We took a deep breath and headed out to sea. It was a little blustery at the Arzal lock but we pressed on. However, by the time we got to the start of the estuary, it was blowing old boots. Can I just point out that I’m not actually sure how windy ‘Old Boots’ are measured but with waves breaking over the bow and after a couple of slams into them where the entire boat violently shook, I looked at Nina and decided to turn 180o and hot foot it back up river!
Undeterred, 24 hours later we returned to a warm breeze and a flat sea. Up went the sails and we effortlessly glided to La Turballe, into the middle of a kite festival.
Not the longest voyage we’d ever undertaken but we were out sailing which was the main objective.
We arrived late in the day so went immediately into our regimented program of drinks on board watching the sun go down whilst swatting off the midges. Because we didn’t have long before our ferry home, we pootled over to Penerf, which is one of the most welcoming harbours on this coast. This tiny hamlet produces some of the best oysters we’d ever tasted and when you’re charged €14 for a dozen and a bottle of Muscadet why would you venture anywhere else? We won’t discuss the cycle ride to Damgan in the ferocious midday heat when everyone else was cowering in the shade, one day we will learn to just sit down and relax.
Due to the tides in the Vilaine river and the depth of our keel at 2.2m every excursion in and out of our home port has to be calculated to ensure we have enough water under the boat. As a result, our return home started at 0530 am when we quietly slipped lines and as the sun rose found ourselves on an empty sea.
We arrived at 9am to the normally chaotic lock entrance only to see a completely empty chamber. The lock keeper invited us in and we had the pleasure of being the only boat lifted – pure bliss.
We packed up our things, had LJ lifted and we said goodbye for a few weeks.
8th July – 16th July 2025
Trip Mileage 58 miles
Mileage Completed 2546 miles