Here in Redon

27km up the Villaine River is the town of Redon. The Villaine River that has upon it Arzal Lock, Roche Bernard, Rieux and is considered in some unkind parts as England Sur Mer. But this far up river is a different thing altogether. Proper French France.

 Having travelled up a number of rivers in my life, I have never ever seen a river to compare with it. Two and a bit things made it particularly special - the first is that after Arzal Lock there is no tide and almost, almost no current whatsoever. This means that there is no rise and fall to worry about so the depth is the depth. If you park your boat somewhere, subject to wind there is no drift and so where you leave the boat is where you will find it.

 The second thing is that for a river it is delightfully consistent in depth throughout. Almost 4m depth which makes it an absolute joy to navigate up. The third thing (of two) is that it is absolutely blindingly beautiful, adorable and delightful.As well as being almost entirely unused and so you can traverse the length of it and see no-one. It is therefore assuredly a place where you can travel up it and not need to share it with anyone. I know of nowhere else can you go up a river in a yacht with Willow and Oak trees lining each bank and cows down at the river bed drinking bovinely. Where else can you determine to just anchor within ten feet of the cow feeder! Oh and finally all the gunk on the hull and propeller, all the fouling, snuffs it and drops off. A free scrub off. The river is deep right up to the entry to the Redon port where it reduces to under 2m and so we have to scuff in through the soft mud which has built up there.

Once in the port there are finger pontoons both sides

Port de Redon

 

Benodet towards the South

28/8 After a few days of R and R it was about that time to go out with the intention of heading towards Lorient. However it was such a still day that the opportunity was irresistible to me to visit Les Iles de Glenans  home of the renowned eponymous sailing school.

Proposed and actual route

  A gentle motor put to sea and I joined the early morning throng on the way including a couple of French fishing boats that thought it rather fun to slalom me back and forth one to the left and the other to the right and vice versa. Well was on holiday so what the hell I just ignored them and let them cut me up nonchalantly. Arriving at Glenans there are many mooring options and I chose the one with the least traffic just off the beach at Ile de Penfret  The water as almost clear and this was close to achieving one of my long held ambitions. To anchor in water clear enough to watch the hook all the way down. Well a blurry view as it hit the sand anyway.

Glenans Iles de Penfret

Anchorage

 I enjoyed a late coffee and a baguette and had a lovely swim. The hull needed a check to see how the fouling was doing and I wanted to check the propeller and rope cutter which both looked pretty clean and fresh. I took a dive down to check the anchor which was sat gently nudged in the clean sand. After drying off it was decision time, either stay and enjoy the afternoon or head further South with a target of going to St Piriac Sur Mer which was about four hours away and could be made on the evening tide. I lifted the anchor and sailed off the mooring sedately past the relaxed boaters and off to the South. It was a hot day with little wind and an obvious opportunity to dig out the cruising chute. The sniffer was hoisted and it was simplicity itself to trim the sail and see  it in its full glory for the first time.

Chute

Happy bunny

  It was most relaxing to ghost along at 4/5 knots with the wind on the beam for the first time this holiday. Of course good things and wind have to come to an end and sure enough after about 90 minutes the wind dropped and so the snuffer was dropped and stowed away and on went the engine. As it was quiet I had been below and been doing the washing up. I awarded myself the Muppetry award for leaving the tap on and flooding the sink top and the fridge! At 16:30 our position was just South of Iles de Groix making over 6.7knots according to the log heading for the Pointe de Quiberon. I had decided to pass on Lorient as it seemed to me to be again still rather busy so elected instead to go around the pointe to Port Haliguen where I managed to find a slot on the long pontoon inside the entrance for the night which was indeed rather warm. Arrived at 20:13 note to self remember Port Haliguen is 44 euros in Summer I.e. Before the September change, not to be used unless absolutely necessary!

Magic Morbihan

Entrance to the Morbihan

I have been told that Poole harbour is one of the biggest natural harbours in the world! Well watch out because the Morbihan rivals it easily. The harbour has according to the guides approximately 60 islands and many ports marked as anchorages on the chart which the pilot books have not yet caught up with number of mooring buoys that have been laid to fill the gaps.
Notwithstanding this there are still plenty of potential places to quietly anchor for the day or the over night. Much talk is made of the aggressive tides within the harbour, however having visited at the end of August it was neaps and so we were less bothered by current. The approach to the Morbihan is also relatively straight forward so long as a good watch is kept of traffic and the plentiful collision opportunities offered.

What certainly amazed me on approach was the coast number of small motor boats containing les pecheurs who drift around on the tide casting their lines with abandon and when satisfied will then zoom off without any care for vessels around them. It made me smile to think of the offence taken by vessels in the Solent when a motor boat trundles past creating wash. Well if we're more experienced in le facon Francois we would certainly complain much less. It seems that everyone in France has access to a boat and at the end of August they were all out.

Navigating seul abord and keeping a watch is exhausting in this whirlwind. Fortunately in September everyone disappears back to work and the Morbihan returns to a more relaxed style that suits the exploration of the islands. Having entered the Morbihan without a detailed plan I was then challenged to find a place to stop over, not for lack of choice you understand, more because there was a nagging feeling that around every corner might be a spot even more beautiful.


 Eventually I picked up a buoy that had lines covered in green slime and looked untended. I found aas a relaxing spot to rest for the evening without the need to go ashore. From the chart it was described as Arradon which now has a marina, ironically just around the next bend! A quiet night in a buoy was very suitable and in fact I stayed for 24 hours before deciding to
explore Vannes.      






Vannes is the main city of the Morbihan created around a gentle mix of architecture, Breton stonework leads via meandering lanes to Tudor style timber framed buildings and attractive squares and arches. It is a fine place to spend some time people watching, when I first went there it was a little drizzly.

Private Island private slipway