent off I went
out into the cockpit to see a Maltese yacht at a very precarious angle on the
sill of the Marina with the tide ebbing. The Marine gendarme were running up
and down the pontoons getting very excited, various ribs and inflatables were
buzzing around and a lot of shouting going on. They were attempting to pull the
yacht off but without success and were obviously in panic mode at the thought
of the sill being damaged and couldn’t be raised. This had happened the
previous year by a British yacht in Carteret resulting in a domino effect to
the boats in the marina. They soon realized they weren’t going to be able to
pull her off and the crew spent several hours at 90 degrees in the dark. They
crept into the marina at 3.00 am and incredibly without damage to boat or sill.
MONDAY 10
JULY Trebuerden to Treguier Distance 32 miles
With a promising forecast, at 9.00
we moved out from the marina to a buoy ready for the east going tide to retrace
our route back to Treguier. At 11.00 a S 3-4 and a bit cloudy we left
Trebuerden under main and engine and headed back to the River Jaudy. We arrived
at the marina 18.00, an uneventful passage and still very quiet, where is
everybody?
The dreaded Japanese seaweed had
found our loo inlet pipe and blocked it solidly during the trip, but this was
nothing compared to “So Spot” who had
to be towed into Carteret by a local fishing boat having had the engine cooling
pipe blocked. We heard of many instances of the seaweed causing havoc and this
made long passages quite stressful as all eyes were needed on lookout, read on
to find out just how stressful!! We spent the next day here, unblocked the loo,
checked the engine filter, a whole eco system in there and generally taking
life easy and sourcing out the Crevettes and Muscadet.
We had been in touch with Chris
Tabor who was in the area crewing for a friend on a Parker 27 so we planned a
rendezvous with them at Pontrieux for the Bastille day celebrations. We were
also in touch with our friend Roy, the previous owner of Pai Nai and a
Marchwood member who was chasing us in his Arpege “Debonair ll” and hoped to
join us in Lezardrieux.
WEDNESDAY
12 JULY Treguier to Lezardrieux Distance 31 miles
Up to the market early to stock up
for a few days ready for party time at Pontrieux with Chris and friends. With
big spring tides running hard through the pontoons at Lezardrieux it was best
to wait for the last hour of the ebb to make life easier getting off, we needed
help even then. We left at 13.15 wind NW 3 and had thought about going through
the Passe de la Gaine but chickened out with Spring tides so took the long way
round. The usual motor sail but things got rather exciting going through the
Moisie channel on a spring tide with swirling currents and almighty rocks, but
with Dave down at the Chart plotter and me on the helm (not always agreeing
with the instructions especially when it appears you are heading for a rock) we
navigated our way through successfully and let out a big sigh of relief. With
clear blue skies by the time we reached La Croix in the River Trieux we arrived
at Lezardrieux at 18.00. Our friend Roy arrived on “Debonair” (fondly referred
to as “Debs”) an hour later and Chris Tabor had arrived up river at Pontrieux
so everything was set for party time.
THURSDAY 13
JULY Lezardrieux to Pontrieux Distance 8 miles
Left at 7.15 in company with “Debs”
for trip up river to Pontrieux. We arrived at 9.00 to find Chris with 4 boats
from Christchurch Sailing Club. During the afternoon things started happening
with a firework display being set up on the opposite bank of the river ready
for that evening. The Christchurch
Rally had booked in at ” La Sterne” for
a meal that evening and kindly included
Roy, Dave & myself making 11 people in all. Another exceptional meal
followed at 23.00 by the most spectacular firework display and I would think
just about all the residents of Pontrieux came down to the quayside creating a
great atmosphere. I had bought some patio lights when we were in Lannion so
they got hoisted up the mast and were greeted with a big “Aah” when we switched
them on. A real gem of an evening. We spent the next 2 days in Pontrieux.
A highlight for the local people,
and us, was the religious ceremony called a “PARDON” which was to be held on
the Saturday evening. This is a procession of the church Saint in this case the
“Notre Dame des Fontaines” on a tableau by torch flame through the streets. The
majority of the houses had candles in the windows and many had flowers strewn
over the threshold to the house and an alter with “Our Lady” set up in the
doorway. The service in the church before the procession was relayed by public
address system all round the town and down to the Quayside. There were also
lots of little shrines set up by the road side beautifully decorated with
flowers. It was a lovely warm evening so we were able to really soak up the
atmosphere.
SUNDAY 16
JULY Pontrieux to
Lezardrieux Distance 8 miles
After saying goodbye to the
Christchurch boats we locked out at 11.30 to return to Lezardrieux in company
with “Debs” ready for our return leg to Guernsey the following day. Extremely
hot with wall to wall sunshine we spent the rest of the day being very lazy.
Another boat from Marchwood “Kishorn” had now arrived so this constitutes a
Marchwood YC rally.
MONDAY 17
JULY Lezardrieux to Guernsey Distance 50 miles
We left at 7.00 in company with
“Debs” and “Kishorn” with clear blue sky and a NE 3-4.
It stayed in the NE increasing to 5
by midday, right on the nose so it was engine and main again. We headed right
over towards Sark to get the north going tide through Little Russell but didn’t
seem to get much help from it and had noticed for some time that our speed was
not what it should be consequently the tide had already turned at St. Martins
Point. Even with full engine revs we were down to 2 knots, there was a very
tense silence between us in the cockpit (me imagining we were about to spend a
night at sea) as there was no way we would make it round the point once the
tide had really started running off.
The other 2 boats were already in
St. Peter Port and came on the radio suggesting we put more coal on the fire, I
informed them we were out of coal!!! We
finally made it into St. Peter Port extremely relieved and nerves shattered. At
this point we still didn’t know why our speed was so low, we never have to run
the engine at more than half speed but yes, wrapped round the prop was the
dreaded Japanese seaweed. It had been a very long and hard trip 12 hours in
fact. Guernsey was full to bursting so we stayed in the outer harbour and spent
a lovely evening drinking and dining with our friends who managed to lift our
spirits. The next day we would all sail to Dielette.
TUESDAY 18
JULY St. Peter Port to Dielette Distance 28 miles
Left in company at 9.25 wind NE 3
and another hot one. The tide was against us going up the Little Russell but
soon got a nice lift when the tide turned going round Herm. With main and genoa
and a little tickle of engine we were enjoying 6 knots in a lovely cooling
breeze, the complete opposite to the previous days trauma. As we approached
Dielette the heat off the land hit us like someone opening an oven door. We
tied up in the marina at 14.50 had a quick late lunch then it was over to the
beach for a swim. Dave & I really love this Marina. They have a really good
Yacht club with an excellent restaurant so we all dined there in the evening
reminiscing.
We spent ages the next morning
clearing the seaweed from the prop by tying a line from the top of the mast
over to a cleat on the other pontoon and Roy and I standing on the bow while
Dave hacked away at it. No wonder our speed was down.
You can buy wonderful fresh fish and
shellfish by the marina so as we were still enjoying such fabulous weather we
decided on a BBQ on the beach for our last evening before crossing the Channel
next day.
THURSDAY 20
JULY Dielette to Keyhaven Distance 79 miles
Left in the dark at 05.00 wind S 2-3
in company with “Debs” and “Kishorn”. There were soon little chinks of light in
the sky and it turned into another hot sunny day with good vis. It was very
quiet going up through the Alderney race, once clear of there we even hoisted
the Spinnaker for half an hour. By midday we had SW 4 and by the time we were
approaching Bridge Buoy we had quite a following sea and it was a bit choppy
going up through Hurst. We arrived in Keyhaven at 19.00 picked up a buoy with
“Debs” for the night, absolutely shattered. With the threat of Japanese seaweed
and fishing pots around, no to mention shipping we both have to be on look out
the whole time now and not able to do our usual 2 hours on 2 hours off watch
system. This makes these long passages really hard going and takes a lot out of
us.
After a good nights sleep we woke up
to another glorious day, spent the morning sorting out Pai Nai and getting her
all ship shape again before heading back to Marchwood.
A fantastic 5 week cruise,
incredible weather, gorgeous cruising grounds, superb company and yes, even
better than last year.
A few facts and figure, Distance traveled 510 miles Engine running time 97 hours
Average marina fees per night in
France including electricity £9.60