Cameret
Day 202The three of them arrived here early this evening. Luke hadn't got a date for completing his house purchase and so he had to stay behind in the hope that it happens in the next couple of weeks. However, the older two exchanged contracts today and so they all have to move out of the house by 10th August. Hope their purchase goes through soon or I'll be seeing a lot of them!
Day 203
They got up early - except Frances who, in her role of 'Ship's Passenger', is excused boots and is only active at feeding time. With the engine on we set off at 8am. There was a light wind so we motored out past Start Point for a couple of hours. The forecasted Westerly wind kicked in and we managed a comfortable 5-6 knots across the Channel towards Brittany. A generally uneventful sail except when he stood his ground and the massive Brittany ferry played by the rules of the road and went round the back of us - bit close though! The rest of the day was very pleasant - sun, sea and some beer - well, they are on holiday. They stayed up late looking up at a clear, star-filled sky and counted shooting stars and satallites into the early morning.
Day 204
The wind died (just as it had been forecast to do) at around 2am just after entering French waters and he started my engine and dropped the sails. There was still some tide running as the sun rose and we entered the northern end of the Chenal du Four. It soon turned and we raced down towards St Mathieu with the sun beating down on us. By the time we got there the sea was mirror-flat, and we turned towards the Rade de Brest. At 10:30am we were alongside the pontoon in the marina at Cameret. They went to sleep for a while and then went into town for provisions (wine!).
Day 205
With high pressure forecast for at least a week the sun rose early and stayed there. They had breakfast and then went for a walk in the hills along the coastal path. They returned early evening and tested the provisions bought previously - quite a lot of testing actully!
Day 206
He got up early and went for a ride on his bike. When he got back they had breakfast and then all three wandered off. They returned after lunch and he got the canoe out. He went off with Frances to explore the coastline. They said that they had had a great time and then planned to do it again. For their dinner they had bought lots of seafood (and I do mean lots). Although they managed to finish it all off it wasn't a good idea to name the lobster before cooking and eating it. Sentimentality doesn't help with the digestion.
Day 207
They got up and packed a lunch. They all went off to a beach on the other side of town. As there was three of them, he had to do the trip out twice as the canoe is only a two-seater. They got back late in the day. If they'd asked me I could have told them the water was cold - they hadn't needed to go swimming to find out. Our old hunter-gatherer had collected some mussels and oysters whilst they were out. He did a good job with the mussels. The oysters were a different story. Despite being moist and slimy, big oysters will not go down a small throat. The struggle with the first one didn't stop him eating the others though.
Day 208
We left at 10am and sailed in a brisk wind for an hour. Then the wind dropped and so he started the engine, On a calm sea we headed into the Raz de Sein and onwards towards Port Haliguen. We baked all day under the relentless sun with temperatures at 29 deg C. At 11pm the wind picked up again but only for a few hours and he started the engine as we approached Port Haliguen.
Port Haliguen
We arrived at 6:45am.
