Cara Spiers

Straight line motor to Le Crouesty (biggest marina ever - not a fan!). Nicely warm and sunny, wind started to build just after we got in. Happy to be on a flat boat after a really rolly night!

A wet start to the trip as we left Port Louis, but warm, and it cleared up to beautiful sunshine by the later afternoon. A rare day with enough wind of a good direction to allow us to sail (10-12 knots on the beam) meaning only an hour or so of motoring. However, we also got beam on swell which made for an unpleasant few hours. Heading into Quiberon bay, a beautiful anchorage looked more appealing than the marina so dropped the hook and tendered in for a beer. 👌

Our first leg in France (and into Brittany) for just Cara and I! Beautiful weather, but light winds meant a slow motor-sail past Mont St Michel towards St Malo. Coming around the islands the wind picked up and allowed full sail down the channel towards the historic walled city which was fun! We had called the locked marina, Port Vauban, to tell us of our arrival and the instruction was to radio the port for the lock…I should have checked this online as the lock has prescribed opening times and we were an hour too early! After tricky shallow manoeuvring (low water), we turned out of the harbour and picked up a bouy. We considered going to Port Sablons but stuck to the plan, returning to the lock for opening. Two other British boats came through with us - all first timers! It was HUGE! My line was too short so I quickly tied two together to pass to the lock keeper. We rose a good 5-6m, were through and onto a berth with a great view of the walls.