22nd to 25th June, St Denis d'Oleron, Royan and Pauillac, end of first leg

We went up river to Rochefort under sail but had a long motor back using the engine, no wind! After another long laze waiting for the tide at anchor off the Isle d'Aix, we tacked 16 miles across to St Denis on the Isle d'Oleron, creeping in with less than 1 M of water under our keel.
Isle d'Oleron is another flattish island, with good beaches, salt beds, vineyards, which we took advantage of cycle hire and dedicated cycle tracks to explore.
Our last long sail was down the coast of Isle d'Oleron into the estuary of the river Gironde to Royan. The pilot books paint a dark picture of the Gironde estuary, it is over 5 miles wide at its mouth, with strong tides and shifting sand banks, which are dangerous in strong SW winds. In reality, on a sunny day, with gentle northerly winds it was a lovely sail, leaving St Denis at lunchtime to catch the evening tide, we reached Royan as planned at 10pm without any excitement. Royan marina was expensive and charmless so by 9am we were motoring our last 30 miles, up river to Pauillac, where Cara Mara will stay while we come home for July.
Pauillac is in the heart of the Bordeaux, Medoc wine region and vinyards were much in evidence on the riverbanks, it is very lovely countryside. Finally, after so long in France it is truly HOT, 28 today and 30 forecast for tomorrow. Now 1241 miles later

The entrance to St Denis at low tide,

the last working transporter bridge in France, down river from Rochefort.

and we had to wait for it to cross before we could go down river.

Chateaux and vineyard on the river bank 

Being overtaken by a tanker, going up the Gironde.

we are coming home. The next instalment of the blog will be in Aug.

20th and 21st June, Isle d’Re to Isle D’Aix and to Rochefort

We extracted ourselves from the jigsaw puzzle of St Martin before the lock closed at 10.00 and set off to go under the bridge, past La Rochelle to anchor off the tiny island of Isle D’Aix and wait for the evening tide up river to Rochefort. We were very pleased to be able to sail 13 miles up the river, before running out of wind just short of the lock into the old naval port of Rochefort.

The town is fascinating; it was createdon a grand scale in 1666 to be the Atlantic shipbuilding headquarters for the new French navy. The arsenal was used to construct over 200 ships before it closed in the 1920’s. The frigate L’Hormione, which was built in 1779, was rebuilt in recent years in the same dock, using traditional methods. Parts of the arsenal were rebuilt in the 1990’s, including the ropeworks and the naval museum.  Apparently the site of the town, so far up a river was chosen because it was hard for enemies (us?) to attack.

We were also able to visit another replica ship, Magellan’s Victoria which was visiting the town, the original was the first ship to circumnavigate the world in 1522, the replica followed suit in 1990’s.

The bridge to Ilse d'Re

Rope making museum at the Arsenal

fully sailing replica of the Victoria, visiting Rochefort.

18th and 19th June, St Martin, Ilse d’Re

Isle d’Re is wonderful, but a bit busy. We arrived in the port, St Martin after yet another lovely downwind sail from Les Sables. We timed our arrival to suit the opening of the lock to the inner harbour but still waited over an hour for the hardworking harbour master team to make space for us to get in. The visitor area of the inner harbour is like a jigsaw puzzle of boats by the time they have finished, every bit of space occupied. Their task was made even more difficult by a film crew, who had booked one corner of the harbour; (apparently they are on the island for 2 months making a drama about a Parisian family rubbing up the locals the wrong way, half a day to film a couple walking down onto the pontoon having an argument!). The downside of the jigsaw puzzle is that everyone ends up moving their boats twice per day to let other people out, nerve wracking when there is so little space before you hit something.

 It is however easy to see why everyone comes here; St Martin harbour is stunningly pretty, packed with tourists, not only boat people but the thousands who drive to the island over the bridge.  The bridge, something akin to the Dartford Crossing on the M25 links the mainland near La Rochelle with Isle d’Re, a holiday island barely 13 miles long. It would never happen in the UK!

We hired bikes and like everyone else, cycled round the island along the miles of dedicated cycle paths, which run though pretty villages, vineyards and along the coast and beaches.

 

Vinyards, Ilse d're

House in one of the villages

St Martin Harbour, note local boats get a berth each, visitors have to be a bit more friendly.

16th and 17th June, Isle d'Yeu and Port-Olona, Les Sables

Yesterday the sun came out and summer returned. We left Isle d'Yeu and enjoyed a wonderful gentle downwind 30 mile sail to Les Sables. Dave spent ages setting up the cruising shute, so Cara Mara looked as pretty as possible with her big coloured sail as we went majestically along for 25 miles at 4.5 knots in very light wind. Alas, the wind suddenly increased just when we wanted to take the sail down, so we were embarrassed to arrive with our big pretty sail wrapped around our mast. Very bad form, resolved by Dave doing a late evening mast climb!
Wendy was delighted that in the midst of our difficulties with the sail two dolphins came to see us, apparently they told her not to worry, everything would be fine.
So we are not sitting in Les Sables overlooking the marina in the sunshine, after a very pleasant "Plat de Jour". Hey ho!

12th to 15th June, River Vilaine to Isle d'Yeu

We left Redon on the 6^th after accompanying Biddy to Nantes on the train. Nantes has a lovely Cathedral, it took  350years  to build and was largely destroyed by fire and then rebuilt in the 1970’s. The castle, built by the last Duke of Brittany is also pretty impressive.

Our evening motor down river was lovely, we just made the last opening of the road swing bridge, so had the river to ourselves and we able to drop the anchor overnight in the knowledge that no-one else would come by. By contrast the next morning was dire, heavy rain all the way down to the barrage and lock, where we planned to visit a marina to do some washing. At least the rain stopped by the afternoon when we went through the lock and had an evening sail back to our least to our least favourite place,  Pornichet – but it an all tide marina and south !

Dave spent the morning sail mending, after 8 weeks sailing a few stiches were required before we set off for one of the places everyone had raved about, Pornic. Just another very pretty river port, what can you say?

After a miserable wet and windless 30 mile motor, (supposed to be force 4, didn’t happen), we are now in Port Joinville on the Isle d’Yeu  and have spent the day cycling round the island dodging yesterday’s puddles. The island is almost completely unspoilt; you can cycle on unmade roads right round the island, birds and wild flowers everywhere. Belle Isle is supposed to be the most beautiful island off the French coast but we disagree.

the castle at Nantes

The factory which used to make "Petite Beurre" biscuits. (Wendy used to eat them!)

Sunset on the Vilaine, just us and a couple of fishermen.

Sail mending

Sailing south of the Loire in June. The weather here is not all its made out to be!

Wendy liked these upmarket holiday huts on the Isle d'Yeu.

6th - 10th June, Piriac-sur-mere and the river Vilaine

On the 6th we enjoyed a good sail back up the coast to the little holiday town of Piriac-sur -Mere, in anticipation of the forecast of several days of strong winds. Piriciac has a small marina, with some nice shops and cafe's; the nearest it gets to Blackpool in the carousal  on the harbour wall. We went for a walk to a near deserted sandy beach 1 mile out of town, so unspoilt we had to walk back to find any food or drink. Dave was desperate for an ice-cream. Several hundred runners were out for some organised event, they looked to be even more in need than Dave.
 We then had a 17mile evening sail back to the barrage and lock on the River Vilaine, arriving at 10.00pm just as the sun was setting. It's wonderful that you can have daylight until 10pm!
Tuesday morning we were up through the lock at 9.00 and then spent a couple of hours trying to tack up river against 20knts of wind, very hard work if you haven't tried it, the engine requires much less effort. The Vilaine passes through lovely countryside, initially wooded, with gorges, but by the time we stopped at Foleux, it was becoming a wide flat valley. Foleaux is just a smallish marina on a river junction, delightfully quiet, Biddy spotted an otter swimming within yards of Cara Mara.
On Tuesday the wind was even stronger, up to 30knts on the river, we stopped for lunch at a swing bridge and Cara Mara was being blown so hard onto the pontoon, we struggled to get off when it was time to leave.
We spent the night just south of the regional town of Redon, at a pontoon near a really pretty campsite at Rieux, note for anyone thinking of heading down this way.
Tomorrow Biddy, now much healed, is heading to Nantes Airport from Redon railway station, we will be sad to see her go.

River Vilaine at Rieux

Sailing until sunset

Passing through the lock

Reiux

1st to 5th June, River Villaine and Pornichet

      

We are in Pornichet, a large marina in a modern resort, UGH! We had a lovely 30 mile sail this morning from the barrage on the river Villaine, where we spent last night. This is one of the places where Biddy can easily get to Nance on Wednesday, but it is so dull we think we will head back north tomorrow.

There are lots of British boats on the river Villaine, which has a barrage and lock, so is non-tidal once you are in. The river is lovely; we spent a night in the very old village of La Roche-Bernard, originally a Viking stronghold, which commands the river from a promontory at the mouth of a gorge.  The river is a good place to be, as strong winds are forecast  for a few days from Monday and Biddy can catch a train from Redon, further up the river.

Biddy is recovering from her torn muscle, back walking, if a bit slowly, which is really good news and doing more each day.

River Villaine from the site of the Viking fort

Poppies at the side of the road

Wendy and Biddy, now back on her feet, in La Roche-Bernard

30th May to 2nd June, Vannes

We left Belle Isle and motored 10 miles to another small island, where we planned to anchor for lunch, before heading into the Gulf of Morbihan and the town of Vanne. A unfortunate moment occurred after Wendy and Biddy had rowed the tender to the beach. An unexpectedly large wave swamped the tender as they were leaving the beach, Biddy injured her thigh muscle and was unable to weight bear on her leg. Getting her back on Cara Mara was a challenge but with help from two passing Frenchmen and their rib, we carried on to Vannes.
A visit to casualty confirmed that the damage was limited to a muscle tear, which would mend in time, so 3 days later Biddy is still with us and slowly getting more mobile.
Vannes is a nice place to sit out the few days of wind and rain we are having, a medieval port town, with lots of beautiful old streets to explore. Tomorrow we will head further south, with the promise of sunshine and hot weather by the end of this week.