Our week in south Brittany

Steve L writes…

Here’s a brief resumé of our week in south Brittany last month:

The crew of Rupert T, Ron P and me, Steve L, took the Portsmouth – St Malo ferry overnight on Thursday 28 May. A coffee stop in Redon (nice medieval town) then on to La Roche Bernard mid-afternoon on Friday, in time to welcome Peter C and his crew to their berth. After victualling at the large supermarket in town, Ron and Rupe decamped to Les Deux Magots hotel while I took the available berth on Elfida.

Peter’s crew departed early to catch the St Malo ferry, which allowed our crew to convene on board for a midday departure. Locking out at Arzal is straightforward; book your time on the passport app, get there in good time, and be ready with lines at each corner and fenders high. It’s a big lock, there were 14 boats on our departure. It’s well managed by the lock staff – loop your lines round the vertical chains and monitor as the boat rises/falls. Out of the lock, be careful with pilotage down the river, it’s quite shallow in the estuary.

Out of the river we turned left for our first night at Piriac-sur-Mer; a lovely town with marina access above half tide. Sunday night was spent on the anchor at the eastern end of Isle Houat. Splendid!The next day we sailed past Belle Isle, into Quiberon Bay and to Port Haliguen. We initially planned two nights but ended up staying four! The forecast was persistently force 6-8 for the area.

Ron and I took the bus in to Auray one day (lovely old port at Saint Goustan), and we hired a car on another day. The marina has been extended since we were last there (2015), with an inner basin behind a cill. It’s close to Capitainerie and excellent restaurant (La Base).

That took us to Friday, for a good sail across the bay to re-enter the Vilaine and through the lock to berth at La Roche Bernard (met by Mike L and his crew).

We returned to the UK the same way we came, via St Malo – Portsmouth.

It was lovely to be back cruising in this area, last visited over ten years ago. Looking forward to my next visit in early July. The passport escale is working well; every morning you register for the port you want to stay that night; the app and on board card give access to toilets, etc.

There is still availability on the cruise through August and September. If you’re interested, get in touch!