I left work on Thursday 14th June and picked up Chris at home, then picked up Barrie and Andy at Poulton Le Fylde and drove to Manchester Airport. Despite missing a turning and have to take a detour we made it to the Airport with time to spare. Chris took the car back to Blackpool and we checked in. No queuing at check in which is rare. The screen said “stay in lounge” and we hung about thinking this may mean a delay until an announcement told us to proceed to Gate 124, where we boarded immediately. The BMI Baby flight to Cork took off and landed on schedule, so at 20.40 we were at Cork Airport. It was an hour and twenty minutes until the next bus so we took a Taxi through to Kinsale. While dropping our gear onto Trinculo we found a note from Bob telling us which pub he was in. After meeting up with him and then buying Fish & Chips from a takeaway, it was on to another pub which had an Irish singer / musician playing and some noisy Dutch Fishermen.
KINSALE TO HUGHTOWN ON ST MARYS (SCILLY ISLES)
Bob had shopped the day before, so by lunchtime everything was ready for us to put to sea. The GPS told us it was one hundred and thirty one nautical miles to the Scillies. The sea was slight with the wind from the south west; we fell in to a watch system of four hours on and four hours off with two on each watch. We sailed for about six hours and then the wind died, so we motored for about six hours, when the wind returned the engine was stopped and we sailed in to the night. The night was short as we were only four days from the longest day, by four thirty the navigation lights were off. We sailed and occasionally motored all morning, it was just before lunchtime when the Scillies came in to view. We entered the North Channel using Andy’s new toy, a laptop computer program which is linked to a G.P.S. This brings up your position on the screen with a chart in the background. As we approached St Mary’s with me on the helm, I turned in to wind to get the sails down and gibed instead of tacking which brought the main over at one hell of a lick. Bob looked at me his face said it all. We entered the harbour and moored up to a visitors mooring buoy, which are packed in like sardines.
The dinghy was launched and we headed ashore for the first visit to the Scillies for all of us. We had a look around Hughtown and after consulting “The Good Beer Guide” it was the Ale’s of Scilly to look out for. Our first pub sold only “Skinners” which was fine and we sat in the sun overlooking the bay and stared out at the Atlantic Ocean. We moved on to the “Atlantic Inn” (Good Beer Guide) and sampled the Tribute, it was then on to the Mermaid Bar where the Ale’s of Scilly were available, which we of course tried, well it would have been rude not to. It was then back to Trinculo for food and a sleep before heading back for a repeat of our earlier sampling. Tiredness had set in and it was decided without argument to stay in port the following day. We took the dinghy over to the islands of Bryher and Tresco. It was about a mile across the sound and then up the channel between Bryher and Tresco. It was low water when we reached the channel and it was shallow even for the dinghy. The propeller touched bottom on a number of occasions. We landed at New Grimsby and had a walk around. The New Inn came in to view and could not be resisted. Brewers Skinners of St Austell has produced a Tresco Beer, so we had to try it, it was excellent. We left after one as we had to cross the sound again. We slowly made our way back to the dock and picked our way back through the shallows and out in to the sound. The wind and sea had picked up a bit since our outward journey and each wave splashed water over us, we looked like drowned rats by the time we made it back across the sound to St Mary’s. The evening was spent in the Atlantic Inn sampling the St Austell Tribute Ale.
ST MARY’S TO FALMOUTH
The forecast was for rain later so we put off our cross channel passage and headed for Falmouth. The sea was fairly calm as we left the Scillies and the wind was again from the south west. We made good speed under sail, but the Atlantic swell increased as we passed Lands End and headed for the Lizard Point. We then received an update on the weather forecast which stated “sea area Plymouth South Easterly Gale force eight later”. We headed in to Falmouth and entered Falmouth Yacht Haven which was full, so we ended up rafted fourth out from the pontoon. The pub by the quay is called the “Chain Locker” which had Sharpe’s Doom Bar and Special Ales together with three ales from Skinners. I had taken my Good Beer Guide with me and looked up which pubs were in it locally; Oddfellows, the Masons Arms and the Seven Stars are the pubs featured. It was closing time and the pub was almost empty when we returned to Trinculo. I left my copy of the Good Beer Guide in the pub and I never saw it again, it proves how popular it is. The forecast remained Gale force winds and rain from the south or southwest. We visited Oddfellows and the Seven Stars over the next few days. Frustration set in as we were stormbound in Falmouth, we visited the National Nautical Museum, sampled the Cornish Pasties. Several outlets seem to claim to be the best in the world. We even let Barrie loose in a supermarket, where £87.00 seemed to get spent in no time at all. A new medical condition was discovered which was named as Repetitive Moaning Syndrome or R.M.S. This got so bad we hired a car and went out for the day to the Eden Project. We had arrived in Falmouth on the Monday and it was Friday before the forecast finally gave us a north-westerly force four or five.
FALMOUTH TO CAMARET SUR MER
We filled up with Diesel at Falmouth. Our previous fuel pick, to very close to full, was Kilmore Quay (see previous story) so we did a quick check of fuel consumption. Worked out at an average of 3.33 ltrs/hr. The Autoprop appeared to be starting a pay back!
Our plan originally was to head for the Channel Islands, but we feared that after the delay in Falmouth, if we had continuous westerly’s, which are common, we may not make it to Brest for our flight home. We finally settled for Isl D’ouessant (Ushant) which is an island off the Brittany coast. It was back to four hours on and then four hours off as we crossed the English Channel, or La Manch as the French call it. A special watch was kept on the shipping as we were about to cross the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The wind was from the west at a constant fifteen knots and we were making seven knots over the ground throughout the afternoon and in to the evening. As the nightfall approached we were still in the shipping lanes and a number of ships could be seen, happily not too close. The sea got steadily rougher as we approached the French coast and the wind increased slightly. It was just getting light as we approached the Isl D’ouessant and we decided to carry on to Camaret, a further fifteen miles. We were just clear of the island when suddenly the Autohelm, the V.H.F. and all the instruments went off. A brief moment of ‘what the hell is going on’, then logic stepped in and we realised the batteries were flat. The engine was started (It is on a separate battery) and everything came back to life. We navigated our way around many rocks motorsailing and by ten o’clock we were entering Camaret. After tying up to the outer pontoon, we found out that this pontoon has no power or water. We would have to move to an inner pontoon. A yacht was about to leave and we made ready to move in to its berth, alas another yacht was waiting to do the same. We had a look at another berth which was a bit small and finally settled on rafting up to another British yacht. We had at last arrived in France.
Our joy was short lived as the weather forecast was again dreadful. R.M.S. (Repetitive Moaning Syndrome) set in again over just about everything, including everyone speaking French. We had a look around and found the local Supermarket, the local Bakers and several bars and restaurants’. We had a meal out at Le Crab Qui Ret (the laughing Crab) where the food was good especially the sauce at reasonable prices. Now Andy’s French was certainly better than the rest of us, so we relied on him. On our second visit to the Laughing Crab we ordered Beef (Fillet Julienne) and Fish arrived. It’s moments like this that gets you through listening to the weather forecast. On the Saturday Evening we ended up sitting outside an Irish Bar listening to an English Jazz band on the French coast. After three days of sitting around and I hurt my achilles tendon we gave up on our plans to visit the Raz De Seine (which is notorious for its strong tides), or Morgat and Ardriene and decided to head for Brest.
CAMARET TO BREST
The forecast was for strong winds gusting up to force seven when we slipped our lines and left our neighbour who waved us off (Andy had got his Computer working) and we headed out on the short passage to Brest. This short voyage took us past the massive Navel base at Brest and then past the commercial docks. The sea was rough and the wind strong which did not make for the most comfortable of
sailing. The Moulin Blanc Marina then came in to view and its size impressive, we later found out it had room for one thousand and five hundred boats. As we entered we passed a huge three hulled vessel which was built to race around the world. We rafted up to a boat on the end of the pontoon while Bob and Barrie went to speak to the (according to the Almanac) “helpful and bi-lingual staff”. We were allocated a berth and moved round to it. After a meal in an Italian restaurant and a few beers in a local bar we called it a night.
The following morning we took the short bus journey to the city centre of Brest. The city is like all cities today, heavy traffic and what seems like thousands of clothing outlets and sandwich shops. We called at a pub which brewed its own beer, can’t say I was that impressed with it. We then moved down to the navel yard and had a look at the Navel Maritime History Museum or Musee, even I’m picking up a little French. It was mainly about old battles fighting the British and of course, all in French, which did not help me understanding what it was all about. We returned to the Marina and had a meal on board (trying to finish off our provisions).
BREST TO THE RIVER AULNE.
It was boredom again that forced us out and despite some force six winds we motor sailed across the Rade de Brest and the sailed up the Aulne River. We passed Landevennec and had to start the engine to get round some tight bends. We came across some mothballed French Warships that had seen better days. The river was thickly wooded on both sides and we spotted a restaurant called Le Hermitage. We moved up to a bridge and checked the chart, it was a long way to the next village. After turning round we dropped anchor close to Le Hermitage. The dinghy was launched and our so called Admiral of the dinghy only dropped the engine key into the river together with a padlock. Demotion was threatened. We called in and booked a table for seven thirty. I asked where locally I could buy a packet of Cigarettes, seven kilometres I was told a bit far to walk. However if we crossed the river and went down stream a little way we would reach Landevennec and would be able to purchase them there. Well you’d think we were crossing the
Atlantic. The R.M.S. started up again. We made it to Landevennec in about twenty minutes landing on the beach and after a walk round the very sleepy village I managed to purchase some. Then it was back to “the tide will be against us” an “we are very low on fuel and will probably not make it back”. Needless to say twenty one minutes later we were back on board Trinculo and going for a sleep before our evening meal.
Seven Thirty soon came around and we were made our way back to Le Hermitage. The meal was excellent and we chatted with a couple from Cleveland telling them Sailing stories. He also mentioned that he had visited Fleetwood (our home port) to attend the Fylde Folk Festival which is an annual event I have not missed in the last twenty five years. It was then back to Trinculo for the night.
RIVER AULNE BACK TO BREST.
It was a bit damp when we awoke and had breakfast. The anchor was lifted and we made our way down river. The wind was on the nose when we left the river and we motored round to Brest. We were almost there when we managed to sail again. We moved back to the Marina and back into our allotted berth. It was time to do some Laundry which took a while, but then the bar is just over the Laundrette. The Marina staff kindly ordered us a taxi to take us to the Airport the following morning. Bob and myself took a walk (uphill) to the large supermarket that the Marina staff told us about and their estimate of a twenty minute walk was about right. The final evening of our holiday was spent in a restaurant next to the Marina, which was fine. The waitress could certainly handle herself, a customer on a neighbouring table patted her bottom, she belted him in such a casual manner it may have been a regular occurrence. We chatted to her as she was practising her English. She had great difficulty with us as she did not know if we were joking or not, needless to say we were joking all the time and played on fact that her English was not perfect.
The following morning our taxi duly arrived and the three of us (Bob was staying for a few more days with Alan and Ian joining him the following Wednesday) climbed in. The driver was also practising his English and chatted to us all the way to the airport. As we approached the airport a familiar feeling came over Barrie and myself; as it became foggy. Memories of our journey back from Cork a few weeks earlier came back to haunt us. The screen in the airport then said “Flight Diverted” I phoned home to try to warn Chris who was picking us up at Manchester Airport. The “Flight Diverted” then disappeared and a flight from Manchester appeared on the Arrivals screen. I had to phone home again to say everything was back on. Our journey form then on was on time and uneventful, we landed on time and Chris was there to pick us up.
Kev
Distance (sea mls) Hours
Kinsale (Ireland) to St Mary’s (Scillies) 128.6 26.00
St Marys to Falmouth (UK) 59.3 11.00
Falmouth to Camaret (France) 122.3 23.25
Camaret to Brest 11.6 2.30
Brest to River Aulne 17.1 3.10
River Aulne to Brest 17.3 3.20
Total 356.2 68.38 hrs/mins
