Page 33 - Yachter Autumn 2021

the bits of Brittany you can’t do by boat and saw the damage caused by winter gales.The pontoons to which we were tied had been wrecked that winter and other problems were pointed out by a French lady we chatted with, she was the school English teacher!
The final route up the river is fairly convoluted and dries to a stream at low water so timing must be good, see the photos taken from the bank at low water.
We were locked in and tied up, some to the wall just in front of Orthops owned
by club members Jean and Derrick Parker and some to finger berths. Hence, four club boats all together.We spent the days looking at the forecast and then doing various
other things.The Harbour Master was very
amused by our despair as the gale ended up as a whole sequence of gales which meant we were stuck for 10 days.We caught up on all the washing at the laundrette, went to the market etc. buying many different things, Rosemary even bought a heavy cast iron skillet. She also decided she was fed up with non-matching fenders so got a good price for four nice large ones in the chandlery a short walk away. On one day we went to Roscoff on the train one way and the bus the other, had a very good lunch in a hotel John Murray knew. However, the pièce de résistance was provided by John Murray demonstrating his well-known skill as a chef. He prepared a full four course dinner for eight people on his boat, an incredible
achievement. He spent three wet and windy days preparing what he had bought in the market.We had a choice of two fish terrines, a perfect leg of lamb with eight vegetables including pommes dauphinoise, peach
tarte tatin using fresh peaches and a cheese course.The wines were also bought locally of course.We were spread out between the inside and cockpit to accommodate everyone, and I can’t remember how we coped with crockery and cutlery!
Eventually, of course, the succession of gales ended allowing us to depart and we decided to go to Lézardrieux. However, to avoid going the safe but long outside route, I programmed the computer to take us into the Treguier river and then follow the inside passage round to the Lézardrieux river as shown in this chart.Again muggins was up front leaving the autopilot to steer the route whilst having the chart and pilot book to hand checking the transits, the main one was a back transit. I am not that trusting. After
a short spell in Lézardrieux we returned to Guernsey, Cherbourg and home.
As a final note Rosemary and I also went to Morlaix in the motorhome.We were hoping to stop at the planned aire de service that the harbour master had told me about. It was not there so we went to the harbour and I went into the office. He looked up and said how have you got here as I haven’t locked you in! It seems a lack of electricity stopped it being built so he was happy for us to park up for the night in the marina car park, it was France so pas de problème.
John Webb