Sainte Marine sits in the estuary of the River Odet which winds its way to Quimper. Once a commercial highway connecting the sea to the European canal system, it has been reduced to the occasional tourist boat and visiting yachtie, but this has allowed nature to thrive on its banks. Along its entire length the trees dip into the water’s edge and it is dotted with the occasional chateau, making it near picture postcard perfect!
In complete silence, we sailed 12 miles inland twisting and turning until Quimper appeared in the distance. This also marked the end of navigable waters for us as the depth allowed us no further. Retracing our steps to about halfway, we anchored for the night in the shadow of Château de Pérennou. Watching the stars, we listened to the birdsong whilst being eaten alive by midges – almost a perfect evening !
La Port Foret was missing from our 2019 trip and for once it was a destination that was a mere 11 miles away as opposed to the 50 plus milers we’d been doing to get this far. We did still sail there but I’m embarrassed to say that we were incredibly lazy and only flipped the fenders over the guard wires as opposed to tidying them away correctly – I can hear my day skipper instructor screaming at me already.
The channel leading to the marina is painfully shallow and the visitors’ moorings equally narrow. The lad working the dory must have seen the panic on my face and so directed us to pontoon J – ‘You go with les Grands Bateaux’ – waving us to the far end of the marina. As we pottered past G and H, I could already see a forest of carbon fibre masts and rounding the corner there before us was not just one, but six, IMOCA class 60ft racing yachts all of which are being prepared for the 2024 Vendee Globe race. We were to sleep amongst sailing royalty for these boats are purpose built for the horrors of the Southern Ocean on a 24,000 mile non-stop round the world, single handed yacht race.
Suddenly I focused on the fact that it was quite gusty and I was trying to moor Le Jouannet in between €20,000,000 of F1 racing machines whilst wondering what amusing way I could start the insurance claim. It was with a huge sigh of relief, that we landed without incident and quickly had all her mooring lines secured.
At long last the Bromptons were out of their bags and, heading off west, we found our way along cycle paths which skirted the drying lagoons to Cap Goz for coffee. Returning to the tiny town of Le Foret. Here we found the 5 star Boucherie de l’ Aod, the local ‘Traiteur where your dinner has already been prepared and cooked and you merely take home a freshly made meal which just needs a little heating plus wine which is * optional/necessary (*delete as appropriate).
27th June 2022
Trip Mileage 31 miles
Mileage Completed 1879 miles